Inspiration is Everywhere
From Grayson, Georgia, 1st-year International Affairs and Modern Languages student, Henry Tharpe, immediately involved himself with Ivan Allen College as a first year, and with his prerogative, he is taking a deeper look and finding inspiration for the future.
“My favorite book series is Harry Potter, but not for the fiction, but rather for the deep literary analysis you can do on each passage. This translates into my love for current events too; I always ask why – what are the implications, why is this a strategy, or what are the political aims of something – and now I take that more into daily life,” Tharpe said.
This desire for a deeper connection has lead to separate actions in his life.
“I chose Georgia Tech because of Ivan Allen, because I like how at a large research institute I could still get the small college feel where I could know many people in my major and take classes with them and grow with them through the years,” he said.
So after settling in for the first semester, he took a step forward to join Ivan Allen more directly, through the Student Advisory Board, the Ivan Allen Ambassadors Program, and the Alumni and Career Development internship in Ivan Allen.
“I knew I enjoyed the Ivan Allen feel, so what better way to get involved than to get involved with that? I especially enjoy outreach because I want to share the gift of Ivan Allen with everyone,” he said.
Specifically, in his internship, Tharpe has realized that he was doing more than just work.
“Because a lot of people are just more focused on STEM majors and that seems to be the societal trend, I never really figured out what I wanted to do in the future, but that is not actually the case since there are so many interesting job opportunities that I see every day during my internship. I love seeing what alumni are doing, from working for the National Parks Service to NASA, and it is inspiring in a way,” he said.
Consequentially, curiosity has transformed into inspiration.
“We shouldn’t take things for surface value, but rather investigate before judging something, like a person or even just food. From my research here at Ivan Allen I’ve found possibilities which I never even knew existed, and that’s something special,” Tharpe said.
