Undergraduate / My Girl Scouts Camp Experince and Its Challenges [4]

I would appreciate it if you would read my essay for the common application and make sure that it is not to wordy, boring or long. The question is evaluate a significant experience, achievement, risk you have taken, or ethical dilemma you have faced and its impact on you. Thank you so very very much for your help.

Every summer since 2003, I have attended Girl Scouts Camp. I had lots of fun canoeing
in lakes, spelunking in caves, and singing camp songs. These weeks spent at camp were one of
the best parts of my year.
The summer following my sophomore year, I was particularly excited to attend camp
because I had become a Junior Counselor. For four weeks, I would help other girls to have the
same wonderful experiences that I had as a kid. My sophomore year had not been the most
spectacular academically, mainly on account of two classes. Geometry was the hardest math
class I had ever taken, and my Spanish II class was in a completely different language. But, it
would be okay because I was going camping.
Unfortunately, being a counselor was challenging, just like my geometry class. I had to
stay awake with homesick campers, console them, and try to get them to stop crying hysterically.
Yet, at the same time, as the youngest counselor, I also felt really immature myself. Finally, I
could not always understand my counseling colleagues, many of whom were from foreign
countries and spoke with accents. By the end of the third week, I had cried a thousand times.
Camp was becoming exactly what my sophomore year had been, a disaster.
While riding a bus back to camp for the last week, I noticed the trees alongside the
highway, which reminded me of a particular tree I had planted the prior week with another
counselor. This tree had been neglected in all the hustle and bustle of camp, and its wilted leaves
drooped sadly. I saw no reason to plant this tree since it was bound to die and politely pointed
this out to the other counselor. She looked at me and said, "Don't be so negative." I reflected on
her simple comment while on the bus. She was right. I had a negative attitude about everything,
not just that tree.
So, during that last week of camp, I decided to take this counselor's advice. Instead of
worrying about feeling immature, I was happy to be the youngest counselor at camp, using the
opportunity to receive lots of great advice from the older counselors like you shouldn't dye your
hair purple. Working a little harder to understand those foreign accents, I learned a lot of facts
about different countries. For example, in England, the purple Skittles are black currant flavored,
not grape as they are in the U.S. Perhaps though the most important thing I discovered was that I
could successfully convince many of my homesick campers to focus on camp's good aspects like
canoeing, caving, and singing camp songs, and perhaps help them to love it as much as I do.
This positive attitude was magical. I took it with me to me junior year. So, even though
Spanish III was also in a different language, I received an A- in the class, and although Pre-
Calculus sounded like Geometry's evil twin, I kept a positive outlook and did well in that class
as well. In fact, all of my grades improved in my junior year, and I achieved an overall 4.0 grade
point average. Nowadays, whenever life presents me with a tough situation, I think of camp and I
"stay on the sunny side, always on the sunny side" (camp song).

Undergraduate / "My relationship with food" - William and Mary Supplement about food [2]

The Question IS
Beyond your impressive academic credentials and extracurricular accomplishments, what else makes you unique and colorful?

We know that nobody fits neatly into 500 words or less, but you can provide us with some suggestion of the type of person you are. Anything goes! Inspire us, impress us or just make us laugh. Think of this optional opportunity as show and tell by proxy and with an attitude

I would really appreciate if you could tell me if I need to be more direct in describing myself. Thank you so much for your help.

My three favorite foods are double fudge brownie ice cream, chocolate chip cookies, and cupcakes. I love these foods because they remind of people I love.

I often spend my Friday nights with my sister curled up on the couch, eating double fudge brownie ice cream, and watching a movie ranging from Whose Afraid of Virginia Wolfe to Disney's The Princess and the Frog. We have been watching movies together on Friday nights for so long that I cannot remember when we began. But every time I taste the richness of double fudge brownie ice-cream, I remember our Friday nights and the richness of my relationship with my sister.

Like the average high school student, I have fallen into the trap of procrastination and have had to stay up late into the night doing homework. Sometimes, I have company on these nights in the form of chocolate chip cookies made by Mom. Each time I bite into a cookie and taste the warm milk chocolate, I taste my mother's love and her belief in me that I can finish my homework. Her cookies and faith in me encourage me, and get me through my homework.

My friends and I originally brought cupcakes to school for each other's birthdays, but we soon realized that birthdays were not the only important day to acknowledge in the life of a high school student. We then began to bring them in for each other when we failed tests, were mad at our mothers, and just wanted to do something nice. It takes time to make these cupcakes as we not only have to bake them, but also must decorate them with icing and sprinkles. Cupcakes are an exemplification of our love and concern for one another, because they show how much time we are willing to invest in each other.

Every time I eat chocolate fudge brownie ice cream, chocolate chip cookies, and cupcakes, I think of my favorite people my mom, my sister, and my friends. My relationships with them are extremely important to me, and have helped shape into woman I am today. They even influenced my favorite foods.