cycomonkey42
Nov 27, 2010
Undergraduate / "A smile is the best approach to a frown" - UC Prompt #2 [3]
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
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?
His name was Ron. He was missing all but five teeth and consisted of everything one would expect of a Vietnam Veteran suffering from PTSD. He spent a good amount of our weekly three hours together reminiscing strictly on his barracks and the other on different types of fish he would one day like to catch. He greeted everyone who walked up to our desk with his uncanny smile and no one could help but to smile back. Every week Ron taught me something new, whether it was how to clean a rifle or how to gut a trout, but more importantly, he taught me how to smile.
For the past four summers, I've volunteered at the local Kaiser Permanente Hospital doing a variety of jobs, but mainly working at the information desk. Every Tuesday I'd drag myself out of bed to that fluorescently lit, sterile smelling clinic where I observed the many different people who walked through the doors. They came in all shapes and sizes and looked like they were coming straight out of Dr. Seuss's office. Maybe it was the way I stared, but for some reason I attracted all the resentful people who asked me questions I didn't have the answer to. I hated the place.
It wasn't until the summer of 2008 that I was paired up with a senior volunteer. Ron didn't volunteer because his mother told him to. He volunteered because of his altruistic nature. He saw this shy cynical boy and wanted to show him that pointing someone in the right direction, along with a simple smile could have a lasting effect on his or her day. The next day a woman asked where she could wait for her father to go into surgery. I flashed her a smile, uttered a compliment or two, and sent her on her way. No adverse glare, no hostile comments, no "What do they even pay you for?" It was astonishing. My perspiring palms were now oozing with enthusiasm rather than sweat. I now had this common yet effulgent talent that I wanted to take with me outside of the hospital.
The following year, my enthusiasm took the form of Key Club, a student-led volunteer organization. I practiced Ron's methods at every community service project, whether it was handing out shirts at cancer walks or recycling trash after football games. In the subsequent years, I took more active rolls, becoming historian and now president. I took more active rolls, becoming historian and now president. As president, I found the energy to recruit, the courage to publicly talk, and the dedication to organize volunteer events for my members. I want them to realize that showing your empathy and having a positive attitude is the basis for changing the world we live in for the better. Basically, I want them to know that the "warm-fuzzy-feeling" one gets after helping others is no myth.
I plan on taking this talent with me throughout life, eventually entering the medical field where I can combine it with my passion for biology.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
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?
His name was Ron. He was missing all but five teeth and consisted of everything one would expect of a Vietnam Veteran suffering from PTSD. He spent a good amount of our weekly three hours together reminiscing strictly on his barracks and the other on different types of fish he would one day like to catch. He greeted everyone who walked up to our desk with his uncanny smile and no one could help but to smile back. Every week Ron taught me something new, whether it was how to clean a rifle or how to gut a trout, but more importantly, he taught me how to smile.
For the past four summers, I've volunteered at the local Kaiser Permanente Hospital doing a variety of jobs, but mainly working at the information desk. Every Tuesday I'd drag myself out of bed to that fluorescently lit, sterile smelling clinic where I observed the many different people who walked through the doors. They came in all shapes and sizes and looked like they were coming straight out of Dr. Seuss's office. Maybe it was the way I stared, but for some reason I attracted all the resentful people who asked me questions I didn't have the answer to. I hated the place.
It wasn't until the summer of 2008 that I was paired up with a senior volunteer. Ron didn't volunteer because his mother told him to. He volunteered because of his altruistic nature. He saw this shy cynical boy and wanted to show him that pointing someone in the right direction, along with a simple smile could have a lasting effect on his or her day. The next day a woman asked where she could wait for her father to go into surgery. I flashed her a smile, uttered a compliment or two, and sent her on her way. No adverse glare, no hostile comments, no "What do they even pay you for?" It was astonishing. My perspiring palms were now oozing with enthusiasm rather than sweat. I now had this common yet effulgent talent that I wanted to take with me outside of the hospital.
The following year, my enthusiasm took the form of Key Club, a student-led volunteer organization. I practiced Ron's methods at every community service project, whether it was handing out shirts at cancer walks or recycling trash after football games. In the subsequent years, I took more active rolls, becoming historian and now president. I took more active rolls, becoming historian and now president. As president, I found the energy to recruit, the courage to publicly talk, and the dedication to organize volunteer events for my members. I want them to realize that showing your empathy and having a positive attitude is the basis for changing the world we live in for the better. Basically, I want them to know that the "warm-fuzzy-feeling" one gets after helping others is no myth.
I plan on taking this talent with me throughout life, eventually entering the medical field where I can combine it with my passion for biology.
