Undergraduate / 'My family's work' - *Extracurricular Activity* INTERNSHIP [2]

I need help with grammar and cutting this down to 1000 characters..it is currently 1200 with spaces

My earliest career aspirations included doctor, veterinarian, and President. After discovering my fear of blood, fear of small animals, and fear of profound criticism, I found my aspiration in becoming a businesswoman. Living in a small town focused on small business flourished my dream and gave me the opportunity to intern at ******. At first, walking up to the copy machine made me feel intimidated. I, an inexperienced high school senior, was surrounded my successful veterans in the field. I've begun warming up to the employees and volunteered my ideas, something I never imagined myself doing. While I am still new, it is clear that this is something I could spend my life doing. The small business atmosphere makes it easy to experience all the critical aspects that go into a business. While I sometimes do "office chores" the incredibly helpful employees often make me feel just like them, giving me critical tasks. I focus on marketing and accounting skills, spending every Tuesday and Thursday creating Excel spreadsheets, analyzing sales, and promoting manufacturer's products. When I used to look at my family's work, I would often find it boring and pointless. Now, looking at numbers and graphs creates new meaning for me.

Undergraduate / Common App - Steve Jobs biggest Influence on me. [5]

The most powerful life lesson I have learned is that the secret to the world is that nothing is impossible with hard work, time, and a positive outlook. I have deduced such from Steve Jobs, a visionary that has left an everlasting influence on me. It is not his products that we pour endless amounts of money into and claim changed our life that inspires me, rather the reasoning to do such. I am honored to have viewed his impact first hand, rather than learning about it 100 years later in history class. He changed the way my mind thinks, acts, and does.

In 5th grade, I received my first iPod. At the time, I was just excited to be the first one in my class with the fancy music playing contraption that I didn't put much thought into the creation or genius behind it. Apple and Steve Jobs weren't the first to make a music player, but they took the idea and drastically improved it. He stood by the idea of looking where things are going, not where they have been. The same way Apple evolved, I have grown, proud of what I have to show. From birth, I pursued independence. Many of my childhood memories revolved around me doing "everything myself." Consequently, the feeling of belonging and accepted overshadowed my desired independence. After working with others, I have learned my desire for perfection, a tribute often acquainted with Jobs. I now admire my independence and do things as I desire, abandoning any negative reactions. Steve Jobs, a man fired from his own company, did as he pleased, and did all for himself, something that I admire wholeheartedly.

Looking to the future, I now aim to look forward and not dwell on mistakes of the past. Steve Jobs created a company that divulges information to the world's fingertips, creating less thinking, a stark contrast to his hopes for our generation. The final words of his powerful commencement speech at Stanford "Stay hungry. Stay foolish" capitalizes on the fact that limiting our mind is the biggest obstacle in the way of our dreams. Steve Jobs was born an everyday man such as ourselves but didn't go each day thinking such. Years ago when my family discovered he was a distant relative, I knew our minds were wired alike. After everything, my mind now thinks to the future and views myself different from everyone else. I hope to captivate on the characteristics that make me who I am and become half the powerhouse Steve Jobs was.