Hi there! My name is Saagar and this is my interdisciplinary honors portfolio. This portfolio is meant to serve as a reminder of where I’ve been, who I’ve been, and how I’ve spent my time as an undergraduate student at the University of Washington. It’s for me, but you can look through it too! Within it I’ve captured the thoughts and experiences that have informed who I am now, at another precipice of the unknown… graduation. Not too long ago, at the end of high school, I was right here. I remember at the time setting an intention for myself, to lean into the things that made my heart smile at the thought of “what if.” I’m incredibly grateful to that person. In choosing to meet the moment, to meet myself where I was at, rather than where I thought I should be, I found freedom, and I found joy. This began with salsa.
I began learning salsa because it was important to someone I loved dearly, and even though that person didn’t remain in my life, my love for the form persisted nonetheless. I found a rich way to enjoy my body, and to connect with other people. Salsa was my gateway into dance (I also tango now), and since, I’ve learned and grown and enjoyed so much. In social dancing, there are these magic moments you sometimes experience, where both partners enter this little internal world you’ve created with another. I never thought I would share that sort of intimacy with the variety of people dance has introduced me to. I’ve emotionally learned that I value balance in a partnership; I enjoy both initiating and interpreting, and even more so when we can switch seamlessly from one role to another. Giving forward by instructing in salsa club has been nourishing, both for myself and I hope for my dance pupils as well. At a time when the pandemic put a pause on my enjoyment of dance, I made what some consider a defining choice in not only college but life: I chose my major! It was a practice in accepting that often the best decision one can make, is to make a decision. I decided to major in computer science, paramountly for the reason that I intend to spend my life learning, and this would allow me to be a lifelong learner in the richest of ways. I have an analytical disposition, it’s a gift that has helped me tremendously in school. But when it comes to decisions, life cannot be analyzed with surgical precision; if I begin cutting along each of its contours, there’ll be nothing left to examine but mush. So, I jumped, and so far it’s been a wonderful fall. Almost at the same time, I began developing a human-rights oriented community called Amnesty International UW (AIUW). It’s a space for people who care, for people who’d like to inform and to empower their care, and to do so in community. AIUW was for myself a way to say that I matter, that I don’t have to act in perfect knowledge, but rather retain value in my heart and in my intentions. It was a way to cultivate and nourish an enlightened space with all the knowledge that I’d worked so hard to acquire. I’m happy to leave it behind in good hands. These years have taught me that there’s so much more fulfillment in just living, allowing myself the freedom to say yes to experiences and letting them be what they are, instead of trying to fit them into a pre-set image of what life “should” be. This is what college was about, an exercise in betting on myself, and that’s what I want to hold onto. I hope you see that as you look through these pages. |