Have you ever sat down and asked yourself, Who Am I?

Last week in my Honors

Colloquium class our teacher asked us just that and it made me start to wonder. Who is Kara
Lynn Dunkle? Is it as simple as I am a runner? Although running hurts and isnt always fun, the
benefits of still fitting into extra small clothes is wonderful. Or I am a sister? I have one younger
brother named Brandon who is a Junior at Northwest Cabarrus High School. Or maybe it is more
complicated along the lines of I am determined because I never quit. No matter how hard I may
want to sometimes, I never give up because I know I am capable of doing whatever I set my
mind to. These are just a few of the many things I was able to come up with as answers to the
question: Who Am I? Some of them were very deep and complicated, whereas others were
very straightforward and obvious. No matter how simple or complicated the answer maybe, I
dont think that anyone can define themselves to one answer to that question. I believe that
people are just too complex for that to be possible.
Even though I havent even made it through my first semester of my freshman year yet
here at UNC Charlotte, I believe that I have learned more about who I am as a person in these
few months when compared to the first eighteen years of my life. Being dropped off at college
and learning how to become independent was challenging at first, and it has definitely shaped me
into becoming the woman I am today. I have learned how to do laundry, how to keep things
clean, how to plan and execute things, and even how to manage my own time something my
mom probably never thought was possible. I think coming to UNC Charlotte has taught me more
than I ever thought was possible from a nonacademic stand point. I never realized how
dependent I was on my mom and my family until a couple weeks of college passed and I realized
I was running out of clean clothes. It was a sad, but valuable learning experience that I will now
carry with me for the rest of my life.

When it came to picking my artifacts for this portfolio, I wanted to make sure that I was
able to portray things that either represented me or helped shape me into the person I am today.
For something that represents me, I chose to use my Altered Book that I made for Honors
Colloquium. I chose to do this artifact because I think it really represents who I am as a whole
and why I am where I am today. In this book, we had to decorate eight pages based on different
things that we felt resonated with us. The eight things I based my pages on were my title page,
why I am here at UNC Charlotte, where I want to be in four years, what my passions are, a
defining moment in my life, my MBTI survey, spirituality, and my six-word memoir. For my title
page, I did a sunrise and sunset with "Inventing Kara" written in the middle to symbolize the
opening and closing of chapters in my life that have "invented" who I am as a person. They
sunrise and sunset also represent the multiple obstacles that I was able to overcome in my life.
For my why I am here page, I did a city outline of Charlotte, North Carolina because I am from
Charlotte, NC and the skyline has always felt like home to me. For my where I want to be in four
years page, I put a huge pair of glasses in the center and a bunch of different shaped letters
around them because in four years I hope to be in Optometry school working towards becoming
an Optometrist. For my what my passions are page, I did stacks of books to show how much I
love reading and my passion for reading in my free time. For my defining moment page, I did a
track with a sunrise in the background because it symbolizes how my start to running track really
showed me what I was capable of doing and gave me the confidence to be the person I am today.
For my MBTI survey page, I dived the pages in four and in each fourth I put something that
represented the letter for my personality (Extroverted, Sensing, Thinking, and Judging). For my
spirituality page, I put a cross with one of my favorite bible verses, Psalms 46:5, which says
"God is within her, she will not fall." This bible quote represents me as a person and how having

my faith in God has allowed me to stay strong through hardships and obstacles in my life.
Finally, for my six-word memoir page, I chose the quote, "Dare to Sparkle a Little Brighter"
because I love to push myself further and sparkle brighter in everything I challenge myself to
do. I never give up something no matter how difficult it may be. For my Second Artifact, I
decided to do my trip for City as Text. In City as Text, we walked all over Uptown Charlotte,
North Carolina and spoke to multiple people about the city. We were assigned to groups of four
and just simply let loose to roam for about three to four hours. I chose to do this artifact because
it really helped me to get a better understanding of the city of Charlotte and the people who
reside there. Even though I have grown up in Charlotte, North Carolina for most of my life, I
never realized how much has changed and what it still changing all around the city. Some of the
places we chose to go to were Roamer Bearden Park, the Bank of America Stadium, the
Spectrum Arena, etc. After we got done walking Dr. Brenda Tindal came to speak to us after
about all of the riots that had just occurred in the city of Charlotte. Her speech really opened up
my mind to everything that had been going on in the city. This artifact also helped me to be able
to learn more about myself and where I am from. I never realized how much growing up in the
city of Charlotte truly shaped me into the person I am today. Until someone truly commits to
spending time with a city and its people, no one will never truly understand that city and how it
shapes and is shaping its people.
In all honesty when it came time for me to decide where I wanted to go for college, I
really didnt even look at UNC Charlotte as an option until I gave into my moms request of
going for a tour. I grew up so close to campus, so I knew all about UNC Charlotte, but I always
thought I would go somewhere further from home like Western Carolina University or UNC
Wilmington. I loved the mountains at WCU, but I wasnt so sure that I liked being isolated in the

middle of nowhere. I loved the campus at UNC Wilmington with all of its trees and the beach,
but I wasnt so sure that the people at UNC Wilmington were the nicest or friendliest when it
came to having a conversation with them. When I went on the tour at UNC Charlotte, I started to
realize that maybe UNC Charlotte felt more like home than I thought. I loved the atmosphere of
the campus and everyone there was so friendly. I was also in a city and there were always things
going on on campus, so I knew I would never be bored. By the end of the tour I remember
turning to my mom and saying, Maybe you were right . . . I think I am starting to like UNC
Charlotte! I remember her just standing there laughing at me and saying, I told you so! I
guess it really is true that mothers know all because here I am now at UNC Charlotte getting my
undergraduate in Biology. I only wish they had a graduate for Optometry so that I would never
have to leave this amazing campus.
Since being at UNC Charlotte I have experienced so many different things that have
shaped me into who I am today. Since being here I have had to give speeches and go up and talk
to teachers which was very hard for me to do since I can be very shy until you truly get to
know me. This is why I was so surprised when on my MBTI personality test I was labeled as
extroverted instead of introverted. I guess all of the things that I have been required to do for my
classes and clubs and what not have shaped me more than I realized. I dont think becoming
more extroverted is only thing that has changed about me either since coming to UNC Charlotte.
Before coming here, I was very strict minded in the sense that I had a hard time learning how to
adapt to change. As my mom would always tell me It was either your way or the highway!
Throughout my time here at UNC Charlotte I have had to learn how to change that and begin
adapting to others perspectives. I now find myself being a leader in group projects as well. In
high school I was always scared to stand up and even attempt to take charge even though I had

a very hard set way of thinking but since coming to college I have noticed that I am not afraid
to share my opinions and adapt them after hearing other peoples responses and eventually we
can find common ground. Because of this I have noticed that people are starting to look up to me
in classes for help and guidance, whereas in high school people barely knew I was there. I will
take these experiences with me throughout the rest of my life, and use them/learn from them
when other situations come up in my life that I must overcome and deal with.
Many people get caught up what people think of them or how people portray them, but
never truly take a step back to look back at who they think they are. I tend to be a pretty curious
person, so I have asked others what they think of me. Most people are either too nice and dont
what to hurt my feelings, or they must think I am the best person ever. I thought going to my
mom might help me get a better sense on things since she is my mom, but she just insisted that I
was the best daughter ever even though we all know she would say the same exact thing to my
brother if he was a girl. When asking some of my closer friends, I got more truthful responses.
They all told me that they loved me and wouldnt change anything about me, but many of them
said things like, I can be too serious sometimes, or, I can be too blunt/straightforward with
people. For some people hearing a little bit of criticism could be death of them, but I like to
look at it as an outline of what I could do better. Everything that my friends told me I could see
in myself, but I wont let that define who I am as a person. Neither the positive nor negative
descriptions that my friends and others had for me will ever define who I am as a person, and I
hope no one ever lets a simple description completely define them to a line. Everyone is
constantly changing from new experiences and lessons in their lives and no one will ever just be
one simple thing.

So, the next time someone asks me Who Am I? I will simply look at them and say, Hi,
Im Kara Lynn Dunkle. A UNC Charlotte University Honors Program Student who isnt done
growing to her potential.