First lets talk about College Apps. Colleges get thousands and thousands of essays to read every year so you want to make sure that yours is creative, truthful, and worth reading. I applied to UC Davis, UC Santa Cruz, Fresno State, BYU, and BYU-I. Not to toot my own horn or anything but I got into all of them. (I now attend BYU... If you didn't already know). But the college essay is important but so are SAT/ACT scores, GPAs, volunteer work and extracurricular. But without further ado here is my college app essay:
Middle school was just an awkward blur, except for that one day in my 7th grade math class that will forever etched in my brain, when the girl sitting next to me leaned over and asked if I understood what was going on. My face brightened because I knew what Mr. Warmerdam was teaching and I was more than confident that I could teach her. My lips began to fly with a fiery passion while I explained the Pythagorean Theorem I hardly knew. With one blank stare from her, I knew that she still didn't understand the theorem. Nothing else in the classroom mattered to me at that moment. I needed her to understand.
I continued "teaching her", while Mr. Wamerdam was teaching the rest of the class. Suddenly, "my pupil" began to smile and understand. I felt this overwhelming sense of accomplishment rush through my veins, just as Mr. Wamerdam placed a referral on my desk. The referral was for talking during his lesson. My twelve year old self didn't understand what had just happened. I just remember looking down at my lap and tears beginning to form in my eyes. She thanked me as I just sat there staring at this piece of paper traumatized, still not understanding how I had gotten into trouble.
Since that wonderful, horrible day, I have reflected on my learning, and the joy I felt while teaching. Throughout my years of school I have been able to find opportunities to teach different peers, different subjects. I come from a world where I was taught the importance of education; the education opened doors for opportunity. I want to make a difference in student's lives and help them move up in the world through my passion for teaching.
This is the essay I used for pretty much everything. It has other stuff attached to it about involvement and financial needs but that's boring. But I would change it to fit prompts and cut it down to fit word requirements. This being said there were other times where it was just easier to write a new essay but try and minimize the amount of essays you write or else you are going to be burnt out really fast.
I filled out about 40+ scholarships and I got 5 scholarships. (The Latino Peace Officer Award, Ken Hill Scholarship - Scholarship for Future Educators, A Quilting Scholarship, NARFE, and the Pioneer Middle School Scholarship.) As you can see you just have to keep writing and writing in hopes of snagging a couple.
I applied for the Smitt Camp Scholarship for Fresno State and these were some of the essays I wrote for that.
This first essay was supposed to be about global awareness.
“You guys have a lot of different trees. We don’t have these kind of trees at home.” This passed me as strange when my cousin said this. But it made sense; the Valley in California is not going to look the same as my cousin’s hometown in Maryland. Being born in Utah and then moving to the Valley when I was very young, I have not seen much of the world or even the United States. The United States is such a big country, full of different places, foods, people, and apparently even trees. I want to visit all of the States, but I want to start in my cousin's hometown. He lives on the complete opposite side of the country. I want to see how and where he lives and be able to experience a different part of America. I also want to see their different trees.
Second one was supposed to be about an encounter with art.
My most memorable encounter with art was in my own home. My great grandmother’s art was hung up around the house as well as the art my dad had made. Everyday I would walk around my house and see pieces that were very realistic, painted with lots of little strokes and pastel colors, pieces that were bold, brightly painted abstracts. They were all great pieces of art but so very different. These pieces of art in my home taught me that we can be different and coincide in perfect harmony.
And then my personal statement. And just for the record I got the alternate spot for that scholarship. By I really owe a huge thanks to my Ap Lit. teacher Ms. Potter she helped me rework these essays time and time again. This leads me to my next point, always have someone read your essays and I know this maybe hard because this isn't a response to a book or a history essay but its about your life. But if there is a typo and/or bad grammar they will just move on so make sure you have someone read your essays, it could make all the difference. But always look for scholarships ask your grandparents, parents, places you volunteer, places you work because random places give out scholarships. My grandpa sent me a clipping of a magazine from a organization he is a part of and all I had to do was write an essay about how we can appreciate federal employees more (at least that's what I thought it was.). But I won 1000 for just writing an essay.
Here it is:
At the beginning of America the government wasn’t just a distant institution, we were our government. The government wasn’t a separate entity that served us. We as a country embraced “We the people” and we were a part of the system that we built. We have lost this sense of pride in our government. The gap between the people and Washington keeps growing; and because of this, people who carry out services for the government such as construction, research, and innovation have been forgotten. These people work daily to build this country and better the lives of our people. By viewing the government as an institution that we are a part of, we will ensure we appreciate our peers for the work they do everyday. This view can be put into place by exposing teenagers and children to their government throughout their education.
This gap between the government is rooted because in reality not every American can visit Washington D.C. and be a part of that system. However, local government leads to state governments overall ending in the Federal government. We need to be involved in our local and state governments, by taking part in the process we begin to appreciate it and then we begin to see all the people who carry it out from congressmen to mailmen. Being a part of our government will make us recognize all the people who work for the government, our neighbors, other parents in the PTA, and our dog sitter, we begin to see what they give up to make the invaluable contributions to the country we live in.
Seeing ourselves as part of the government is a viewpoint that isn’t built in a day. Its grown over a period of time as we take part and listen to others. This viewpoint can be discovered at public schools. Most seniors have to take economics and government before they graduate and each class is usually a semester long. I chose to take AP Government and AP Economics during my senior year. Therefore, instead of each class being just a semester each class is a full school year. I believe that seniors ought to take a full year of government because this allows students to learn curriculum and discuss what is going on in the government right now. Students in the semester class are rushed through the basics of government without having time to stop and thinking about what they are learning. It is very different to learn about something and then being able to apply it to your own life. Throughout my studies I have learned about the complexity of government and have begun to appreciate not only political leaders but those workers who carry out everyday tasks. Through class discussions throughout the year I know that every person who works for the federal government contributes to this great country and I truly appreciate their service every day.
We can’t make people appreciate all the work that is done for them but we can teach them about their government and discuss federal employees who serve them everyday in an active learning environment. This class shouldn’t just be for seniors but students should be taught about their governments from a young age. Each school year should touch on government and each year the curriculum should go more in depth. Being taught government doesn’t put beliefs in students heads but gives them a chance to discover that there is more to our government than just “rich white guys in suits.”
America wasn’t built in a day and neither is a perspective. Federal employees do a lot for America and they should be recognized. By teaching students more in depth about our government students will be able to discover the part they play in their own government and this will segway to their appreciation of the work that is done for them. We the people and we need to continue educating students about the part they play and by doing that they will be able to recognize the federal employees that serve them everyday.
(Yes I know this formatting is whack but I don't know what's going on and I'm really frustrated at this point.) ANYWAYS this is the essay I wrote and I was able to answer the prompt and tie in my love for education. And I totally owe Mrs. Evangelo a thank you because her lectures totally inspired this essay. So keep writing and keep up on dues dates because they come fast.
Till next time and Good Luck!
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Throwback to graduation! :)
