Could anyone please help me review my essays for the YYGS & YYAS Programs? I feel at a disadvantage because my first essays were a bit weak and I feel like I did better on the last ones. Also doesn't help that I submitted my application a day before the due date. Please tell me anything I could have changed and which essay is the strongest. Thank you!
~Describe a time when you challenged a status quo or questioned traditional beliefs. How did this experience shape you?
(250-500 words)
"Oya, mtu ita uyo dame ali kwa ana ongea English!" he shouted as dozens of eyes were now fixated on my every movement. I dug my nails into the kickboard in my hand and quickened my pace, analyzing every word as it shot through the air. Why me and why now? I can't even respond in Swahili, let alone fight with him in the language if I need to. It wasn't just the painstaking embarrassment- it was a delayed understanding that the language I regarded as common was an advantage that I hadn't fully grasped until that moment. I was 15, now back in Kenya and I had just been hit with the realization that my very choice of language might have detached me from the people I had grown up with.
At the age of 7, I traveled 4,185 miles to Myanmar and lived there for three years. Though it seems like a short period, my time abroad greatly influenced my values, beliefs, and language. It is in Myanmar that I learned that though racial and lingual differences exist, accents also play a huge role in the flow of a conversation. While leaving Myanmar two things stuck in my mind, I was going to face major lingual barriers in Kenya, and since I had completely forgotten Swahili during my time abroad, I was left with my default language, English. As I digested the change from Myanmar to Kenya, nothing could prepare me for the culture shock I would receive. I had always assumed English was widely spoken in Kenya, but I soon realized it was a golden ticket to access better jobs, easier education, and smoother social interactions, things that many others could not easily access.
One of my core memories is of when we returned to Kenya. We had just moved into a new neighborhood and while my sister and I scouted the area we came across a group of girls our age. As we walked up to say hi both parties seemed excited to meet one another until my lips began to move. Immediately they heard my accent, they put up a wall to show that though I may look like them, I could never truly be like them. They viewed this language as an accessory to the upper and middle classes. I didn't like being compared and placed on a hierarchy just because of my accent.
This social stereotype among the less fortunate is limiting the potential of future generations. This experience helped me assess the societal hierarchies that we humans place on ourselves and opened my eyes to the multiple privileges I was handed in life. I am now dedicated to using my technological skills to create a program for Primary schools to teach their children STEM skills, equipping them with the tools they need to succeed. With this program, I can show them that with a little imagination and a sprinkle of technology, anything is possible.
One at a time.
~Describe a time when you challenged a status quo or questioned traditional beliefs. How did this experience shape you?
(250-500 words)
"Oya, mtu ita uyo dame ali kwa ana ongea English!" he shouted as dozens of eyes were now fixated on my every movement. I dug my nails into the kickboard in my hand and quickened my pace, analyzing every word as it shot through the air. Why me and why now? I can't even respond in Swahili, let alone fight with him in the language if I need to. It wasn't just the painstaking embarrassment- it was a delayed understanding that the language I regarded as common was an advantage that I hadn't fully grasped until that moment. I was 15, now back in Kenya and I had just been hit with the realization that my very choice of language might have detached me from the people I had grown up with.
At the age of 7, I traveled 4,185 miles to Myanmar and lived there for three years. Though it seems like a short period, my time abroad greatly influenced my values, beliefs, and language. It is in Myanmar that I learned that though racial and lingual differences exist, accents also play a huge role in the flow of a conversation. While leaving Myanmar two things stuck in my mind, I was going to face major lingual barriers in Kenya, and since I had completely forgotten Swahili during my time abroad, I was left with my default language, English. As I digested the change from Myanmar to Kenya, nothing could prepare me for the culture shock I would receive. I had always assumed English was widely spoken in Kenya, but I soon realized it was a golden ticket to access better jobs, easier education, and smoother social interactions, things that many others could not easily access.
One of my core memories is of when we returned to Kenya. We had just moved into a new neighborhood and while my sister and I scouted the area we came across a group of girls our age. As we walked up to say hi both parties seemed excited to meet one another until my lips began to move. Immediately they heard my accent, they put up a wall to show that though I may look like them, I could never truly be like them. They viewed this language as an accessory to the upper and middle classes. I didn't like being compared and placed on a hierarchy just because of my accent.
This social stereotype among the less fortunate is limiting the potential of future generations. This experience helped me assess the societal hierarchies that we humans place on ourselves and opened my eyes to the multiple privileges I was handed in life. I am now dedicated to using my technological skills to create a program for Primary schools to teach their children STEM skills, equipping them with the tools they need to succeed. With this program, I can show them that with a little imagination and a sprinkle of technology, anything is possible.
One at a time.
