Undergraduate / "Swim coach Marks" - Admission essay 2 for UT [8]

Prompt: Write an essay in which you tell us about someone who has made an impact on your life and explain how and why this person is important to you.

Essay:

Teetering on the edge of the starting block, I awaited the horn to sound, signaling the start of my individual medley relay. I had to swim 100 meters, divided into 25 meter swims of each of the four strokes: Butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, and freestyle. Gazing into the water below, time seemed to slow. Every second passed with so many thoughts racing through my head. My muscles were tensed and waiting, itching to burst forward in a split second. And then the horn blared.

I exploded from my four-point stance and dove into the water. Swimming butterfly, I could hear the crowd yelling every time I burst out of the water for a breath. I quickly approached the end of the pool, did a flip-turn, spun onto my back, and continued to swim in backstroke form. I stared up into the sky, watching my arms fly past me. Left. Right. Left. Right. Soon, I saw the flags over my head that signaled I was about to reach the end of the pool. At just the right time, I flip-turned again, and pushed off the wall. My muscles ached, but I kept on going. I continued down the pool, swimming in breaststroke style. Glancing left and right when I went up for breaths, I saw that I was ahead of all the other swimmers. "I've got this one," I thought to myself. When I reached the end of the pool, I once again flip-turned; preparing to give everything I had left in my freestyle swim. I shoved off the wall, powering forward as fast as I could. Halfway down the length of the pool, I turned my head for a breath. For just a second, I could make out my coach walking down the pool, yelling words of encouragement at me. I pushed harder, going as fast as I could, and I hit the wall in seconds. I pulled myself out of the pool, gasping for breath, and watched in contentment as all the other swimmers caught up to the finish. I walked away a winner, and it all began with Coach Al Marks. Marks was my swim team coach for 6 years, and he had a large impact on my life, instilling in me a spirit of competition, perseverance, and success.

I was a summer league swimmer for the Shadow Cliff Swim Club, near my childhood home in San Antonio. Every morning of every day during the summer, I rode my bicycle the quarter-mile to the swim club, which had a simple twenty-five meter pool with lanes. Al Marks, the genius who also trained Josh Davis, an Olympic champion from San Antonio, was there during the summer to coach our team. My swimming skills, which had been rapidly developing since a young age; were helped on by Coach Marks, whose knowledge on swimming technique was forged from years of experience.

Coach Marks has a long history as a successful teacher and swim coach. Marks taught at Churchill High School in San Antonio for 31 years, guiding the school's swim team to 51 district championships, 37 regional titles, and 8 state championships. He led the summer league at Shadow Cliff every year and continues to do it to this day. The six years I was a part of the Shadow Cliff team, we won 6 divisional championships in a row, and after I left they continued to win. This year Shadow Cliff is going for an unprecedented 20-year winning streak.

Coach Marks always was a big hero to me, because he pushed everyone on the team to do their best, and at such a young age, when we were easily molded, those characteristics of excellence and success became second nature to my team and me. Every day I went to practice, Marks drilled us for hours in the cold morning water. He was very hands-on, and a great teacher. Everything he taught me so long ago, I still remember as clearly as if it were yesterday. Whenever I swam, he pushed me to go faster, and give it my all and then some more. To this day, I always like to compete against others, and I push myself to do the best I can in whatever I do. The desire to win, to push myself, and to try my best was instilled by my hero, coach, teacher and friend: Al Marks.

Undergraduate / "Wildfires in Texas" - admission essay for UT [6]

Here's the prompt: Choose an issue of importance to you-the issue could be personal, school related, local, political, or international in scope-and write an essay in which you explain the significance of that issue to yourself, your family, your community, or your generation.

It's 5 o clock as you open the door of your car. As you sit in the seat and start your car, the blazing hot air scalds your skin, and it engulfs you like an invisible fire. The feeling is miserable, and you drive off, waiting for the air conditioning to cool you off, and you squint your eyes to see something in the distance. You slow down, see large plume of smoke rising from the forest on the right of the road, and all of the sudden, an inferno bursts from the tree line, quickly pushed by hot winds. Your car is quickly surrounded, and flames lick at your windows. The heat builds up, and your chest hurts from the extremely hot air, which is starting to blister your skin. Dazed, you try to open the door, but you start feeling light headed, and can't get out. Within a few minutes, you're suffering from third degree burns as your car is covered in flame, and you can't breathe. The smoke is filling your lungs, and your eyes slowly close, and you drift into eternal rest.

It sounds scary, but just be glad this kind of thing isn't commonplace in the Texas hill country. The Texas hill country has the capability of being a potential tinderbox just waiting to burn up, and the conditions are just right for dangerous wildfires to start and endanger many people, homes, and land. It could happen soon, it could even happen today.

A place where this kind of situation is more common is California. California, a hot, windy, Western state, is plagued by thousands of wildfires each year, which break out in the brush and continue to be fueled by dry plants and prevailing Santa Ana winds. Low humidity is a usual thing in California, and it causes the plants and trees to be dry and prone to burning. Next, the strong, dry Santa Ana winds fuel fires and make them move fast. Also, California's growing population poses two problems: More people cause more fires, and there are more people who may fall victim to the fires.

The frightening part is that our own Texas Hill country has many of the same characteristics that make California such a vulnerable place. The hill country is also a home to many plants which become dry in the summer heat, making a perfect fuel for flames. There are also hot, dry, prevailing southerly winds in the hill country, which can help spread fires. Texas is one of the biggest, most populous states, and people only continue to spread, especially into the hill country. And more people means more fires, and more victims.

The hill country has a few special threats which also make it a dangerous place. Cedar trees, the most common trees in the hill country foliage, have a volatile trick. Because they hold so much oil in their bark, the oil can heat up and literally explode with sparks and flame, catching surrounding plants on fire. Texas is currently in a very severe drought, and a heat wave, with daily temperatures this summer peaking up to 104 degrees, and precipitation for the summer less than a few inches. The winds are also moderately strong this summer, gusting at a maximum of 45 mph, averaging 20 mph, and steady winds blowing at 10 mph.

The only huge difference between California and Texas is that Texas is not plagued by fires... yet. Texas natives are not too concerned with the danger of potential outbreaks of fire, and do not take very good precautions against it. We need to take action to protect our land and people from fire, and should be aware of the danger it poses. I do not want to see my home get burned up, and it is important to me to get the word out that we are in danger.

The Central Texas hill country is vulnerable to quick-spreading wildfires, but we are fortunate that they haven't occurred yet. So we must realize the potential danger that these fires pose to our homeland, and be mindful and protective of our countryside, so it doesn't end up being constantly on fire like California's forests.