Undergraduate / 'Leadership is comprehending facts' essay [NEW]

Leadership is a constant theme and emphasis at CMC. In fact, one of the ways we describe CMC students is "Leaders in the Making." Identify and discuss a person, fictional or nonfictional, who has helped shape culture and thought. You may select

someone from any field: literature, the arts, science, politics, history, athletics, business, education, etc.

So i thought of writing about lots of great leaders and then one particular person came to my mind. Robin Sharma. I just wanted to know how huge he is across the globe and whether he is a good choice for my essay.

In the meantime, I wrote the starting paragraph for the essay

Leaders come in many shapes and forms. While trying to decide who would make an ideal leader out of the many great people who inspire me, I decided to find out how leadership is perceived. "What is leadership?" "Leadership means to give guidance to the members of a group by going before or drawing others along the same course, just like the leader of a herd of deer or baboons", responded my mother, who is a Zoology teacher. Upon posing the same question to my father, the principal of a school, who is very much into philosophy, and who likes to talk a lot, he answered, "Leadership is not just leading, but comprehending facts. It is to be open about learning and having a clear vision. It is a skill but it goes beyond that. It is..." I cut him off. I had got my answer. Decades of scientific study have yet to yield a single definition that fully captures the nature of leadership; I was but doing a tiny study.

Since the prompt asks me to talk about a particular person, is it a good idea to start my essay this way or is it going off the topic?? Some good ideas to proceed with my essay would be helpful. Advice needed!!

Undergraduate / Is a women's college still relevant in 2009 [2]

Suggestions, advice, ideas and corrections in any form are welcome...

Also, it's supposed to be 150 words only and I don't know what to cut out from this.suggestions???

When Smith College was founded in 1871, there were few educational opportunities for women. Is a women's college still relevant in 2009? (Limit response to 150 words)

In 1871, there were a few educational opportunities for women around the world. In 2009, many people in my country still see women education as useless.

I spent the seven most memorable years of my school life in a girls' school, followed by two years in a co educational High School. Sure a school where girls and boys are educated side by side may give us a greater knowledge of society due to exposure of perspectives from both sexes. But an all girls' school helps instill in its students the qualities which might otherwise be suppressed in a co-ed school. Besides, a women's college doesn't mean that it is secluded entirely from the male society.

It has been proven that girls and boys learn in different ways. A women's college recognizes these differences and fulfills the immense potential of its students to the fullest. When I was in my co-ed high school I remember yearning so many times to go back to my school where there were no limitations for girls, the class was not boys-dominated, there were no boys distracting and competing and where girls got to run the show.

It is not just because single-sex schools dominate the top of the examination league tables that a women's college is still relevant in today's world. Coming from a country where a lot of people do not even try to understand the importance of women education and empowerment, I don't only think that women's college is still relevant in 2009; I think it is a noble task to be educating women in a superb standard and helping bring out the leaders in them.

Undergraduate / Mrs. Josephine Ghissing!! common app essay [3]

Indicate a person who has had a significant influence on you, and describe that influence.

Well i know it's a long one! I need ideas to make it more compact. Any other suggestions and corrections are more than welcome.

Fifteen minutes before my first show starts: My mind drifts off to my school days in Loreto Convent, Darjeeling, where I spent the seven most memorable years of my life, thousands of miles away from my family. That first day, the smartly dressed, elegant little figure walked into our classroom. She was to be our class teacher and English teacher and later, my mentor and role model. Mrs. Josephine Ghissing. I smile at her memory.

I think of my abhorrence for English when I first joined Loreto. My first English teacher marked everything in red, the marks arbitrary and scribbled with frustration. Mrs. Ghissing shed a different light upon the subject I hated. She showed us that knowledge dwells not only in the four corners of the classroom but in our joy to explore outside the box. Due to her constant encouragement, I began to love books. I excitedly journeyed from The Life of Pi to Tuesdays with Morrie to Atlas Shrugged. I think of the valuable lessons about life that Mitch Albom learned from his professor, Morrie. I reminisce about how Mrs. Ghissing, with her warm smile and inspiring words, made me love, not just English, but my life, helping me tide over problems and come out of the cocoon of fear and denial that I had spun around me, during those days I spent without my family.

I re-check my script. It is my first show and as a new show host, I am to keep my script in front of me while speaking, in case I become nervous and go blank. I make sure I have all my papers with me. I have chosen to talk about an author, Mitch Albom, in my show. I still have ten minutes, just enough time to review my script one last time. I choose to think of my class teacher.

In class, she asked us questions, lots of them. At first, while I often knew the answers, I did not have the courage to raise my hand. But Mrs. Ghissing saw through my timidity and sensed my desire. With warm and loving eyes, she began to look to me, encouraging me to speak up, to express myself. Soon, my fear of ridicule was gone. My hand flew up enthusiastically to answer any question.

Public speaking had never been my cup of tea but Mrs. Ghissing would not let this setback deter me. She chose me as one of the speakers at school assemblies, taking extra hours and giving me individual attention to make me stand in the podium more confidently. My enthusiasm to share ideas spread to all parts of my life. I assumed various leadership roles and discovered the joy of speaking out. With my class teacher always there to hear me, I learned to carry my voice with strength.

It is ironic; I think to myself, a girl who would not dare raise her hand in class is now going to host her own live radio show. That one special person cared to hear me and make me speak; now thousands are going to hear me speak.

"Just as a bigger fire swallows a smaller one, Brutus' love for his county swallowed his love for Caesar," Mrs. Ghissing used to say as she explicated the lines of Julius Caesar. Perhaps her immeasurable love for her students and her constant encouragement swallowed my fear, letting me blossom into a confident young girl. On this, I muse.

Five minutes before my show: I am ushered into the studio. The microphone and other complicated looking equipment stare back at me. The butterflies in my stomach swarm. I am excited. I take a deep breath inside the air-conditioned room. Mitch Albom's lines replay in my mind. "Youth, like pristine glass, absorbs the prints of its handlers. Some handlers smudge, others crack, a few shatter childhoods into jagged little pieces, beyond repair." Mrs. Ghissing's radiant face comes to my mind and I remember how she handled me with utmost love and care and helped me shine. I remember how my Morrie, my class teacher, used to dispel my fear by reciting Emerson's wise words: "What lies behind us and what lies in front of us pales in comparison to what lies within us."

I stand tall in front of the microphone and put on my headphones. The technician gives me the thumbs up sign asking me if I'm ready. I put my script away. I smile at him and nod: I'm ready.