omh66206
Oct 6, 2023
Undergraduate / 'How does this affect Lebron's legacy' - National Merit Essay: Influential Person [2]
Hi, I was hoping someone out there would have some thoughts on my essay. Anything at all will be greatly appreciated.
Prompt:
To help the reviewers get to know you, describe an experience you have had, a person who has influenced you, or an obstacle you have overcome.
While the human journey is often marked by "eureka" moments, it's not every day that an epiphany is induced by a 2006 Nike commercial featuring LeBron James diving in a swimming pool. Or more so, the pinned comment under an Instagram post that read "How does this affect LeBron's legacy?" I had seen this spam comment under nearly every post yesterday and had just opened up the app to see the meme's continuation. I chuckled at it and saw that the comment had more than a hundred replies. Out of curiosity, I tapped it to see the replies and saw a long paragraph, detailing how the commercial had affected his legacy. I first laughed, but my amusement quickly turned to awe the more I read the eloquent explanation. I sat, processing it for a good thirty seconds before resuming my scrolling. After a few posts, I encountered a reel of a man explaining how the fall of Constantinople affected LeBron's legacy. Now this was something, I thought. I watched the entire video and saw how the creator had managed to link a completely unrelated historical topic to a basketball player's legacy. Now this made me close the app and think. How did these people manage to compose a brilliant comparison of two extraneous topics? What level of creativity did these people possess? This was my epiphany.
I found myself drawn into a world of unconventional connections and creative interpretations. Prior to this experience, I had never been one to be interested in the intricacies of art, literature, or any subject that didn't involve numbers, algorithms, or precise problem-solving. Writing essays? That was something I had always struggled with. I always considered myself a technical thinker, a left-brained person who had been out of touch with their creative side since childhood. The realm of the humanities seemed abstract and elusive, distant from the comfort of my mathematical equations and computer code.
However, this encounter with internet humor made me realize that there was more to life than the rigid structures of logic. It sparked a newfound curiosity within me as I discovered that I could analyze and appreciate the world in a whole new way. Inspired by this epiphany, I started to analyze everything around me. I felt as if I could write about any topic, even about the simple beam of moonlight illuminating my face as I wrote this essay. Maybe that moonlight meant something more. Maybe it was sent to illuminate my writing much like the meme had illuminated my perspective, presenting me with a canvas upon which I could paint my thoughts and ideas. This shift in my thought process was nothing short of transformational.
In my computer science classes, I found that my newfound analytical skills and creative lens offered me an advantage. I could imagine the code and its processes more vividly and intuitively than ever before. While my fellow classmates focused solely on the technicalities, I approached it with a broader perspective, drawing connections between different aspects of the project and envisioning creative solutions. This holistic approach not only helped me excel in my class but also opened doors to innovation and problem-solving that I had never considered before.
That Instagram comment ignited a fire within me. It propelled me into a realm of creativity and analysis I had never explored. I began to see the world with new eyes, finding meaning and significance in the everyday. Lebron's legacy has not been affected, but mine certainly has.
Hi, I was hoping someone out there would have some thoughts on my essay. Anything at all will be greatly appreciated.
Prompt:
To help the reviewers get to know you, describe an experience you have had, a person who has influenced you, or an obstacle you have overcome.
Explain why this is meaningful to you.
While the human journey is often marked by "eureka" moments, it's not every day that an epiphany is induced by a 2006 Nike commercial featuring LeBron James diving in a swimming pool. Or more so, the pinned comment under an Instagram post that read "How does this affect LeBron's legacy?" I had seen this spam comment under nearly every post yesterday and had just opened up the app to see the meme's continuation. I chuckled at it and saw that the comment had more than a hundred replies. Out of curiosity, I tapped it to see the replies and saw a long paragraph, detailing how the commercial had affected his legacy. I first laughed, but my amusement quickly turned to awe the more I read the eloquent explanation. I sat, processing it for a good thirty seconds before resuming my scrolling. After a few posts, I encountered a reel of a man explaining how the fall of Constantinople affected LeBron's legacy. Now this was something, I thought. I watched the entire video and saw how the creator had managed to link a completely unrelated historical topic to a basketball player's legacy. Now this made me close the app and think. How did these people manage to compose a brilliant comparison of two extraneous topics? What level of creativity did these people possess? This was my epiphany.
I found myself drawn into a world of unconventional connections and creative interpretations. Prior to this experience, I had never been one to be interested in the intricacies of art, literature, or any subject that didn't involve numbers, algorithms, or precise problem-solving. Writing essays? That was something I had always struggled with. I always considered myself a technical thinker, a left-brained person who had been out of touch with their creative side since childhood. The realm of the humanities seemed abstract and elusive, distant from the comfort of my mathematical equations and computer code.
However, this encounter with internet humor made me realize that there was more to life than the rigid structures of logic. It sparked a newfound curiosity within me as I discovered that I could analyze and appreciate the world in a whole new way. Inspired by this epiphany, I started to analyze everything around me. I felt as if I could write about any topic, even about the simple beam of moonlight illuminating my face as I wrote this essay. Maybe that moonlight meant something more. Maybe it was sent to illuminate my writing much like the meme had illuminated my perspective, presenting me with a canvas upon which I could paint my thoughts and ideas. This shift in my thought process was nothing short of transformational.
In my computer science classes, I found that my newfound analytical skills and creative lens offered me an advantage. I could imagine the code and its processes more vividly and intuitively than ever before. While my fellow classmates focused solely on the technicalities, I approached it with a broader perspective, drawing connections between different aspects of the project and envisioning creative solutions. This holistic approach not only helped me excel in my class but also opened doors to innovation and problem-solving that I had never considered before.
That Instagram comment ignited a fire within me. It propelled me into a realm of creativity and analysis I had never explored. I began to see the world with new eyes, finding meaning and significance in the everyday. Lebron's legacy has not been affected, but mine certainly has.