My name is Jared Carpenter. My interest in humanitarian affairs was initially sparked by a burning desire to travel. I was interested in any profession that would get me out from behind a desk and into the world. At first I I thought the path of a journalist was the one for me, but ironically after studying abroad in Italy on a journalism program I decided to change my major to political science, I felt that this would give me a better background to successfully go out into the world. My interest in service work was piqued my sophomore year of college by a last minute decision to go to Joshua Tree on an Alternative Spring Break. Going more for the adventure of camping out in the desert for a week than to actually make a difference, I surprised even myself when I found my enjoying the work we did there just as much as the outdoors aspect. We removed invasive species of plants and helped to set up fence posts to keep people from traveling to areas where they weren't supposed to, we rode around with park rangers and heard stories of how they've come face to face with grizzly bears and participated in drug raids during their postings in other parks and for a time I thought that being a national park ranger was my calling. However this didn't satisfy a crucial requirement for me which is my desire to learn about and interact with other cultures. The following year I decided to push it even further and participate in another Alternative Spring Break, this time to the small town of Chacraseca, Nicaragua where our group participated in community development projects such as building a house and helping out in the local school. Although I had traveled a good amount in the past with my parents and had been exposed to poverty, this was my first time living it and interacting with it on a daily basis. We were introduced to people who had little to nothing and literally survived on a day to day basis. How could I not continue to try and help people in this position? After this trip I immediately picked up the humanitarian affairs minor hoping to advance my knowledge in this field. I must say, although I had done some initial research and been introduced to some aspects of the field through my political science major, I was pretty naive to how deep the field of humanitarian affairs really is. Its complex nature has done little to sway me, if anything it proved to intrigue me even more. Although incredibly frustrating and disheartening at times, the relationship between aid service, politics and power is something that is very interesting to me. But despite the intricate web that is humanitarian affairs, the bottom line remains unwavering, there are always going to be those in need and it is the responsibility of those with the capacity to do something about it to do it. I fully plan on pursuing a future in this field, however where that future will take me, I do not know. In my final year of school I plan to continue my education in political science and humanitarian affairs, it seems that learning both sides of the coin will prove invaluable in my future. After college I plan to join the Peace Corps; I feel that there's no better way of learning how to best combat a problem than to live it. I hope that this experience in addition to my education will give me the direction I need to begin a successful career in humanitarian affairs.