Soup, salad, pasta, steak, all topped off with a refreshing dessert. A five-course meal at a fancy restaurant is one of the most delicious experiences one can ever have. Although I am not a cook, I am my own five-course meal. My strengths, individualization, developer, strategic, adaptability, and relator, are my five-course meal. These five key strengths shape not only who I am, but can shape the community around me if I put them to use. Individualization means that you recognize each and every person’s unique qualities, and you resent stereotyping. For me, individualization is my top trait because I see the value in working as a team. Two minds are better than one, and three are better than two. One person can see something in a completely different light than someone else, but that makes our ideas stronger. In my new life here at Virginia Tech, I have already witnessed myself using my individualization skills. In my architecture studio, we communicate within ourselves and give off ideas to each other. My projects have unquestionably been improved with the help of my colleagues, and vice versa. Similar to individualization, developer is my second strongest quality. A developer sees the potential in others- what they can possibly become through hard work. During my middle school and high school years, my life revolved around baseball. One of my favorite things was to predict how good a “prospect” could be- what their potential was, if they could make it to the majors. Translate that strength into college, and I see what my new friends and classmates could be. In my studio, I see what great drawings and concepts some students have, yet when it comes to their final projects, they seem incomplete and lacking a critical element. What I would like to do in this scenario is to help them overcome their adversity. College is an adjustment, and poor time management is a skill that many freshmen have not mastered yet. Something I could do to help them overcome adverse times is to study with them, or give them inspiration to not procrastinate. My next strength is strategy, which is to look at multiple routes or options, and choosing the most efficient path. Thinking strategically is something I am very proud of, and attribute to my time working at the airport. Pushing wheelchair passengers was a stressful job as many times in the day, we lacked the man power to compensate for everybody needing a wheelchair. Thinking strategically allowed me to assist as many passengers as I could in a designated amount of time, which ultimately led to my promotion to supervisor at the age of seventeen. I am driven to carry on the same way of thinking into my life and studies here at Virginia Tech. Strategic thinking in the sense of college brings time management to my head. So far, I have not procrastinated as much as I did in high school, and I attribute this to strategic thinking. Although I am a strategic thinker, I also know that some things I cannot prepare for, and my next strength, adaptability, helps me maintain my focus and come out of adversity on top. During those late nights that every college student has, where everything is good, and then they remember that they had homework- this is the type of scenario I thrive in because I am able to keep my focus and keep a straight head. I think that adaptability is something every college student would love to be able to excel in, but there are other uses as well. For example, if you are volunteering at an event, sometimes you are bombarded with a number of tasks for something you just learned how to do. Adaptability would play a major role in scenarios like these. Finally, my last strength is being able to relate. Relating is something I believe I have picked up recently, although I cannot pinpoint when this change in my thinking occurred. It has become a huge part in my life as I constantly put myself into others’ shoes and imagine what it would be like on the other side of the spectrum. Although you may have an opinion that you think is right, being a relator allows you to see others thought processes, and the “pros and cons” of their ideas. In a community service setting, a relator could play a key role, as they could gather everybody’s ideas, and incorporate a little bit of everything into a final product. Taking this strengths quiz has allowed me to put into words what I am good at, and lets me continue to advance myself in these areas. Just like a developer would believe, nobody has reached their true potential- the sky is the limit, and you can always continue to better yourselves and others.