Hey y’all! My name is Pete and I’m planning on majoring in Civil Engineering. I am 19 years old, a Freshman here at Boise State, and without further adieu here is a little about me!

• Where did you grow up, and how did that place, as well as the people around you, influence you? I grew up in Boise first for 6 years, then Mountain Home for 4 years, then Prairie for 6 years. I was influenced in Mountain Home by friends, sports, school, my parents, family members, etc. I became very interested in sports such as football, baseball, wrestling, basketball, soccer, etc. My mom was the receptionist at Hacker Middle School in Mountain Home as well so I was really involved with the Middle School and helped out at many events, helped teachers, knew a lot of the teaching staff, etc. I learned some hard lessons after being curious about what my friends were talking about in school such as adult content, etc. which also helped to influence me to change those actions. When my family moved to Prairie I became much less involved with my influences from Mountain Home, because it is a very small town up in the mountains located about 50 miles from Mountain Home and Boise. I learned hard work ethics from working on our family ranch up there, such as never giving up on a task, working till the job is done, working with cows and horses, building and fixing barbed wire fences, digging ditches, bucking/ feeding hay, etc. I also became very involved in my community and helped many people in Prairie with any job they asked me to help with, and I did so without expecting pay. I earned a good reputation as a hard worker and a good kid in Prairie and that has helped me to see myself as successful and ready to tackle any obstacle that comes my way.
• What kinds of books or other texts did you read in school? On your own? The books I have read in school are The Old Man and the Sea, The Scarlet Pimpernel, The Great Gatsby, Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, Othello, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, A great book about President James Madison, and some other good ones that I can’t really remember the name of. I have read books on my own such as the Cirque Du Freak series, Old Yeller, When the Whistle Blows, some Gary Paulsen books, many of the Goosebumps series and other R.L. Stine series books, books about sports, historical and historical fictions books, etc.
• Where (e.g., specific website, television news channels, friends and family, church, etc.) do you learn about what’s going on in the U.S. and the rest of the world? I learn about what is going on in the U.S. and the rest of the world through family, friends, the news, Snapchat, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google, etc.
• How do you spend your leisure time, and how might it shape your view of the world? I spend my leisure time relaxing, snowboarding, snowmobiling, going home to my family on the weekends and helping/hanging out, and also hanging out with friends. These activities might shape my view of the world by showing me how much more we have to enjoy in the U.S. such as freedom, much less hunger, less poverty (for the most part), more leisure/recreation, etc. than in other parts of the world. I also feel like we might take it for granted because most of us grew up with a lot and never knew what it meant to be poor, or have to grow up with little material possessions.
• How has your religious or spiritual journey influenced how you view other people and their decisions? Yes I am a Christian but I wouldn’t consider myself to be religious per say because I don’t follow a certain religion. I would say that being a Christian I view other people and their decisions with both sides in mind. I don’t try to judge anybody by my first impression of them, I look at their good and bad, I don’t point out every little thing that somebody does that I consider to be wrong, and I am very polite and considerate of other people. I am a firm believer in the golden rule, “Do unto others as you want done unto you.” I am respectful, caring, honest, and many other good traits.
• Did your parents or guardians come from different cultures? If so, how did these cultures appear in your home when you were growing up? No, my parents didn’t come from different cultures. My mother and father both grew up in Idaho from families within the U.S.
• How has your perspective on the world changed as you have matured and gained more life experience? My perspective on the world has changed as I have matured and gained more life experience by I now see things that I didn’t know of or see much before such as heated topics on same sex marriage, gun control laws, abortion, U.S. involved wars, celebrity scandals, world events, mass shootings, local, state, and nationwide elections, videos on the internet, etc. I now see the world in a much broader view and I have my own thoughts and ideas on issues that didn’t matter to me when I was younger. I pay attention to major issues now and I have opinions on these issues.
• What specific experiences—e.g., events, conversations, chance meetings, courses, etc.—have made you shift your perspective or change your mind about something? I would say that my sociology class that I took last year in high school definitely made me think differently about certain subjects and topics in the world. I learned about how we are shaped as an individual, certain factors that influence our behavior, how a good person can do bad things, how solitary confinement is probably not a good solution to handle criminals, and many other very important thoughts and ideas.

Are there people or experiences that you consider formative in your life—that is, they are or were essential to shaping the person you are today? Explain. My Mom, Dad, Grandpa Nathan, Grandma Mary, Grandpa Pete, Abuela Reyes, Great-Grandma Priscilla, Granny Black, Uncle Luther, and a few other people were all very essential to shaping the person I am today because I have learned all that I know from each and every one of these people.