My name is Owen Evans, and my chosen fields of interest are engineering and business. I practically grew up in town halls. My mom worked as a town planner for over 15 years in various towns around Rochester, and New York, and we lived in Irondequoit. She would bring me in on weekends when she had to do extra work and on her breaks, she would show me zoning maps, historical photos, and the little hidden gems in town halls. Whenever we would go on walks, I would point out the storm and sanitary sewer covers and drains to my mom and she would quiz me on them. "What is that one, Owen?" "Sanitary because it's in the middle of the street, and aligned with a house!" I would say with excitement. My go-to answer for what I wanted to be when I grew up was "A public planner working for a town" which was very specific coming from an eleven-year-old. As I grew older, and developed my interests, I realized I wanted to become a civil engineer. How I came to that conclusion was honestly partly to Legos and my mom. I had a huge collection and would go on YouTube for instructions, and build. Most of them would have many moving pieces and a semi-functional aspect to them. I would build them, and learn how the real-life equivalent works. For example, I made a working safe with a key and learned that that is how locks work. My brain would explode learning how things worked in the world and found that civil engineering combines the mechanical part and public planning. My last field of interest shift happened in high school with an introduction to business. As a required course, I had to take personal business finance. Going into it, I had very low expectations thinking it was going to be extremely boarding. After the first week of taking it, I was blown away. I loved the material, the aspects, and the teacher. The teacher's name was Mr. D, and he made a topic that sounded so incredibly bearing, into an insightful, useful, and inspiring class that truly changed my life. Because of Mr. D, I found that I love personal finance and business. The thought of planning and protecting how your money can grow, and shrink, and how to create a business, invest in property, and file your taxes all being driven by yourself is so awe-inspiring to me. With all these interests realized, I applied and got accepted to Clarkson University, majoring in Engineering and Business. At Clarkson, I will learn how to manage teams for engineering projects, have the insight to relate with the engineers, and have a business mindset to stay within a budget, spend money effectively, and create new opportunities for growth for the people, project, and company. I truly feel that this is my way of making the work a better place by managing meaningful projects that will help many across the world.

My view of legacy means to leave the world a better place than when you found it and to live a life that inspires others. Growing up, I never had a legacy in the forefront of my mind until recently. I was always only focused on the next few years or "until college" before I started high school. I feel like Covid was the catalyst that ignited the drive in me that allowed me to do accomplish amazing achievements since then. One of my biggest achievements was biking across the country with my mom. The route we followed is called the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route, which starts in Banff Canada, and ends at Antelope Wells, on the Mexico-American border. The Divide follows the continental divide that splits the continent in two and separates all the water from either going to the Atlantic or the Pacific The route stretches 2800 miles and crosses mountains as high as 12,000 feet. We have been planning this adventure for over 4 years and the stars aligned for us to live this dream. We have been working our tails off to find this trip and we were determined that we were going to cash flow the divide. We started in Banff on July 9th and finished 3 months later in Mexico. How we did this, is through bike packing. It is a form of cycling where you strap many bags to your bike, holding everything you need for an amount of time while riding to a destination, or just ride. We would camp in tents, eat and cook freeze-dried food, and store gallons of water (not an exaggeration) for sparse sections. We both experienced parts of the country we had no idea existed and witnessed insane, painting-worthy sun rises, and vast diverse landscapes where we could get lost in mother nature. Looking back on it, that was the best summer of my life and I am so grateful I could spend it with the person I value the most, my Mother. She originally found the route and made a promise to herself in 2019, watching the ball drop; she was going to ride the divide before she turned 50. Then, she was 40, and covid hasn't started yet. She suffers from diabetes, asthma, six autoimmune diseases, and a whole host of food allergies. Growing up, I only knew a sick mom who had to test this, have an appointment for this, go in for surgery for this, and on and on. I'm not sharing this to look for sympathy, I'm sharing this to show how much I respect and look up to her. Despite all her health complications, she made it a priority to complete the "hardest and longest off-road route in North America" to prove to herself that she can achieve anything she can set her mind to. That, despite the odds being stacked against her financially, and health-wise, she still did it and completed it with her boy. This brings me to my last point, in breaking the cycle. My Mom has taught me, and shown me that if I want something bad enough, I'm going to find a way to make it happen. Both my grandpas have diabetes as well meaning if I don't take care of my body, there's a high chance I will have it too. I am dedicated to breaking the genetic cycle and living my life to the fullest, healthiest, and happiest I can to ensure I can live a long, healthy life, create a lasting legacy for myself, and inspire others to on lifes adventures.