Undergraduate / "My Hidden Treasure" - University of Illinois Essay [9]

prompt-essay of 300 words or less, choose one extracurricular activity, work experience, or community service project from the list you provided on the application and explain why you initially chose it, why you continued with it, and how you benefited from it.

My Hidden Treasure

The famous author, Mark Twain once said, "There comes a time in every rightly constructed boy's life when he has a raging desire to go somewhere and dig for hidden treasure". I "dug up" Young Life in the summer of 2007, before I became a sophomore in high school. Growing up a Catholic in Naperville, Illinois brought me through the first chapters of becoming an individual, but my recent participation in Young Life, a non-denominational Christian youth group for teens, truly motivated me to put effort into becoming a man of respect and moral fortitude.

I truly learned who my group leader, Rob Hankins, and who my closest friends really are during the Young Life camp last summer by listening to their inputs on subjects young people struggle with. The greatest aspect of selflessness I learned during these discussions was that no one will ever understand their impact on others until "they walk in their (others) shoes". Experiencing things like para sailing and obstacle courses while at the same time learning about my relationship with God and others made it easy for someone my age to realize the potential we have in becoming a part of today's society.

However, there is more to Young Life than just camp. There are service projects and yard sales that the teenagers take part in as well as weekly meetings. Throughout each school year, leaders bond with us and learn who we are, so that they can help us to mature both as Christians and adolescents. Listening to the personal experiences of others helped me to appreciate life and teaches me that as one person out of six billion in the world, I have the ability to "dig up my own hidden treasure" and impact society and the environment around me.

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