By Elise Deschamps
Twenty-one is a funny age. People ask all the time about what you want to do, where you want to end up and, ultimately, who you want to become. It’s an era of in-between-ness, where people ask these questions and expect you to have some sort of answer; as if the first two decades of our lives have provided all of the necessary experience to know what we’ll do for the next eight decades.
My name is Elise Deschamps, and I am a 21-year-old student studying journalism (after rotating through a slew of other majors) at Southern Adventist University. I am the youngest of three children, raised by a French agnostic, hippy-esque father and a Filipino semi-traditional Seventh-day Adventist mother. The standards of who we should be are high; growing up, there was a deep dedication to being raised as well-rounded individuals.
There was a large chasm in my upbringing given the spectrum of worldviews that were presented, a chasm that forced me to evaluate a variety of stories and experiences I was exposed to in the process. There were generational, cultural and spiritual divides in my home. Furthermore, I was always encouraged to pursue any interests I had. I was a competitive gymnast, swimmer and equestrian. I took up rock climbing and surfing in high school. I did ballet for a year. When I was homeschooled in high school, I was able to take college classes and work as a barista and tutor. I studied engineering for a time, before switching to international affairs, then public relations and finally settling on journalism.
One thing about my upbringing that I am deeply appreciative of is how much diversity I was exposed to. Our family had friends from all walks of life, whether they were of different religions, countries or cultures. I believe being raised in this way planted a seed of curiosity of the unknown. I am interested in the lives of others and why people are the way they are. I want to hear their stories, their struggles and their perspectives. Perhaps this is my way of settling the mind of my younger self who didn’t know what to believe. But I like to believe that it is part of a much larger plan, a Divine plan I don’t have the capacity to fully comprehend.
So my 21-year-old answer is this: I want to do whatever it takes for me to see and experience as much of this life as possible. I want to be wherever it is that my beliefs are challenged, where my worldview is expanded. I want to be someone who holds onto childlike curiosity and wonder for the entirety of my life, while also gaining knowledge and wisdom from the experiences that I go through.
In this class, I hope that I am humbled, I am challenged and that I am able to write in a way that exposes the beautiful nuances and complexities of being a human being. I want to connect with others on a personal level and use the skills my education has given me to potentially share this connection with those around me. With the help of those who know more and think differently than me, I hope to further tune into the person I will become.