This ordinary and I sat at Jittery Joe’s Coffee and talked about all sorts of things. We eventually started talking about philosophy and she said, “I like to learn and obtain knowledge.”

How would you describe yourself as a learner?

For me, I think that you can learn from anyone and anything. And, that’s a process that never ends in one’s life. As a learner, I like to observe and take things around me, and I like to have conversations with different types of people — learn from their experiences. I learn from my failures and I grow from them. I think that’s really important as a learner. I am really open to different topics and areas of study. You never know if you would need that information in your life; whether or not, it’s directly applicable to your life.

What does learning mean to you? What about knowledge?

Learning is a way for me to interact with the world. Knowledge is a way for me to understand it. You continue to gain knowledge so you continue to gain understanding of the world.

How do you share knowledge?

There’s a spectrum when it comes to the reasons of why I share knowledge. It ranges from me to just wanting to share interesting facts to someone who can benefit from that knowledge. Either just because the fact that I like sharing it or it’s useful for others. I believe that we can all benefit from collective knowledge. Let’s say I learn a skill or I learn something through experience, someone else who does not possess those can learn from me and then apply to their own lives. Once they obtain the knowledge, they can share and continue the cycle of sharing knowledge.

How are you as a knower?

As a knower it humbles me. It makes me more openminded. Because I realize that I don’t know everything. Knowledge can broaden perspectives.

How do you apply your knowledge in/to the world?

I think for me, it’s when I can connect to it. As a whole, theories can be really complex and it is difficult to take it and connect it. But if you can start to connect one piece, that’s a great starting point. I am in Introduction to Ethics class. I never had previous knowledge in philosophy. So, when I find one piece of information that makes sense to me, that’s when I start to apply that knowledge to my life. For example, with Aristotle, he believes that meaning of life for humans is to be happy and to find happiness. And to reach that goal, we must find our true purpose. So, makes a lot of sense. That’s something that I can relate to.

Taking business courses, learning how to use Excel. That’s technical. So once you obtain that knowledge you can apply to your jobs. For theories, you can apply it by how you live your life or how you treat others.

Would you identify yourself more as a discoverer or an inventor?

Discoverer.

What is one advice you would give to your peers?

Keep an open mind and realize that you never truly stop growing and change. Although you may not understand your purpose, just realize that the answer will come eventually and it will make a lot of sense. Don’t be afraid to try new things.

What shapes you to be an open-minded person?

The more you interact with different people you become openminded. Or, when you’re in an environment where you’re encouraged to speak your mind, and there’s not repercussions for disagreement, that’s when I learned to be openminded. Just because someone else do something that you don’t do doesn’t make you worse or better.

If you could change one thing in the past, either personally or historically, what would it be?

Personally, I would have not let fears stop me because that’s some of my biggest regrets.

Last but not least, what makes you happy?

Seeing other people happy makes me happy. Realizing little things in life makes me happy. Spending time with loved ones, makes me happy — and, being alive.