Undergraduate / UC Prompt 1: Aftermath of Mom's Stroke [4]

Hello! Thank you for reading over my essay. I really appreciate any comments, corrections, or critiques you could give on my essay--anything helps. In return I can also edit one of your essays! :) Thanks.

Prompt 1: Describe the world you come from (family, school, community) and tell us how your world has shaped your dreams and aspirations.

There are several ways to say what exactly happened to my mother in the winter of 2007. Her doctors had told me it was an acute cerebrovascular attack, an intercranial hemorrhage. At the time, those words confused me, and I was not aware of the implications of them. Only after she was released from the hospital were the facts given to me plainly: my mother, at the age of 35, had had a stroke. I was in my sophomore year of high school when she had this hemorrhagic stroke, and was altogether unprepared for the changes it brought about in my world.

That year, I had developed an addiction to prescription painkillers. Immediately following my mother's return from the hospital, I knew that I needed to quit taking drugs, focus on my family and keep things together while she recovered. Essentially, this meant assuming my mother's responsibilities. My father had little time to help out around the house because he had to work extra hours to pay my mother's medical bills, so I was the one who did the laundry, cooked dinner, washed dishes, and took care of my three year old sister. After helping my mother get into her pajamas and tucking my sister in, out of sheer exhaustion, I would fall asleep, my homework brushed aside. My familial responsibilities took complete precedence over any social activity or academic obligation I had. To perform well in school, I first had to help create stability at home.

It was during the summer before my junior year when my mother became well enough to take care of herself. That fall, I was able to switch my focus in priority from family to schoolwork; and that fall, I realized my true academic potential. Going to college hadn't crossed my mind until I became aware of the intellectual promise I had. Neither my family nor my friends had ever known me to be so driven, so diligent with my schoolwork.

The aftermath of my mother's stroke left every aspect of my family's lives altered in its wake. Despite the horrible nature of my mother's experience, I learned how to take care of myself and others; how to be patient, caring, and kind. After caring for both my family and my mother, I came to realize how much I truly valued my family and my health. Taking the initiative to better myself and the lives of my family has given me the opportunity to succeed academically and achieve my aspirations of going to college and becoming an art history teacher.

Undergraduate / UC Prompt 2: "Teaching Others About Art" [7]

sorry, couldn't think of a good title. here's my essay for the UC prompt 2, which is as follows:

PROMPT 2: Tell us about a personal quality, talent, accomplishment, contribution or experience that is important to you. What about this quality or accomplishment makes you proud and how does it relate to the person you are?

Tentatively, I wait by the glass doors of Lux Art Institute, fingering the sleeve of my wine-colored sweater. Usually when there are minimal visitors I spend time in the gallery admiring the art, but today I am restless, ready to give a tour and interact with others. Many of my peers are baffled as to why I choose to spend my Friday nights in art museums rather than at parties with friends. To be honest, I feel more at home in the museum.

In junior year, I took AP Art History, a course in which I learned about art movements, examined historical events, and analyzed works of art. I was captivated by art and its fusion of intellectual stimulation and aesthetic appeal. Each day that we would study a new art-historical period, such as Surrealism, Mannerism or the Baroque, was a day to look forward to. An insatiable thirst for more knowledge began to settle in my skin, and by the end of the semester I was itching to learn more about contemporary art. Upon researching local art galleries and museums that were hiring or in need of volunteers, I became most interested in Lux Art Institute. Lux is a museum with an artist-in-residency program; an artist lives at Lux for a short period of time and creates a work of art, allowing visitors to experience the artistic process firsthand. Mesmerized by both the skill and mind of the artist in general, I was very attracted to the idea of working at Lux.

Remembering myself, I look through the window, checking for potential visitors. Several minutes later I see a mother and her three children walking toward the entrance of Lux. As they enter, I introduce myself, give them a brief overview of the history of the museum, and push open the doors of the gallery with a flourish.

As soon as I catch a glimpse of the paintings that adorn the walls of the museum, I begin telling them about the current artist-in-residence, Derrick Guild. Throughout the tour the three children give their unyielding attention to me and the paintings. We discuss how each painting made us feel, and why. And in that half hour tour, that family became more interested in art than I ever was in the first sixteen years of my life. To instill such a rich passion in someone at such a young age gave me such great happiness; that night as I laid in bed I realized that it was the teaching that I loved.

It was a love of art catalyzed by daily lectures on the Baroque and the Renaissance and deepened by these weekly shifts at Lux that brought me to consider a career in art history and education. My experiences with children and young adults at Lux Art Institute have crystallized within me a passion for teaching, something I had not anticipated upon starting my volunteer position as a docent there. The prospect of illuminating passion for a subject as vast and rich as art history drives me to teach others; to teach others I first must learn. Despite being a first-generation college student, I am confident that in my college years to come I will succeed both within and beyond the realm of academia and add meaning to the lives of others through art education.

it's still rather rough so comments, constructive criticism, and other helpful notes are greatly appreciated! thank you for your help!