Undergraduate / 'Taking Cornell Notes for every subject' - learning process college essay [3]

Describe a workplace, community service, travel, or extracurricular activity that you participated in over time. Then tell us a story that shows what you learned in that setting and your learning process. How do you see that learning experience contributing to your student life at the University of Oklahoma?

I have been involved with the AVID college preparatory program for 5 years. I joined in eighth grade and knew from the first day of class I knew that the program and people in it were a perfect fit for me. Through AVID, I have learned the importance of community service, challenging myself with a rigorous schedule, staying organized and being a part of a family. Through the years, I have added so many helpful skills to my life from AVID, which have helped me tremendously through school. I keep my binder organized at all times and I take Cornell Notes for every subject being this method of note-taking has proven to enhance my study skills. In addition to all the educational benefits, AVID selected me to attend the Leadership Retreat. A two night, three day stay at a camp ground that only two students from each grade level and school in the district attend each year. I learned what it's like to be a true leader in the community and how to be a positive influence for the people around me. My years of involvement with AVID took me from a shy, pre-teen student into a selfless and committed young adult. I am willing to commit myself to leadership on the University of Oklahoma campus and promise my connection with the university will continue past my college years. I want to be a part of the Sooner family and know that I can always call it home.

Undergraduate / 'I call her Wonder woman' - someone who has made an impact on your life [4]

Wonder woman is what I call her. Soul mate is what is she calls me. She taught me everything from my ABC's to the basics of "how to be a nice, young lady". As she grows older in age, she continues to lose so many people she's loved and still manages to continue to live with the changes. My grandmother would me give the world if she could. My grandmother, the only grandparent I have, is an incredible woman because everything she knows that will make me a better person she tries to embed in my lifestyle.

Most of my childhood was spent at her house. All of our free time was with each other together, by choice. On Sunday's we went to church and then to shop at the mall. She sometimes picked me up from school even though I lived three minutes walking distance away, just so we could talk and go on an adventure. But of course, with every adventure came a life lesson. This woman couldn't forget to teach me something timeless that would help me in life. All the years we shared that we were inseparable, made it even harder to leave her by herself in her house right after the death of her son, and move 1500 miles away.

Of course I called her every day, just so she could ask me in her low, raspy voice if I had "crossed my legs in my skirt at school" and remembered to "say please and thank you". At first, I hated my new school with all those new faces and not having my grandmother by my side to teach me how to handle certain situations. After school one day, I called her and told her that these boys were bothering me in the cafeteria at lunch and made me cry. She told me that "you can't let anybody or anything get in the way of your happiness in life". If anything, I became stronger in character because I had to learn to be an individual thinker and my simple manners have brought me a long way and helped me experience a lot of opportunities.

As a senior in high school on a tough day, I still call my grandmother for a life lesson because her wisdom will always overpower the youthful incentive I possess. One of the most difficult days recently, was when my mother picked my little brother and me up from school and, unfortunately, told us that my grandmother has been diagnosed with breast cancer. Her optimistic attitude and determination to continue living life with such a drastic change is a characteristic I hope to one day be able to obtain. Now, every day is a battle for her because fighting cancer at 78 years old along with asthma, diabetes, and a heart defibrillator is something only a wonder woman can do. I hope to one day, be like my grandmother and help better others as well as fulfill my life with happiness no matter the situation.

I TRIED TO BE A LITTLE HUMOROUS. PLEASE FIX ANY SYNTAX AND GRAMMAR ERRORS AND SUGGESTIONS WOULD BE GREAT!! THANKS!!

Undergraduate / 'Rose aided my growth' - write about a person who is important [2]

"They took my mother and my sister," she said to me. "I will never see them again, will I?" She peered from her light brown eyes in to mine with a face drowned in bewilderment.

"I don't know," was all I had the heart to tell her.

The truth is that she wouldn't see them again. Her mother and sister had been dead for more than 50 years. They were victims in the Holocaust. Rose was a survivor, but also suffering from Dementia. This was my third visit to the Silverado Retirement home and each time, my conversations with Rose dug deeper. At first, she was skeptical of me. She shouted at me a couple times and mumbled her disgust in her native language.

I was a brown skin girl with curly hair, braces and a forced smile, trying to help Rose eat dinner, make small talk, maybe play a card game, then go back to my world, until next time. This was simply community service hours for my resume.

But soon enough Rose stole my heart and my visits became more than a log sheet.

Each discussion Rose and I shared was meaningful. Our differences in age and culture didn't build barriers between us, but played a key role in tying our bond even tighter. I was only 15 years old when I made a private oath to visit Rose every Tuesday; more than what was required of me. She needed someone to talk to, in general, and I was willing to listen. I sought to open my mind to more than my generation's impertinent priorities. I became a listener, fed and intrigued by someone else's story.

"It was hard, watching all the people around me disappear and having to act like it was normal. My people were oppressed, while the rest of the world carried on about their business," she said, wrapped in her blankets as she stroked her Star of David hanging below her collar bone.

In some way, our people's history could relate. African Americans were enslaved and were withheld an education as a form of oppression. Yet, I could never feel the same sorrow Rose had because of her real experience within the gates of genocide. My sympathy for her built selfless attributes within me.

Time passed and Rose slowly forgot that I become a part of her life. I didn't blame her dementia or the times I couldn't visit. I, instead, was thankful for every Tuesday I did spend with Rose, lost in each other's presence, closer in our friendship. Our time together was an impact on my life that will never lose significance. Rose subtly aided my growth in being mindful of others and realizing there's more to life than what it seems. I have grown into a mature young adult with an open-minded in such a diverse world. From what started as a resume addition, I learned the meaning of friendship and watched myself grow into the person I need to be.

Please give me your opinion on what the essay is like to you and what changes you would make. I'm pretty sure I spellchecked everything!

Undergraduate / FREEDOM : Dangerous Driving, the issue of importance to me [2]

Freedom.
Ask any teenager what two words describe freedom the best. I'm sure the answer is driver's license. The small, plastic card is our ticket to a vibrant social life and a convenience for self-reliant transportation. The ultimate teenage dream, until texting, inexperience and other distractions transform it into a dystopia.

Motor vehicle accidents are the leading cause of teenage deaths in the United States; a statistic that has affected the lives of many people in my community.

Two years ago on a rainy day, a sophomore, Nicole LeGrow from my partner high school died in a tragic car crash on a local highway. Her friend, the driver, survived the crash and lives with minor injuries and the burden of Nicole's death. The next year, three boys drove into a tree, due to their choice to drive after drinking at a party and resided in Intensive Care Unit for three months. All three were friends of my older brother. Accidents like these distress citizens and are detrimental to the community. My deep concerns about these catastrophic events were too vital to ignore, so I acted on my instincts and decided to make our school aware of the accidents. As a junior, I wrote for the school newspaper and I used this media outlet to cover the Awareness Run held for Nicole LeGrow. My story made the front page and I witnessed my classmates become cognizant of the responsibility that comes with driving and the dangers of driving distractions, because of my article. Several students thanked me for my work because they were close to Nicole and thought her death was something other teens in our school needed to take seriously and learn from her unfortunate fate.

The loss of life requires someone to take responsibility and the only one who usually takes responsibility in a teen driving accident, is the teenager driving. Yet, in some cases the passengers deserves to take the blame just as much as the driver.

Why should someone sit in the passenger seat and let a relatively new, teen driver attempt to text and watch the road respectively? Therefore, when I am the passenger in a friend's car, I take on the duty to text and call for them while they concentrate on driving. It's a small action that can make a significant difference in many lives.

The last task I gave myself to practice safe teen driving was to learn how to drive from a professional. I paid for my driving school, instead of doing parent taught and partially learning the laws of the road. I took a bus every day during the winter break of my junior year to attend a two hour class, in addition to seven, two hour driving lessons from my instructor. I made these sacrifices to keep myself, my passengers and the people on the road safe when I am behind the wheel.

The freedom given to teenagers, which is packaged with a driver's license, is a privilege that needs to be taken gravely. Being able to drive as a teen shouldn't be worth lives.

Scholarship / JOURNALISM/ PEREPARATORY/ PATIENT&HONEST; Scholarship- Why teach?/ Personal Qualities [4]

Why do you want to teach?

During the course of my senior year, I've noticed my newfound passion for the excitement of the college admissions process and with helping others obtain their higher education goals. Anytime I notice someone confused about their college application, I try my best to help them figure out every aspect of their process. It's second nature for me now and that's why I want to be a college preparatory teacher in the public school system. I have been in the AVID program, a college preparatory program, for five years and it has been a privilege to be given knowledgeable teachers with a heart set on getting their students in to the college of their dreams. As a profession, I want to set high school students on the right track to college. Also, I have a passion for journalism. I wrote for the school newspaper and became a copy editor by my senior year. I loved teaching other staff writers the basics of journalism and sharing my knowledge with them to help them write a successful front page story. I would be willing to be either a journalism teacher or a college preparatory teacher, but I know my career will be in education.

Briefly state and explain what personal qualities do you possess that would make you an outstanding teacher?

I feel that some of the attributes I have for the teaching career are that I'm patient, honest, and an excellent direction giver. I've always had teachers that become impatient with a student very quickly; therefore I've learned to be a patient person whenever I'm helping someone. I say I'm honest because when I was a copy editor for the school newspaper, Blueprints, I had to edit staff members that are also my friends and I had to be truthful about their work. My responsibilities were to create a well written newspaper and to do so the writing had to be nearly perfect and I wasn't afraid to correct papers with constructive criticism. After, if I do criticism, I like to be able to sit down with the person and discuss what I think oppose to what they think. This is a process that I feel will help a teacher understand a students' mindset and vice versa, so that maximum efficiency of the learning and teaching experience can be established. My last quality is that I am a kind person; I want to be a teacher that students can come to for personal and educational advice.