"When people like we want to do something, we just do it. You just get the books and you figure it out. It's a real empowering feeling, knowing that you can do almost anything you try. The hard part, of course, is trying... it's hard for me to get motivated. I can be very industrious, but I have a lazy side."
-- Gina LoSasso

"There's a theory about genius -- it's sort of like the tragic-falw theory of tragedy. You see it in a lot of cases of highly intelligent, highly creative people. For example, Sir Isaac Newton's mother abandoned him [when he was three years of age] to remarry. Her new husband didn't want young Isaac around, so he went to live with his aunt. He never recovered from the abandonment... his creativity in mathematics was really his way of saying: I'm a worthwhile person! That's what a genius, typically, will say through his work: 'Even though you may not realize it, and even though sometimes I hate myself, I'm going to try and prove to you that I have some reason for being alive, that I have something important to contribute.'"
-- Ronald K. Hoeflin

I've been interested in the environment since I was two years old. At that age, I happened to pick up a piece of trash in a public park in Oak Park, Michigan, and a member of the city council saw what he perceived to be my way of Keeping Oak Park Beautiful. I earned a certificate of appreciation, suitable for framing. And so began my illustrious pre-professional association with the immediate environment.

This essay will not just describe my academics. This essay will describe me. Unless one is egotistical by nature, this kind of writing is a challenge. Nonetheless, I hope to show you that I am not only qualified to study at your school on a graduate level, but that I will be an asset to your school. I do not need to ask what my school will do for me -- that's easy. I will learn information which will help me in a professional career, and I will earn a master's degree. You, as the graduate applications committee, do need to ask what I am going to do for you. With a little bit of luck (and a lot more skill), this essay will answer that question. I ask you to read this entire essay, for this is my story. This is my life.

I am a firm believer in educating the mind to realize the full human potential. I want to fulfill my own personal potential of mind, body and soul. I fully believe that it can best be accomplished by a formal education. Grayson Kirk claimed that the most important function of education is to develop the personality of the individual -- and the significance of his life -- to himself and to others. I am a man who has a genuine desire to be a productive and positive member of an enlightened community of minds. Furthering my education is the most efficient and effective manner in which to achieve that lofty goal. Education is a privilege, and is a validation of my intelligence.

My learning strengths are concrete experience and active experimentation. Doing things is important to me, and I feel that I can readily adapt to specific and immediate circumstances. I rely on information from all kinds of sources. My unrelenting persistence and curiosity (I have a lot of questions and ideas), my ability to see situations from multiple perspectives, and my project-oriented psyche make me a near-perfect fit for graduate work.

Humans, by definition, are doing creatures. Our doing usually features a lesson hidden somewhere, which leads to learning. I do things for people -- myself, my friends and family, acquaintances, confidants, fellow students, professors, and the public at large. I do these things for several reasons: I learn from the interaction, I enjoy helping people and communicating with them, and a potential mutual benefit can come to fruition. I fervently believe that learning is a process, not an event. Learning will not end when I receive my degree, because I will never stop learning. Dr. Albert F.C. Wehlburg, a theatre professor at the University of Florida, claims that "you are always a student, or your mind is dead." I hold that close to my heart -- er, brain.

My personality is definitely unique. I am not scared of failure or rejection -- at least, not as much as the average person. I will try nearly anything once. I am extremely independent and self-sufficient. I am able to see multiple sides of an issue, and I can come to what I feel is a rational conclusion for a process or for closure. I am remarkably accommodating to others, almost to a fault; I can be so flexible to meet the needs of others, that I might avoid my own.

I am a big believer in how government works (or, rather, how it should work). My father, who has been a large influence in who I am, has worked as a governmental employee for the majority of his professional life, and he has impressed the system upon me: the system that we have in place is not necessarily the best one in existence, but it is the one we have, and we need to make it work. We should feel somewhat lucky that we have the ability to be voices in the system to attempt to change it for the better. I know that I am one of those voices now, and I fully intend to be louder as time progresses. Politically, I am a liberal, but first and foremost, I am a thinker. I choose to actually examine the issues and candidates, and how it will affect those things which I care about, and pull the appropriate lever at the ballot box. My personal definition of the word politics is "the art (or the science) of getting what you want."

I am a highly sensitive person. Twenty-three years of living in this contemporary society, this sometime cruel and heartless world, has blunted part of that sensitivity, but I am sure that there are some things about myself that cannot change. I am insightful, caring, and intuitive. I have passion and creativity. However, I am a bit cautious and inward, and I do need some time alone. Others might see me as shy, weak, or unsociable. I am definitely not fearful, inhibited, or timid, but I do have an ego. I do think about and worry what others think of me, but that usually translates to my closest friends and confidants being relatively non-judgmental. I prefer small groups of friends as opposed to loud parties. (I am not in the fraternity scene, nor the bar-hopping or club-hopping crowds.) Quality of friendships is more important to me than quantity. I prefer close friends because I seek support and understanding, and I give the same in return. They can -- and have -- upset me sometimes (and vice versa), but that mandates an inner growth; it makes me search within my own dimestore psychology for the solution to the dilemma in question. When solved, it eventually leads to a stronger bond of friendship. Isn't that what we all look for?

Competition is a prime factor in my life. My father taught me how to play the card game of gin as a boy, and he never let me win. Ever. Any and every win I had was therefore genuine. I do the same today... I can't let a kid win, because I feel like I cheated him/her. I play to win -- it completes and displays my potential, it gives me the ability to make positive individual changes, and it forces others to expect only the best from me. Because I intend to only give the best. Why do something without desire and enthusiasm? I don't know any other way to do things... or any other way to live! If I am going to do something, I am going to do it right. If I lose, then I lose. I can take a loss, but I make sure that I learn from that loss: "What did I do wrong? And how can I correct it the next time?" Hopefully, I will only lose in things which are relatively difficult. Failure translates those high expectations to lower ones for future consideration. Competition as a whole is but one means to improve oneself.

On the same token, I simply cannot and will not cheat or steal or tell lies. On any level. In any set of circumstances. I have my morals and standards. There are some absolutes which must be obeyed in this society if the society itself is going to survive. That is not to say that the burden of a moral society rests upon my shoulders, but you have to start somewhere. I am not even close to being perfect, but a perfectionist tries to be perfect. Fortunately, I can live with imperfection.

I tend to explain things a lot... maybe too much. Sometimes I will overexplain something, but only because I want to be an effective communicator. Unfortunately, it will sound like I am explaining something to a five-year-old, but I'm not perfect. I do appreciate the art of communication, and I attempt to utilize it in every facet of my life. It is remarkably important to me. I have a large vocabulary, and I use it in everyday conversation. My writing skills are exemplary. (I don't mean to toot my own horn, but that is somewhat necessary in these kinds of essays.) I am the sort of person who writes letters (postal and electronic) if something angers me in society. (I love receiving and sending letters of both types; thanks to my grandfather's influence.) I am very up front with people. I cannot -- and will not -- play mind games; I mean what I say, and I say what I mean. I attempt to be the peacemaker or arbitrator in arguments involving friends of mine; my father's experience as a judge and lawyer probably rubbed off of him onto me. I always seek a compromise. Always. (Like I said, I'm very flexible. I'll try almost anything.)

Other facets of my personality aren't necessarily so important in regards to impressing certain positive things upon graduate admissions committees. My tastes in music span are as wide as anybody I know, I'm a rabid sports fan, I am a student of humor and comedy (I really love telling jokes, but my joke-telling ability needs major improvement), and I have been a computer geek since I was nine years old (my love of computers may have to do with my love of communication).

I was born in Detroit, but I moved to Miami when I was four years of age. Miami is still my home. In grade school, I was the teacher's pet. Plain and simple. I was fat (and I still am), and I was a geek (and I still am). That's the bad news. The good news is that I did very well academically, I was a "gifted" student in second grade (for one year, I went to another school twice a week), I won the school's spelling bee contest in 1985 (and went on to place 52nd in Dade County, Florida that year), and I found a work ethic. I have stuck to that work ethic even today.

In junior high school, I found ways to express my newly-found creativity. I re-took the "gifted" test, passed with flying colors, and enrolled in a "gifted" class in seventh, eighth, and ninth grades. In that class, I took part in the Odyssey of the Mind competition in 1986 (my area of expertise was non-verbal communication), studied the American space program in 1987 (I wrote what I called "my thesis," because it was a comprehensive, exhaustive, seventeen-page, single-spaced [!] report on the Mercury and Apollo programs), and studied Armageddon in 1988. I was still doing well academically. I was only one of twenty students in my school to take geometry and Algebra II at the same time.

I was fortunate enough to have part of my childhood at the local Jewish Community Center. I went to their after-school program every day throughout the majority of my grade school years, not to mention summer day camp every year until 1986. In 1987 I was old enough to be a counselor-in-training, and I jumped at the opportunity. I was part of the computer room at the camp during that summer, and I was lauded for my ability to teach small children what computers could do for them. I connected the best with kids that were ten to twelve years of age. We showed them simple programming in BASIC, fun things to do with our printing capabilities, and (of course) computer games.

I found out about the International Baccalaureate program during my ninth grade year, and I decided to apply. I was accepted. Yikes. So I tried it at Coral Gables Senior High School for tenth grade. It was okay, but I really didn't want to be challenged that much. So for my junior year of high school, I tried it part-time. I then realized I was not having very much fun in high school. I wanted to learn and work, but not this hard. Fun is still a little important, even in your high school years. So I dropped out of the International Baccalaureate program in time for my senior year, and I worked while having fun. My stress level dropped substantially.

In high school, I really came into myself. I got into an acting class in junior high, and tried Acting II at Gables. I loved it. I dove in head first. I got into Thespians, and I began to develop a highly professional attitude about the work I was doing on stage. I could not consider my work as just "high school stuff" -- dammit, this was important! I have since mellowed out (in life as well as theater), but I was admired and respected for keeping my activities on stage at the highest level attainable. In the same way I took a "gifted" class every year in junior high, I took an acting class every year in high school. I was fortunate enough to be in three plays: Fame in my junior year, and Tartuffe and The Canterbury Tales in my senior year.

Some time in my junior year, I heard about another club at Gables besides Thespians. I knew that hundreds of clubs existed, but this one caught my fancy. Equinox, the school's environmental club, was really getting a huge following. I talked to some members, and I realized that what they were saying was not only true, but that things needed to be done -- and fast -- to try to solve the earth's problems. I joined, and I got very interested in solid waste management and reduction, specifically recycling. In my senior year, besides being an active member of Equinox, I was the student body representative on the school's recycling committee, and I was instrumental in getting a paper recycling system started at the school. I helped to put together the school's celebration of Earth Day 1990, which was the first publicly-acknowledged Earth Day in two decades. During the spring and summer of 1990, I personally lobbied the City of Miami Department of Public Works and the Department of Solid Waste to expand their then-fledgling curbside recycling program to my area of the city. I succeeded; blue bins were delivered to ourfront door on Halloween of that year. I felt proud that my efforts and ideas were helping to solve some of the most important problems in the world -- or, rather, in the earth.

Part of my somewhat altruistic nature translated to regular blood donations, which started during my high school years. I have continued to do so in college in Gainesville. I give on an almost religious basis. I have given over four gallons of blood in my lifetime, and I hope to give close to ten gallons. I do this because it makes me a positive, contributing member of society -- and because I'm no longer scared of the needle. My blood type is AB Positive, which is the second-rarest blood type. That's why the blood banks are all too happy to stick a needle in my right arm for a pint of the red stuff.

In November of my senior year of high school, I applied to seven schools for an undergraduate degree: The University of Florida (Gainesville, Florida), Florida State University (Tallahassee, Florida), The University of South Florida (Tampa, Florida), Florida International University (Miami, Florida), The University of Alabama (Tuscaloosa, Alabama), Indiana University (Bloomington, Indiana), and Michigan State University (East Lansing, Michigan). I was accepted by all seven schools, and the University of Alabama wanted me in their honors program. After receiving the seventh and final acceptance letter from the University of Florida, I visited the campus in Gainesville. I loved it. I decided to attend. I've been here ever since.

I started as an acting major. I liked it, and I wanted to at least try it out, to see if I was good enough to make it as an actor. I did get a small role in a mainstage production, which was without a doubt the strangest play or movie I'd ever seen (or been in): The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade by Peter Weiss. (Yes, that's the real title, but nobody can say that as neatly and quickly as most titles are, so it's been abbreviated as Marat/Sade.) I can best describe this play as Les Miserables, only more depressing, and more sadistic. Well, despite that role, I realized after a while that although it was fun work (I was enjoying myself while laboring backstage or on stage), I did not think that I could support myself financially as an actor. So I decided to change that major into a minor, and major in something I caught on to in the tail years of my high school career: the environment.

Not soon after I made that decision (but before I set the wheels of bureaucracy moving to officially let the University of Florida know that I wanted to change my major), I heard that the University of Florida was going to create a new college: the College of Natural Resources and the Environment (CNRE, pronounced "scenery"). The interim dean told me that I could enter it, but there was almost two years until it could officially admit students. They informed me to go to the Food & Resource Economics Department (FRED, pronounced "fred" [sorry, I couldn't resist -- even in an application for graduate work]) in the College of Agriculture, and enter a "holding pattern" until CNRE opened to students, at which point I could switch over. The natural resources and environmental economics specialization of the B.S. in FRED is very similar to the B.A. in Environmental Policy offered by CNRE.

And so I immediately began to take classes in that major, bent on getting a degree in environmental policy. But when the school officially opened, I hit a snag. I went to the dean's office and tried to transfer, but they wouldn't let me! The reason? I had amassed too many credit hours! I felt betrayed and lied to, and I said exactly that to the dean. He would not budge. I tried other methods to transfer to CNRE, but they all failed. Technically, I was stuck in FRED, and I was given a choice: either earn a Bachelor of Science in Food & Resource Economics (with a specialization in natural resources and environmental economics), or we will kick you out. Needless to say, I stayed with the program. It's not all bad, but I knew nothing about the economics of environmentalism. My grades soured, and that is a prime reason why my grade point average is somewhat low. I felt like I was forced into the wrong program. (I could give you other reasons why my grade point average needed major improvement, like the fact that the University of Florida does not have an effective grade forgiveness policy, but I digress.)

Luckily for me, this situation does have a happy ending. I began to understand what the field really is all about, and it really does have to do with environmentalism. My major here at the University of Florida is definitely a strong point in this application, because I fully intend to serve your school in a purely environmental manner. I tend to see myself as the consummate environmental student. I will prove that later in this essay.

I had the opportunity to take part in a summer internship -- and even that was in an environmental state of mind. I have visited my alma mater numerous times since I graduated, and I failed to see paper recycling bins in the classrooms. I didn't think that was good. Therefore, I proposed an internship to the Dade County Public School system, and they accepted it. In the summer of 1994, I was part of a slow-but-steady streamlining and improvement of the district's recycling program (which included creative problem-solving to increase aluminum and paper recycling, and increased awareness of solid waste reduction and management in public schools), and I gave presentations at numerous public schools about recycling and integrated solid waste management.

My employment experience has been limited, but I am certain that I will be a viable employee at your school, and in the professional world as well. I held a couple of simple restaurant jobs in high school, primarily armed with the cash register. I was a computer assistant in the University of Florida College of Business Administration for one academic year, assisting faculty members and deans with using their computers. Approximately one year ago, I was anointed as the webmaster for the University of Florida Department of Agronomy; I was to create their web site. Once I finished creating it, I turned it over to someone else to actively maintain it.

I have some experience in the world of politics as well. In the summer of 1990, which preceded my senior year of high school, I was a volunteer with the campaign of Arthur Teele, who was running for a position on the Dade County Commission. My primary duties were to run errands for the campaign by car; picking up packages and forms and campaign contributions, and dropping off packages, et cetera. He won. (Yay.) Mr. Teele has since held the title of chair of the Dade County Commission, and ran for mayor of Dade County. He lost in the two-man runoff to Alex Penelas. Besides that, I have taken part in the Save the Everglades campaign in Florida during the November 1996 elections, and as this is being written, I am making plans to go to Washington for Spring Break. Part of my itinerary in our nation's capital involves lobbying Congress; I have appointments with specific members of the Florida delegation of the House of Representatives, and Senators Graham and Mack.

I was part of a University of Florida computer club called VAX Unlimited. I am a proud to be a founding member of this group. VAX Unlimited is not your average computer club. One of the fundamental purposes of the group is to promote free exchange of ideas and free speech. Meetings are Friday evenings at 6:00 P.M., so we all blow off steam at the meetings (which can be -- and are -- hilarious), and so we can all go out to dinner afterwards. During meetings of this non-traditional campus organization, debates have raged about permissible content of web sites, campus security and the (official University of Florida) definition of the word "harassment", and why documents that are supposed to be in the public domain really aren't. We were all computer geeks -- with a conscience. And we acted on that collective conscience. Throughout the club's existence, we have considered loftier goals in regards to infrastructure: to become an umbrella organization for all computer-related clubs on campus (pending the approval of ACM, IIIE, et cetera), and to franchise out to other schools.

I tend to see myself as the consummate environmental student. Besides the academics, I belong to three separate-but-somewhat-related campus organizations, each of which has a distinct claim in the world of environmentalism. Those three claims are (respectively) activism, waste management and engineering, and agricultural management.

I have been involved with EAG for most of my undergraduate career. I have chaired the group's recycling committee, maintained the group's web site, and been interviewed by many journalism students about recycling (I enjoy being a resource). Most impressive of all, I got to lobby Congress on 3 April 1995 (free airfare, hotel and lobbyist training) just because of a letter I wrote to Campus Green Vote about an issue I first heard about through EAG. When I did lobby specific members of Congress, I presented them with a paper that I wrote about solid waste management, which I had written that very semester in an introductory class about agronomy. (Due to this opportunity, there is no chance that I will henceforth underestimate the power of the postal service -- or the written word.)

Three years ago, I heard about a student chapter of the Air & Waste Management Association (AWMA). I was intrigued with an organization that was so specialized, yet dealt with something which I think is important -- waste management. I joined, and I haven't looked back. AWMA is an international professional organization, but it does have a large student contingent by design. The networking which occurs at the sectional and international meetings is priceless to the students, who are looking for employment or internships. I attended the 1996 International Meeting in Nashville, and I presented a student paper about Superfund and retroactive liability. I attended the 1996 Florida Section meeting in the beautiful Florida panhandle city of Destin. The contacts I made at both meetings are undoubtedly in my favor, and I am currently planning to attend the 1997 International Meeting in Toronto.

I found out about a new club trying to form in October 1996. A new major at the University of Florida, Environmental Management in Agriculture, wanted to form a club to supplement it. I am not in that major, but I was in the same college, and I am always interested in environmental management. So I joined the organization, helped to write the constitution, created a club web site, and got things going with the organization as a whole.

I feel that I am qualified for a position with the university housing system. I have voluntarily lived at the residence halls at the University of Florida for the entire length of my undergraduate career, and I thoroughly enjoyed the urban setting and communal lifestyle. I would like to be a part of the housing staff at your school, preferably as a hall director or a supervisor of resident assistants. As a full-time graduate student, I feel that I would be able to balance the responsibilities of both housing and education. I have contacted the campus housing system under a separate letter in regards to this situation, and I will communicate with them if I am accepted to your school.

My experience with computers started at nine years of age -- I learned about the Apple II. Not soon after, my mother bought a Kaypro for her small business, and for the family to use. I quickly learned BASIC, word processing and CP/M (the precursor to DOS). My experience with computers increased at a steady rate until I reached the University of Florida. I received a university account with full Internet access in the fall of 1991. At this point, the rate of learning and experience with computers shot from steady to exponential. I quickly learned how to write hypertext markup language (HTML) in the fall of 1994, when full access to World Wide Web finally came to our campus. I created a personal web site, which has become a real labor of love for me. (It also included HTML versions of my résumé, my acting résumé, and my "official" list of references.) I began to create and/or maintain web sites for other people and for organizations, including the University of Florida Environmental Action Group, the Sierra Student Coalition, the Key Biscayne Music & Drama Club, the Florida Shakespeare Theatre, and the University of Florida Environmental Management in Agriculture Club. Besides that, I started something which mushroomed to something really big: I am now the source on the Internet for college nicknames. A huge list, in HTML format, is on my personal web site listing nearly every college in America. Because of the College Nicknames list, I have been interviewed by telephone and electronic mail by various newspapers (usually during the NCAA Basketball Tournament, which features colleges with some nicknames that aren't usually in the mainstream of college sports), and I have begun to co-author a book about sports nicknames. Matt Burnstein is a lawyer in Louisville, Kentucky, and when he saw my list, he contacted me and asked me if I was interested in writing the definitive book on sports nicknames. My response? "Heck, yes!" The book, tentatively titled Banana Slugs, Mighty Ducks and Macon Whoopies, is on hold because of my attempt to graduate and his attempt to change employment.

With the potential of the Internet staring me square in the face, I began to realize that the world was really shrinking for me; I could contact people on the other side of the globe -- or the other side of the room -- in mere seconds. I wanted to have a larger (academic) presence online, so I took a lot of papers and essays that I had written (including the aforementioned speeches about Tampa and the automotive industry), and put them on my web site because I want others to read these papers for their own reasons, and to use them for their own research needs. The public is free to quote me in their own papers, and to send questions to me via electronic mail. Technically, these papers are now published. More recently, I became a member of the HTML Writers Guild, which is the world's leading organization for HTML design originators. As the World Wide Web becomes more and more established as an alternative to the printed and other mass marketing media, the Guild continues to grow. I feel that I am an expert in HTML, and that I can create professional-looking documents on the World Wide Web in very little time.

We all have goals in life. Some of us want money, cars, sex, power, et cetera. Others want peace, self-sufficiency, and the ability to positively affect this world. I imagine that I want part of both of those dreams, but first and foremost, I want to be a good person in society, and I want to achieve as much happiness as possible. This is vague to be sure, but I can specify. The good people of the world know that you don't know what you have until it is gone. I have learned that the hard way, and I know now never to do again that which initially brought me to that specific failure. I am a bit wiser for the time being. To be a good person perhaps is to follow the laws and rules (unless you feel a bad law exists, at which point you fight to change it -- but I digress), to be content with your morals and choices, and to be a productive member of society. Happiness is a subset of that theory; it is whatever you choose to do that makes you feel content or puts a smile on your face. A personal example is helping others; it is technically selfish because I get some personal satisfaction from aiding other people in areas of my personal expertise. Those I help think I do so out of the goodness of my heart, but it really puts a smile on my face as well.

Pursuing happiness is important in and of itself; I realize that life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are inalienable and self-evident rights. I am going to pursue joy as well. It also seems evident that the optimal goal in life is to be happy. Happiness might come in material possessions, but it seems to me that joy is somewhat more permanent and somewhat more unpredictable. It comes from doing what you love.

I wish to apply for any and all available forms of financial aid for which I qualify. I will consider fellowships, research or teaching assistantships, Stafford and/or other loans, employment opportunities (with the on-campus housing facilities, as a webmaster, and/or other opportunities), internship or cooperative positions, and parental loans for graduate students.

I am immensely confident that I will have the desire and the motivation to tackle the challenges of graduate school. I will be in a new environment, with a new set of challenges. Once I earn my degree, I will likely enter the public sector and work for the federal government or a state agency. I am altruistic enough to have the desire to serve the people. If I do not affect the system in that fashion, I might work with a public interest or lobbying organization. I have no qualms with being under the employ of a "special interest group", because it is another means to an end -- making a positive difference in society.

I thank you for taking the time and energy to consider me for graduate study. I ask that you take all of this information into account, and report a fair assessment of my potential as a graduate student. I seek to begin my post-baccalaureate education during the autumn of 1997. Please contact me when your decision is final.

Sincerely,

Adam J. Smargon