Undergraduate / 'always helping people' - FSU learning essay admission 2012 [4]

Please help any way you can, I'll take all editing to heart. Thank you!

Prompt:
Florida State University is more than just a world-class academic institution preparing you for a future career. We are a caring community of well-rounded individuals who embrace leadership, learning, service, and global awareness. With this in mind, which of these characteristics appeal most to you, and why?

Essay:
Society is perpetually changing. In order to grow with these changes, society must adapt through learning to prevent stagnation. The individuals of a society must do the same or fall behind. In my schooling career, I learned that I could not do the bare minimum just to get by. In order to be successful, I must challenge myself and thus, I grew to increase my academic standards and I advanced each year as a student.

However, learning is not just about academic achievement, it is maturing as a person as well. It is about learning life lessons and amending your mistakes. For example, I have learned as an individual to stay strong during hard times. My biological father and I were always close when I was young. However, when my father returned from the war in 2006, he was a completely changed man. He lacked the humor that once characterized him. He no longer amazed me with the platefuls of food he used to devour; he barely ate. He lacked sleep due, to flash backs and nightmares of his unimaginable two years of service. We didn't have the same communication we once had, and most importantly, I lacked the same father I had known all my life. It was extremely difficult to adjust to, but I had to move on and not allow it to affect the other important aspects of my life such as school and the relationships I still had.

Throughout my life I have learned from people just as I hope they have learned from me. I have had the desire to help people as my father did through their life-changing times of trouble, so that not only them, but the people around them could be positively affected.

As a FSU Seminole, I feel I would bring a positive influence to the campus' environment, always helping people through their troubles. I would maintain my responsibilities as a student, learning about my passion of psychology everyday in an excellent learning environment that will help me grow and prepare me for a world of constant change and challenges.