Essay 1

Discuss the subjects in which you excel or have excelled. To what factors do you
attribute your success?
Throughout highschool, I have consistently excelled in my math classes and have
excelled in my foreign language classes. Yes, I have been challenged in some of
them, but never more than I could handle. I quickly came to love these classes, for
they served as a mental break for me in school. I never really had to worry about
the next upcoming test, since I knew I would be able to handle it. Because of this,
these classes relaxed me, which allowed me to have more fun with the work, and
retain more knowledge on the subjects. However, sometimes I would get too
relaxed, and get lazy on my class work.

When one takes a step back from math and looks at the big picture, one realizes
that its just a bunch of simple rules. In order for a problem to be solved it must
clearly follow the rules. Once I knew the rules, I seemed to know the class. I enjoyed
math, since it was not abstract. There was no hidden meanings within a problem.
Either I did them right, or I did them wrong. This taught me the importance of
accuracy. I quickly learned that one small mistake in a math problem could lead to
the whole problem becoming wrong. I have always had success in math, because of
the strong foundation I recieved in the subject at home. My first few years of
schooling I recieved were at a private school with my older sister. Luckily for me,
when she came home with math homework, which she would always have trouble
with, my father would sit her down and explain it to her at the dining room table.
Soon enough, curiosity got the better of me, and I was too sitting at the dining room
table with my sister learning her math homework. These nights really paid off for
me, causing me to be at the top of my arithmetic classes, and stay there for the
most of my schooling.

I also did well in my Spanish classes. I got B's in them from me being lazy with my
classwork, however I could speak the language better than any of my peers. I have
always wanted to be bilingual, yet when I got to high school, I was shocked to see
all of these people who took 3 years of Spanish who could not speak a full sentence
of it. I made a promise to myself right then that I was going to come out of my
Spanish classes speaking Spanish. Ever since I made that promise to myself that
day, I have been the best speaker in all of my classes. I just love the idea of
spreading and sharing ideas with people from around the world. this idea is what
pushed me to pursuing a profession in the interpretation field.

I feel as though when there is no pressure on you, that is when you can become
consistently well in a subject. I want to try my best in all of my endeavors, and often
put pressure on myself to constantly put out my best work. But as I reflect on it, I
see that when I am calm and take deep breaths, and am not worried about a future
test, is when I come up with my best work.

Essay 2

Discuss the subjects in which you have had difficulty. What factors do you believe
contributed to your difficulties? How have you dealt with them so they will not cause
problems for you again? In what areas have you experienced the greatest
improvement? What problem areas remain?
As a student, I have endured increased difficulty in my English classes. I liked to
read, and didn't mind learning vocabulary, but I lacked skills in deciphering the
meanings of different passages, and answering questions on them. At home I never
really could get a lot of help with my English classes. my father was a math teacher
who was bad at English and my mother worked long hours, so I used this as an
excuse to fall back on. It wasn't until after sophomore year in which I took the
passifyer out of my mouth that I really started working on my language arts skills.

I tried hard in my English classes, and even enjoyed most of them because of the
reading, but still I was not the top person in most of them. It almost seemed unfair
to me because I felt as though everyone interprets literary works in different ways.
But school seemed like it was trying to force people to think the same way and
come up with the same answers after reading the same passage as though they all
had the same brain. This angered me for a while, but as I got older, I saw how
childish I was acting towards the class. I thought I was making a good argument
towards an unfair topic, which may be more or less true, but I was also making
excuses for myself. The sooner I stopped wasting my time making excuses for
myself and started using that time to study, the sooner I was going to see some
progress I thought.

I realize that everything is a process and nothing will change over night, however I
have seen some major improvements already. I started turning off the tv and diving
into books, and honestly it has changed my life. I have always read books, but now I
was reading every day and it has caused to look at this beautiful world through

different perspectives. This taught me an important aspect of our English classes,

which is to teach us the brilliance of great literary works. I still need work on my
comprehension, but its improving every year. when one really sets his heart on
improving something, he always will.

Essay 3

Briefly describe a situation in which you felt that you or others were treated unfairly
or were not given an opportunity you felt you deserved. Why do you think this
happened? How did you respond? Did the situation improve as a result of your
response?
The summer after sophomore year when I got my first job at McDonalds, I did not
know what to expect. The work was never really tough, and was definitely not
rocket science, though the only thing I had to get used to was extended periods of
time on my feet. My managers were nice, and everybody smiled at my baby face,
and I thought that this job would never give me any problems or headaches. I
quickly found out though, that I was being treated unfairly when it was time for me
to get paid my first check.

As soon as I got hired, I took it upon myself to write down my hours, so I would know
ahead of time what I would be receiving on my first check. I worked enough for
there to be $300 on my check before taxes, however when it was payday, I was only
paid $80. Instead of overreacting as my first reaction, I blew it off as a simple
mistake. When I brought this to the attention of my manager, she smiled at me as
she always did, and told me that she would fix it as soon as possible. She continued
to smile in my face and say this for the next two weeks. I was infuriated at the
thought of them taking advantage of me since it was my first job and I was the
youngest one there. So the next day I brought my father there and they paid me my
earnings on the following day. But something was wrong. I counted the money
repeatedly, despite the obvious off outcome. My manager accidentally paid me $80
more than what she should have. I was still angry at her for taking advatange of me,
and a part of me wanted to keep the extra money as revenge. Though as mad as I
was, I knew that I was not a thief.

The next day I returned the extra money to my boss. She was so thankful to see it!
She told me that many people would have kept the money for themselves, and that
she was grateful to have me as an employee. I never had another problem at that
mc donalds again.
Essay 4

Discuss your short and long-term goals. Are some of them related? Which are
priorities?
The only thing constant in life is change. I realize this, however I am happy to say
that I respect the process of change. Change does not happen over night. Change
happens over a course of time. The time is never specified, nevertheless I have
learned that In life it is better to just sit back and enjoy the course of change, than
to fight it. So everyday I try to change something small in order to take steps
towards my goals. My short term goals are things in which I could do on the daily.
They include reading at least one book every 2 weeks, meditating for 15 minutes
everyday, finding at least one thing to be grateful for everyday, treating everyone
as though they were my family and writing my dreams down in my dream journal
every morning. Once I have accomplished adding these small changes to my daily
life, I am confident that I will see big changes around my life.

I seem to visualize my long term goals more than my short term goals, even though
they take longer to achieve. These include, wiping junk food completely away from
my diet, saving over $1000 within a year, and buying my own car which I can be
proud of. I do not like to include professions in my long term goals, since I know that
people change professions often, and I may not know what God has in store for me,
however I like to envision myself as an interpreter. Whether medical or business
oriented, I do not know yet, but I know that my heart is set on that profession and I
am sure that I would be a great one.

I aggressively chase my dreams every chance that I get, although my priorities

includes taking a break when my body needs it. I am thankful that I was blessed
with a beautiful fully functional body, and I would not want it breaking down on me
when I need it most. often times, I get so caught up in my busy life that I forget to
slow down and savor this beautiful life on this beautiful floating rock we call Earth.
So as weird as it may sound, one of my priorities is to also put my phone down to go
outside and stare at the clouds every once in a while. It is amazing how much this
one activity impacts me. It usually slows me down and reminds me not to take life

so seriously, and that life was meant to be fun. I believe that having these goals in
mind and taking steps toward them everyday will greatly help me on my life
journey.
Essay 5

Discuss a leadership experience you have had in any area of your life: school, work,
athletics, family, church, community, etc. How and why did you become a leader in
this area? How did this experience influence your goals?
My first major leadership position was being head captain of the soccer team junior
year. I was new to the school and it was around the end of winter when my name
started buzzing around the school. People were expecting for me to do really well
this year on the soccer team. they heard that I played for a renowned club team and
saw me wearing all of my jerseys from my past teams at school. My original goal
was to do the best I could and shine as much as possible. Be that as it may, soon
after the first couple practices and coach appointed me head captain it slowly
changed to getting the team to win as many games as possible.

Being the captain of this soccer team was probably one of the hardest on going
tasks that I ever had to do. The first hurdle I had to leap over was to teach my
players the game and rules. Usually this would be the coaches responsibility,
however, the school hired the wrestling coach as the head coach and unfortunately
he didn't know the first thing about soccer. This meant I had to take the players to
classrooms and show them on white boards the different positions they would be
playing in and their duties. I ran practices, created the starting line ups, and even
made substitutions during games, all while getting straight A's in school, coaching a
little league soccer team, and keeping a part time job. It was pretty stressful at
times dealing with players who wouldn't respond as expected (as most of them did),
and dealing with highschool egos. Yes, we laughed a lot and had fun together, but I
am the type of guy who thinks big, and wanted to turn the losing program around. I
wanted the players to get rid of their loser mentality, and use the skills I taught
them to surprise our opponents. But the team knew only how to think as a losing
program does, and was slow to respond to my teachings. Even with all of this going
on, I grew to love my teammates. The experience gave me a great sense of
responsibility that is hard to describe. Yes, I would yell at them from time to time,
but was quick to defend my teammates for even the smallest tackle. I would often
be seen arguing with an opponent or referee about a play that endangered my
players safety. I wanted to make it clear that I would always have my teammates
back, and I was no better than them, even though the coach gave me a silly title.

In the end, I probably would not change a thing about my experience. I learned so
much in such a short amount of time. Also I am happy to say that we were
competitive in most of our games and won the first two games of the teams
existence. We went to the playoffs for the first time and lost in a compelling game 4
- 3 in overtime. We broke a lot of records, and I was the first player on the soccer
team to make an All-Conference team, however my favorite aspect of the season
was the fact that we were sending off the seniors that were on the team with the
memory of a competitive and fun season for their last year in high school. It is a
season I will always remember.
Essay 6

Discuss your involvement in and contributions to a community near your home,

school or elsewhere. Please select an experience different from the one you
discussed in the previous question, even if this experience also involved leadership.
What did you accomplish? How did this experience influence your goals?
The spring of my junior year, I volunteered at my local YMCA to coach a little league
soccer team. I was in charge of 14, six through eight year olds. My goal was just to
teach the kids the basics of soccer and to have fun while doing it. It never really
mattered to me whether we won or lost as much as it did to the children. I learned
more from these kids than I had intentionally expected, however the thing that I
was consistently being tested on while dealing with them was patience.

I remember a specific time, during our 2nd practice, I was teaching my players to
throw the ball back in from out of bounds. the children were supposed to lightly
throw the ball in from behind the sideline to my feet which were a couple of feet in
front of them. When it was time for the "class clown" to throw the ball in, he
purposely threw the ball as hard as he could at my genitalia and immediately fell
down in laughter. As I was on the ground writhing in pain and listening to the sound
of high pitched laughter, I was thinking deeply. I had an important choice to make. I
could either yell at these kids and just go home, or I could get up and be the role
model this kid needed me to be. While on the ground, I started remembering my
childhood years of being a class clown. I don't know if these memories were induced
by the situation, or the tough blow to my testes. Either way, I envisioned the people
who helped calm me down when I was acting out as a kid. So after I picked myself
and my pride up off of the ground, I acted just as those people did, and it worked! I
just talked to him calmly about the situation. He had a surprised look on his face
from how I reacted, just as I had when I was his age. After that day though, he still
acted out, and was still the class clown, but I am happy to report that he never
threw another ball at my groin again.

We had a lot of laughs and we had minimal crying, so I am confident that I

accomplished my goal. We won most of my games, and played smarter than the
other teams. My greatest accomplish with them was teaching the children the core
values of working together as a team in order to complete a single task. I would
often make them say that this team was a family, and when in harmony there is
nothing that we could not achieve. I am unsure if it got through to them,
nevertheless, I am confident that it helped their experience
Essay 7

Other than through classes in school, in what areas (non-academic or academic)

have you acquired knowledge or skills? How?
I aquire knowledge in many ways, just as everyone else. I most enjoy though,
gaining knowledge of different ideas and skills through reading and listening to
elderly people. There seems to be a book, or an elderly person almost everywhere I
go, so it can be pretty useful when I really need some information. Each time I use
one of these sources for intelligent enhancement, it is never disappointment. Each
time I do one of these activities, the same feelings arise in me, yet the experiences
are always so unique in their own way.

I love reading because i can learn so much and my imagination runs free. Its like
each book is giving me a choice. I can believe what i want to believe. I can picture
what something looks like the way I want to picture it, and I can usually see each
charactor as a part of me if im reading a novel. These same occurrences happen to
me when listening to old people. It is kind of strange how almost all old people have
a lot to say, as if I am the last person they are going to tell their story to. Either way
I love it. Usually they are really passionate about their stories or beliefs or
instructions, and I can picture everything they say in my head like a movie screen.

I probably enjoy listening to older folks more than I like reading books, because the
experience is so much sweeter. They provide a service to me by taking me on an
adventure to the past, and I provide a service to them by listening to their inner
thoughts. sometimes they just sit back and smile, from remembering something
they thought they forgot. Sometimes it gets real quiet because they remembered
something they tried to forget. But ususally the look in their eyes when we are
finished talking is the same, lit up and refreshed. That is all that really matters to
me in the end.

Essay 8

Is there anything else you would like to tell us about that may help us evaluate your
nomination (i.e., personal characteristics, obstacles you have overcome)?
Growing up wasnt a struggle for me. I was not raised in a bad home. I was not
molded by the streets with a chip on my shoulder. However I have learned a lot of
life lessons. One of the biggest lessons I have learned is to chase wisdom more than
knowledge. I have always been good at school. So at times I would become a bit of
a know it all. After a few years of my obnoxious arrogance, my mother made me
study the book of Proverbs. This helped me tremendously see the faults of my
actions. Especially after entering highschool and met a bunch of other people with
the same problem, could I see how I seemed to other people who knew me. This
made me further try to incorporate more humility into my life. I am not going to lie, I
still deal with my arrogance to this day, however it is definately not as bad as when
I let it loose. I found that the difference bettween intelligence and wisdom was that
an intelligent man knew what to say, but a wise man knew when and when not to
speak their mind.

After my parents divorced in my freshman year, was when I really needed wisdoms
help more than anything. I told myself that I did not care that my parents split up,
and did not feel any particular pain from it, however my life started taking a turn for
the worse. My grades started dropping in all of my classes, my temper started
getting uncontrolable again, and I did not care about anything. The only thing that
served as my outlet was soccer. Soccer was the only thing that allowed me to lose
myself during the process. On the field, nothing else mattered. I didnt even think. I
was lost in what seemed to be a mad wildernese of grass and sweaty teenagers, yet
i felt at home. This is when I first learned the importance of having an outlet.
Everyone has problems in his or her life. the thing that makes us or breaks us is how
we deal with these problems. I am blessed that I was born with a curious mind,
because my curiosity drove me to do a lot of different things. This means i have a
lot of different outlets i can turn to when I am having trouble in my life. I can go play
soccer, or go play one of the four instruments I know how to play, or I could go read,
or I could enjoy a night out with my friends, or I could wrestle, or I could draw, or
write poetry, or talk to one of my best friends, or meditate, or I could simply just
lock myself in my room and cry about it for a couple of minutes. I found that it is
important to have an outlet, and it is also important to address what your feeling
and cry if you have to.

I believe that I am right for this scholarship because I am a scholar, but also
because I have experienced life. My grades and SAT scores are not perfect, and the
reason is because I did not keep my head buried in my studies for all of high school.
I went out and explored social groups, pushed boundries, messed up, won big, took
risks, and had fun. I have failed at more things than i can remember, but I feel as
though I learned the most from those failures and that the knowledge in which I
gained from those experiences are preparing me for something big.