"Creative and rigorous scholarship" - Bates supplement

In addition to the Common Application essay, please select one phrase from the Bates mission statement below and comment on how it inspires you and draws you to Bates. Please upload your 1-2 paragraph response below.

Since 1855, Bates College has been dedicated to the emancipating potential of the liberal arts. Bates educates the whole person through creative and rigorous scholarship in a collaborative residential community. With ardor and devotion - Amore ac Studio - we engage the transformative power of our differences, cultivating intellectual discovery and informed civic action. Preparing leaders sustained by a love of learning and a commitment to responsible stewardship of the wider world, Bates is a college for coming times.

I want to tell you one of the many reasons why I love Bates. No, this time it's not the Economics department or the Debate Council, not even the annual leaf jump or Waffle Station if you ask me. I love Bates even more for its dedication to ensuring a "creative and rigorous scholarship in a collaborative residential community", of which "creative" is what entices me most.

Like any other missions stated by the college, this is reflected in all aspects of the Bates life. The first time reading up on Bates, I was inundated by the overflowing creativity inherent in not only the innovative faculty (I personally think the idea of Language Arts Live reading series is absolutely wonderful) but also school events and student organizations from the Slackline Club, Mirror to the Sunshine Society. But what's more important is that here at Bates, my imagination won't simply be expressed; I will be glad to see it challenged by others through rigorous competition and enormously amplified by a tight-knit community that invariably embrace the unconventional. It seems that for every crazy invention or ambitious scheme I have in mind (like using polymer clay to spread happiness), there will always be Batesies cheering me on, "Just go for it!" And if that isn't enough, there are also top-notch facilities and programs like Ladd that will help turn those ideas into reality. As a person who believes creativity is so central to our individuality and intellectual development, an invaluable tool on which we can rely for whatever we do, I see Bates as a scintillating promised land. Dear Bates, my wildest dreams want to be with you.

<<<< I just think this sentence seems strange :) I am not a native speaker so maybe you can ignore this.
Well, personally, I think your first paragraph is a little bit repeated. But you second paragraph is really convincing.
And I think you can give more information about your idea to use polymer clay to spread happiness rather than put it in parentheses.
Overall this essay is great!

Could you help with mine?

Thank you, I will definitely follow that advice :) I will look at yours now