This is a question that I ask my students to ask themselves on a regular basis. We have discussed in many of my classes the idea that what makes us who we are is a combination of our experiences and our biology. While some might weigh very heavily to one side or the other of the nature versus nurture argument, I believe that who we are is dependent very much on both sides of the coin. This means that in order to really understand who we are at any given moment, we must be able to reflect on how our biology and experiences form and shape each other and our perception of the world. So, who I am is complicated, complex, and constantly shifting from one moment to the next.
That having been said, I am Sean Ryan Wybrant. My name means “God is Gracious” and “Little King” supposedly. My father’s family came to America from the area around Dublin sometime in the 1800s. My mother’s came from Italy around the same time. Though my family was scattered throughout the United States, concentrations were found in Colorado, Oklahoma, and California.
I was born in California to Dan and Sylvia Wybrant who moved us to Colorado when I was around six years old. I grew up in Colorado Springs and have spent a good portion of my life there punctuated by a few travels to other places. I always seem to return to the mountains and city on the border of the plains. Growing up in Colorado Springs allowed me a wide variety of opportunities from training for field hockey at the Olympic Training Center to participating in a quintet with my viola to backpacking into The Lakes of the Clouds. Overall though, I have consistently been drawn back to the landscape here because of the boundless qualities of nature and Pikes Peak providing a reminder of the majesty of the world around us. One of my first memories is of a trip to Universal Studios where I met the Hulk – and from then on no one could tell me that superheroes didn’t exist.
Each of the experiences and reminders of the value of life have stamped an impression into my soul. Each of them has provided me with a different perspective on the world around me and my place in it.