Dental hygiene application essay brainstorming

my journey and passion to become a dental hygienist

Hi everyone,
This is my first post on here so I apologize if I'm not posting in the correct format, please bare with me! :)
I am going to be applying to dental hygiene school about a month from now and I'm going to begin writing my essay, but I'm feeling stuck on what to write about. I've never really been great at writing and putting the words I'm thinking onto paper. The prompt says, "Discuss any special abilities or skills that you believe would make you an asset to this profession". I spoke to many students who are currently in the program and they suggested that I write about my journey and passion to become a dental hygienist. I was thinking about starting off writing about my high school experience. I had no idea what I wanted to do with life and was very unmotivated to the point where my lowest GPA was a 1.8 (yikes, I know). But as soon as I discovered that my passion was to become a dental hygienist after getting my braces on and becoming very fixated on my own personal hygiene, I immediately did a 180° and became super determined. From that point on, I never got anything below a 4.0. Then I was going to go on and discuss my college journey - briefly touch on being a first generation college student and how that shaped me, further paint a picture of how hard I have been working for the past two years on prereqs, why I love dental hygiene, why I want to be apart of their program, etc. My question here really is, should I leave out the part about having a 1.8 GPA in high school? I'm not sure if it will lean more towards making me look terrible or really impressive since I found my passion and skyrocketed from there. What do you guys think about the other things I want to discuss as well? Thank you all in advance! :)

Daniella let me apologize in advance for bursting your bubble. You have not told me anything that represents a special ability that you possess which would translate into making you an asset as a Dental Hygienist. What you related in this brainstorm is information that belongs to the personal statement. There are no special abilities being discussed that can illustrate a prompt response from your narration. A special ability, in reference to the prompt could be, for example, a love for the arts. Sculpting, in particular would be an extremely useful ability as a dental hygienist is often tasked with creating the study casts of mouths and mouthguards. A keen observational skill would also be an asset because the dental hygienist is the go to person for oral cavity inspections, specifically of the cancerous kind. A gift in math is also a special ability that would make you an asset in this profession because of the math involved in radiographs. These are some of the skills that the reviewer will be looking for in your essay. He is not looking for a story about a personal journey. As per the prompt requirements, he is looking for reasons to believe that you have some sort of foundational skills that will allow you perform the tasks you would be asked to do on the job.

@Holt
Hi, no worries! Yes I agree, I was very vague in what I posted, I was more so just brainstorming ideas to write about, since I haven't started yet! I didn't want to get into too much detail about what qualities and skills I have that would make me a good dental hygienist, but I guess I should have included that. As I mentioned, I spoke to many current and past students of the program and they have all said that the professors and admissions are looking more to hear about your journey towards becoming a hygienist and to highlight your drive and willingness to succeed, which is I guess why my format is leaning more towards a personal statement format. Thank you, I appreciate all feedback!