Undergraduate / A dream ticket: I would get on a plane to Silicon Valley for a meeting with Elon Musk [2]

prompt = You've got a ticket in your hand - Where will you go? What will you do? What will happen when you get there?

Should I ever be blessed with a ticket that shall grant me access to any event imaginable, there is no doubt in my mind that I would use this to attend a music festival that would feature my 2 favorite artists: Drake and Travis Scott

To kick off this extravaganza, I would walk through the entrance and immediately find my way to the nearest food vendor and fill my stomach with all it could handle to ensure I would not need to make any trips during the concert. After stuffing myself like a turkey I would make my way to my front row center stage seat and patiently await the arrival of the 2 biggest role models in my life. Once they would arrive, I'd sit back and enjoy every song of this once in a lifetime experience and do so in lavish fashion. After the concert ends and I snap out of post-concert depression and I have finished clearing the shelves of the pop up shops selling merchandise, I would think to myself that it would bring me an immeasurable amount of pleasure and gratitude to meet these two artists in person even if it is just to say hello. Thankfully, my golden ticket would grant me the opportunity I have been dreaming of my whole life and It would allow me to sit down with them both. First and foremost, I would thank them for impacting my life in such a positive manor and for helping me blossom into the man I am today. After I shower them with my gratitude and respect, we would converse like the friends I always wished we would become, talking about sports, movies, music, life, and anything that made its way into our thoughts.

Finally, the time would come where we would have to go our separate ways. We would bid each other farewell and then I would depart, feeling sad because this day couldn't last my entire lifetime, content and grateful, knowing I now withheld a memory that would withstand the test of time, and fulfilled knowing I could repay the 2 people that have molded me into the person I am today.

Undergraduate / Along the way of my 17-year rollercoaster ride in this life, I have learned valuable life lessons [2]

What was the environment in which you were raised? Describe your family, home, neighborhood, or community, and explain how it has shaped you as a person

17 years ago, I came into this world as a newborn baby boy. At that instant, I joined a pre-existing family unit consisting of a young woman from Indiana, who I would later know as mom, a physically imposing young lad, who in that moment was officially crowned the title of father and later dad, and finally a little girl almost one years old, who now held the coveted position of big sister. Along the way of a 17-year rollercoaster ride with these 3 people I have experienced the world, learned valuable life lessons as well as skills, and have been introduced to 3 vastly different ideologies. All this culminating in the ability for me to morph myself into the person who I want to be and the person that I am today. While I have taken so much from these three influences in my life, they each hold one lesson that has had an immeasurable impact on my life.

The most notable lesson I have acquired from my dad is that alcohol is not the answer. Though he has never come forth and said it, over the years I have seen my dad drink every night as if he had a purpose. Whether it be to relax to get tipsy or to get outright drunk it happens all too often. Thankfully the only change the alcohol brings out in my dad is his annoyingness is exemplified but I can't help but realize that through witnessing it all throughout my 17 years of existence it has taught me that you can't drink, smoke, or inject away your problems.

My mother has shown me the ropes since I was born as any good mother would. I always spent more time with her than my father as she stayed at home while my dad slaved away to provide for us but the most important lesson I learned from her only became clear recently. To take care my sister and I when we were first born my mom decided to forego the opportunity to go to college and become a speech pathologist. When I started the 8th grade she decided she had completed her motherly duty and decided to go back to college to fulfill her dream. She then accomplished her goal during my junior year of high school as she became a speech pathologist at a clinic near my hometown. The lesson learned: it's never too late to fulfill your dreams.

Finally, the lesson learned from my sister: never neglect your family. I learned this lesson through my sister obsession with her boyfriend. She does everything for him even applied and now works at the same restaurant as him. She is always by his side and never leaves it. This leaves little time for her family and consequently pains my parents due to the little time they see their daughter.

Thanks to these three lessons, I have successfully molded myself into the person I am, was, and will continue to be.