Kathryn Overton

Personal Statement

16 November 2007

Sociology as an academic discipline may be loosely defined as the study of social phenomena. My interest in this area began not, as one might expect, with formal education, but with field work. For me, it was only after an immersion in an entirely, foreign set of social phenomena, that I became interested in the possibility of directly-related, formal study.

After completing my undergraduate degree in 2003, I graduated with lingering feelings of personal uncertainty and a sense of social obligation. Incapable of planning my academic future, I decided to channel my apprehensions towards altruistic endeavors, and commit to a year of volunteer service in rural, northern New Mexico.

I served as a teacher at Saint Francis Elementary School for over two years. During that time period, I uncovered numerous personal revelations. First, as an educator I became aware not only of the basic requirements of lesson planning and instruction, but I also began to develop personal philosophies of instruction, interaction, and behavioral management. As I progressed from my first to second year of teaching these rudimentary educational conjectures became more refined; thus allowing me to discuss and debate these measures with other instructors. Over the course of time, I became conscious of the dual existence of both the daily minutia of interaction within the classroom as well as the more subtle, overarching patterns and long-term goals that became the underpinnings of my educational efforts. The development of these informal, hypothetical models of education was the seed that later blossomed into my ongoing interest in social theory.

In addition to my primary experience in the classroom, I also became of aware of other secondary, cultural distinctions that characterized the families of Saint Francis students as well as the residents of the Jicarilla Apache Reservation, in which most of the students lived. The majority of my observations were based on cultural practices and realities that I perceived as being fundamentally different from my experience of growing up in a conservative, middle class family in the suburbs of southeastern Pennsylvania. The most obvious difference was the marked change in socioeconomics of the nearby towns. For example, the school itself is located in Lumberton, New Mexico. Lumberton lacks drinking water; potable water is brought weekly in a tanker, affectionately called the water buffalo, by the state militia. Both of the nearby towns of Lumberton and Dulce (the tribal capital of the Apache reservation) emanate a sense of depressed economic status, in comparison to the Pennsylvania suburbs, as reflected in the employment rate and livelihoods, overall annual income, and levels of educational attainment of the residents.

Although the disparity between the economic characteristics of my upbringing and that of the rural, New Mexicans was the most noticeable distinction, there were multiple other cultural differences. There were notable dissimilarities that permeated the spheres of family structure and parenting techniques, the social stigma of alcohol and its accompanying substance abuse, as well as the predominance of the Apache governance, cultural pride and traditions, and a wariness of outside influences. My passive observation of these social realities readily brought to mind the words of T. S. Elliot:

We must not cease from exploration and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we began and to know the place for the first time.

In 2006, I returned to Pennsylvania with an enlightened perspective. First, I realized that the perceived objective, institutional structures of my youth were in reality highly subjective and merely incidental to my immediate environment. Second, I uncovered a budding interest in the analysis of causal factors, structural foundations, and modes of perpetuation inherent in the areas of economic stratification, political structure, family organization, educational institutions, and religious practice. It suffices to say that my encounters while working and living amongst the residents of rural, northern New Mexico served as a primitive field work for my continued academic interest in sociology.

I left Saint Francis School with a host of questions and a yearning for answers. After a period of exploration, I settled on graduate study in sociology as the logical outlet for formal analysis of observed social phenomena as well an opportunity to cultivate my new-found, theoretical introspection. My current courses in contemporary social theory and research methods at the University of New Mexico have reinforced my assumptions regarding the wealth of opportunity available through sociological study as a whole. Although my initial sociological foray began with an informal, “micro-level analysis”, my current academic interests lie in the areas of comparative, macro sociology of stratification and development, education, and the economy.

My short-term goal is to complete two additional undergraduate courses in the spring, classical theory and introductory statistics, while applying for the master’s program (beginning in the fall of 2008). The University of New Mexico provides an attractive graduate option for several reasons. The University is one of the few institutions that offers a master’s degree in sociology, which is ideal for someone with minimal exposure to formal study. In addition, the Sociology Department boasts an intimate program size with a small graduate student population as well as renowned faculty members with a strong contingent of comparative, macro-sociologists. I intend to apply for financial aid. Long-term, I plan to complete the master’s degree and continue with fulltime graduate study at the doctoral level. I feel that the master’s program at the University of New Mexico will provide both a formal, educational introduction to the field of sociology as well as an opportunity to refine my personal research interests.