I wrote this essay in March 2003 as part of an application for graduate school. It describes my background and my vision of myself as I neared my college graduation.
Who are you, and what is your background?
On a cool December evening in Santa Monica, I was born an only child to a physician and a flight attendant. My father was a confident yet mild man who spent a great deal of time at the hospital or his office. I remember the way that his gentle humor put elderly patients at ease. He appropriately applied spirituality to medicine in a unique way that enabled patients to have faith–whether secular or otherwise–and as a result enjoy a better opportunity for healing. I always appreciated the way that he earned the love and respect of his patients. He never let me forget that the best path was one of moderation, unfailing ethics, and harmonious relationships.
My mother was eccentric, passionate, and unfailingly polite. She attended the Anderson School of Business at UCLA Executive MBA program between 1982 and 1983, and left because of increasing demands from work. She was also one of the most incredible traders I have ever met, reminding me of Milo Minderbinder from Joseph Heller’s Catch-22 (a character who could purchase eggs for 7¢ a piece, sell them for 5¢, and still make a profit). She had an uncanny ability to purchase and sell everything from gems to luggage and from lamb chops to socks with toes from various vendors scattered across the globe. She was just as comfortable surrounded by foreign dignitaries as a volunteer for the International Olympic Committee as she was among her fellow flight attendants. From her I gained strong etiquette skills, cultural sensitivity, and above all, a love for business.
I spent most of my childhood shifting between two extremes by traveling around the world, experiencing a diversity of cultures and ideologies, and experiencing a fairly typical American childhood. My childhood home was located on a long freeway of a street, quite distant from other children. For this reason, my outlets became books, Impressionist art, world culture, and Apple computers, but most especially entrepreneurial ideas.
When I was four years old, I envisioned operating carnivals in my backyard as a form of play. In fifth grade, I started a newspaper at my elementary school. In sixth grade, I sold customized stationary that I designed on a Macintosh and printed using my father’s laser printer. In eighth grade, I wrote shareware games. As a freshman in high school I started and championed what became one of the first and largest online high school newspapers, ultimately leading a staff larger than that of the school’s sanctioned paper, without the support or blessings of an apathetic school administration. In the eleventh grade, I began a hobby in web design that has turned into a venture that now embraces over 75 clients, numerous international vendors, and several strategic partnerships.
My experiences during and after high school are unique. During my freshman and sophomore years, I attended Mira Costa High School in Manhattan Beach. As a junior, I attended The Global Village School, a miniscule accredited school located above a florist shop on Pico Blvd. The student body reached a maximum of 13 students. I was the only member of my class and I frequently received one-to-one instruction from USC and UCLA professors. I passed two AP exams at the end of my junior year. The school closed at the completion of the school year, forcing me to consider an alternate source
of education.
Instead of returning to an inferior public high school, I began attending Los Angeles Valley College. About one year later, I was offered a job at Frontera Corporation, an idealab! company. I began working full time as a graphic designer while continuing to maintain a full-time course load at LAVC. When I was 19, Frontera migrated from Pasadena to the Howard Hughes Center near LAX. I left my parent’s home and began renting a single apartment. I spent an average of 45 hours a week working at Frontera while taking between nine and twelve units at Santa Monica College. Despite an utter lack of free time, I still managed to maintain a relationship with my girlfriend. My Internet hosting business continued to grow as I developed strategic partnerships with local content creators and businesses.
Towards the end of 2000, I began to yearn for an intensive educational experience such as the one that I received at The Global Village a few years earlier. While I certainly enjoyed my job and coworkers, Frontera’s layoffs in January 2001 were a welcome change; I earned enough of a severance package to maintain my apartment until I could enter a four-year school in the fall.
I was accepted at Occidental College for the fall of 2001. I quickly adjusted to the new academic rigor and earned a 3.92 GPA in my first semester. Each successive semester has been increasingly challenging. I will have completed the majority of the requirements for the Economics for Business and Management major and a History minor in just four semesters. During my time at Occidental I quickly became an integral part of the campus community: I developed an unofficial online community named
OxyUnderground,com, participated in the selection committee for a new economics professor, and participated in various strategic planning meetings. I have produced two photo essay series–”What does service mean to you?” and “Why are you at Oxy?”–to chronicle some of the differences in ideology and opinions on this campus. During the summer between my junior and senior years, I spent eleven weeks volunteering as a docent and wilderness patrol person for the U.S. Forest Service.
Today, I realize that my unique experiences and environments have produced many of my unique traits and opinions. My name is Christopher Stanleigh Ronan Gagné, translated as “the bearer of Christ who dwells by the stony sea in celebration of his winning.” Religious connotations aside, it is my aspiration to live up to my name. I will walk out and glance at the sunset in the incoming tide, knowing that I have succeeded; I will have actualized my greatest potential.