Timothy D. Siburg
Majors: Economics and Religion
PLU, Class of 2009
The following is how I might have described myself and my ambitions at the beginning of my PLU career over 3 years ago:
Adam Burt, an NHL defensemen once said, “I’ve learned it’s not always the most talented people who make it, but those who don’t give up.” Throughout my life so far, I have always driven myself to do my best. God has granted me with the gift of ambition. I am not the most intelligent person, I don’t have the best singing voice, but no one I know challenges him or herself more than I do. I have always given my all, and pushed myself to do more. This trend I expect to continue in and after college.
I wish to make the most out of all the gifts God has given me, in order that I can serve him in any capacity that I am called to. I have long-held goal of attending a four-year college or university, and of attaining a Bachelors Degree and Masters Degree, and hopefully a doctorate. Pacific Lutheran would be an ideal starting place in this quest because of its wonderful liberal arts curriculum.
I am interested in many fields, therefore PLU being a smaller liberal arts school is my ideal post-secondary option. Fields that interest me include: Business Administration, Management, Business, Pre-Law/Law, History, Music, English, Mathematics, Religion, and even Political Science. At this time, I could not venture a guess as to which, if any of these, I will end up majoring in.
After attaining my degrees and relevant experience, I hope to embark on a career as possibly a Chief Executive Officer, a General Manager, a Lawyer, a Teacher or Professor, a Music Director, a Minister, or a Politician.
I would like to foster skills in leadership, listening, people skills, and the art of patience in order to better serve. Leadership is a quality I believe that I possess, but it, as anything else in life, can be improved. It is a skill that would be necessary in nearly every position of interest of mine. A leader needs to be able to work with people, as part of a team. A leader must earn and deserve the respect of his followers and peers. One way to do so is to listen to them. If one can listen to their peers, and then effectively take their input and learn, he or she has found a healthy way to grow. I want to find myself in such a situation. In working with others, one must obviously possess “people skills.” These include compassion, kindness, courtesy or politeness, all of which I believe I possess, but in order to be successful, I must continually improve upon them. I would also like to foster the art of patience. I must remind myself that success does not happen overnight. Hard work, determination, and persistence lead to success, all of which require patience. I would like to call myself patient, but I know college will force me to improve upon this as well. For anything to be accomplished, time must be allotted, and I must recognize this fact.
I would like to foster personal values such as honesty, reliability, and courtesy. Being a Christian, and being brought up in a Lutheran family, I hold myself to a strong moral code. I like to call myself ethical. I have promised myself that I will never jeopardize my dignity through cheating or plagiarizing. A couple points on a test aren’t worth losing my self-respect. I will never let myself take credit for another’s work. It is neither fair nor right. I challenge myself to promote courtesy. To achieve success in life, a little courtesy will go a long way. I believe that it is the least I can do to hold a door for someone, whether or not they need a hand, to offer help whenever I can, and to try and be as flexible and accommodating a person as I possibly can.
It is the “American Dream” to be successful. In order to achieve this dream, you must also possess the “American Character.” I believe I possess the qualities of persistence, ambition, and hard work. In order to achieve success, along with those qualities, I must foster the values already mentioned. If I can succeed in this as I hope I can, there is no limit to my potential. Through whatever I achieve, I hope that I can give back for all the gifts that I have been granted. There is nothing wrong with “sharing the wealth.”
At the end of my life, I hope to look back on it with pride. I hope to say that I never once left anything to chance, that I gave my all, and did not buckle under the pressure. I hope to say that I accomplished my desire to not be part of the common cliché “make a difference,” but to actually follow through, to go out into the world and use everything that I learned. To answer Mary Oliver’s famous question, “What will you do with your one wild and precious life?” I will not waste it, but will strive to fulfill my limitless potential.