[Updates below.]

OK, so I won't be jumping into politics immediately. For my 881st entry, here is what I'm submitting as my essay in my application packet to St. Edward's University. Yes, I am attempting to reenter college and get a degree, hopefully in Public Safety Management. I should know whether I've been accepted or not in two or three weeks.

Charles Hueter
8801 McCann Dr.
Apt. 140
Austin, TX 78757

A Response to Essay A

June 29, 2004

Once, when I was eight or nine, I asked my parents to describe where I was born. My father grinned and said I was born in a "Mafia hospital" and that he and my mother were served wine before the birth took place by some very polite and well-dressed "Italian types." The City of Marlton, New Jersey, exists - I've checked - but I've been less successful in finding the hospital, whose name seems to change each time I ask. The facts as I know them are merely that my parents lived near Washington, D.C.; it was June 26th, 1980; and less than three weeks later, we were in the middle of a move to Fairbanks, Alaska.

Being an Army Brat has both it's privileges and drawbacks. In the case of the former, you get to tell all sorts of stories about growing in up in disparate locations such as Alaska, Texas, Washington State, Hawaii, Kentucky, and Texas (in that order). Since most of my civilian friends have rarely left the state in which they were born, my memories have more of an exotic edge to them. I can judge weather from a higher authority given my exposure to such a variety of climates. The rich experience of living within an institution with it's unique codes, rituals, and symbols is not easily matched by the average civilian childhood.

However, when almost your entire youth is spent on military bases and, aside from the fact that no matter what you do you can't get rid of your fraternal twin sisters, you acquire a sense that things just don't remain constant. Friends come and go - you don't even get to accumulate enemies. I attended three different elementary schools and two different high schools, fracturing any attempt by my teachers to educate me cohesively. It became second nature to rely on myself to get through difficult parts of my life, shunning help unless absolutely needed. I read fiction, techno-thrillers, and sci-fi by myself often.

My father retired a full colonel in June of 1996, having spent 30 years with the United States Army and serving twice in Vietnam. He met my mother in Germany during a tour of duty and they were married not too long after. My mom is a legal Canadian resident alien and works in the Comal Independent School District as an administrator while my father, being utterly unable to remain retired and idle, has become a deputy sheriff with the Comal County Sheriff's Department. The aforementioned evil twins were born in June of 1984, cementing the month as one of my family's most expensive in terms of gift giving.

I can't place the exact date or location, but I recall entering my junior year of high school with a strong desire to work with computers and technology once I graduated. My father had just retired, we were living in New Braunfels, and I needed something to latch onto after losing my Fort Knox friends. Working with Apples and IBM-compatible PCs came easily to me whether I was installing Windows 95 at my father's defeated insistence or sneaking networked games of Doom II past my high school computer science teacher. I felt comfortable with the keyboard and monitor. I was somewhat worried that my overall grades were slipping and I was having trouble keeping up in calculus, but school wasn't something that usually troubled me and I brushed the C's and occasional D aside by rationalizing that it was the tedious teachers' fault for holding me back.

In 1998, I graduated in the top ten percent of my high school class and I applied for a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science at the University of Texas at Austin. Getting that acceptance letter was all the more exciting because my father earned several degrees there and he's big on tradition. That fact made the academic probation and subsequent dismissal after only two semesters doubly disappointing. When I moved to Austin, I brought along everything I thought I wanted and needed. What I couldn't bring were my study habits and effective time management because I had neither. Dispirited and losing interest in programming, I moved to San Marcos with some friends and proceeded to waste about 14 months of my life. This wasn't entirely because I worked for Avis Rent-A-Car, but they didn't help much either.

Emerging from that posttraumatic funk in 2000, I moved back to Austin and joined a temporary employment agency. I regained my interest in reading, but rather than fiction, I turned to political philosophy as my primary subject area. Over the years, as what I learned in school clashed with the reality of things around me, I felt myself drifting towards the optimism and fresh ideas from the libertarian line of thought. I became active on the Internet after my absence in San Marcos and joined in innumerable online debates. I adopted a love for Japanese animation as a new hobby. Even though I mistakenly felt the momentum I had built up would be used well at Austin Community College to gain readmission to UT, I knew the direction in my life was changing.

A temporary assignment as an envelope-stuffer at the Texas Association of School Boards impressed whomever is impressed by such things and I was asked to work there full time as a secretary. Since October of 2000, I've been with TASB's Risk Management Fund, working for public school districts from behind the scenes. This unexpected line of work is for our pooled insurance members in workers' compensation, property/casualty, and unemployment compensation. I help our traveling consultants with administrative and logistical tasks in order to make their jobs of inspecting schools for hazards and training personnel more effective. I don't wish to remain at the level of administrative assistant for much longer, but I cannot proceed unless I understand more about public safety and disaster preparedness. This is responsible for a great deal of my desire to earn a degree in Public Safety Management.

I grew up with an above average academic record and it ran afoul of my lack of discipline during my late teens and early twenties. I think it's time to change that and begin moving forward again and St. Edward's New College represents the best opportunity available that matches my needs. I never tire of learning, but after my disappointment at UT and ACC, I questioned whether it should continue in information technology. Now that I've worked at TASB for nearly four straight years, I've come to be more and more interested in the workings and mechanics of public safety. Not only would a degree in PSM greatly expand my knowledge base in my field of work, but I can also feel the familiar desire to discover a subject that interests me. This energy needs to be channeled productively.

I once promised my father I would wisely spend the money he saved on education. I broke that promise during my two semesters at UT and burned both his and my money at ACC. I want to change that record and accomplish something I've looked forward to for many years: earning a four-year university degree. I want the pride that comes with achieving that document and the integration of learning behind it. I want the enormous positive impact on my job and my future prospects for advancement. I want to establish a line of successes to keep me motivated for whatever lies ahead. And besides, both my sisters are working on their higher educations and I can't just let them get ahead of me, right?

For the moment, I plan on entering the New College and taking two classes per semester in order to build up my credit hours for an application to the P.A.C.E. program. If I focus and dedicate myself, I believe I can take home the degree just as opportunities open up within my division for advancement. I don't foresee working for TASB my entire life and with the combination of experience and education (and personality), the doors to a much greater depth of career choices should be open and accessible more than I would ever expect without.

Thank you for your time and I hope you judge me competent and worthy for admission to your educational establishment.

Sincerely,

Charles Hueter