Here's the essay I've written for Pomona. I really need help editing it, so please tear it up!
Prompt: What experience in high school has mattered most to you? How do you see this experience influencing your decision-making in college?
Three months ago I had been living a different life. Three months ago, I had graduated Jr. High School with my best friends, the ones I had known since 3rd grade. Three months ago, I had sat down and decided which classes I would be taking for the next four years at high school. Three months ago, I had a plan for the rest of my life.
Then, everything changed. My father dragged the family to Mougins, France. Presently, I sat, not in ninth grade at Los Altos High, but in "Form 10" at Mougins School. The class I was currently in was my new drama class. If my friends back in California had heard this, they probably would have laughed out loud, thinking it was a joke. I was not an actor, nor had I ever shown any interest in pursuing a career in show business. Yet here I was, willing to give it a shot.
It had actually been my mother who had changed my mind about moving to this little town in France. What had been a catastrophic turn of events in my perfectly planned life, turned into an opportunity to find my new "passion." My mother had pointed out that not a single one of the kids slumped in desks around me knew anything about who I was. I could be an entirely different person. They had no idea that I was not an actor. To be honest, even I did not know if I was an actor. This new school, however, was my chance to discover just that. This was my opportunity to find out what I still did not know about myself.
So, I signed up for a drama class, and then auditioned for the school play. However, I knew that finding your passion did not mean just trying one new activity. I also joined the school's jazz band, participated in a fashion show, took a Jazz Dance class, and even made one disastrous attempt at playing with the school's "football" team. Trying all these activities was made more exciting because of the cultural differences. My dance class was completely in French, and the people I met through theater and jazz band taught me as much about their own cultures as I was learning about theater and jazz. My European friends were also very different from my friends in California. As a result, I found that I was exposed to new movies, books, and music. I was determined to try new things, however foreign and different they were.
Although I do not know if I found a new "passion," I discovered a lot about myself. I developed a love for French films, I found a hobby in Jazz Dance that I hope to continue, and I found that for the safety of others, I should not be allowed around a soccer ball. Most importantly, I discovered the importance of being open and trying new things. Through this experience, I have come to believe that it is necessary to try everything before making a decision. I look forward to the opportunity to enter college as an undecided major and experiment in a variety of fields before deciding my own field of study. More than anything, I have learned to be open to every opportunity, and every possibility.
Thank you!
Prompt: What experience in high school has mattered most to you? How do you see this experience influencing your decision-making in college?
Three months ago I had been living a different life. Three months ago, I had graduated Jr. High School with my best friends, the ones I had known since 3rd grade. Three months ago, I had sat down and decided which classes I would be taking for the next four years at high school. Three months ago, I had a plan for the rest of my life.
Then, everything changed. My father dragged the family to Mougins, France. Presently, I sat, not in ninth grade at Los Altos High, but in "Form 10" at Mougins School. The class I was currently in was my new drama class. If my friends back in California had heard this, they probably would have laughed out loud, thinking it was a joke. I was not an actor, nor had I ever shown any interest in pursuing a career in show business. Yet here I was, willing to give it a shot.
It had actually been my mother who had changed my mind about moving to this little town in France. What had been a catastrophic turn of events in my perfectly planned life, turned into an opportunity to find my new "passion." My mother had pointed out that not a single one of the kids slumped in desks around me knew anything about who I was. I could be an entirely different person. They had no idea that I was not an actor. To be honest, even I did not know if I was an actor. This new school, however, was my chance to discover just that. This was my opportunity to find out what I still did not know about myself.
So, I signed up for a drama class, and then auditioned for the school play. However, I knew that finding your passion did not mean just trying one new activity. I also joined the school's jazz band, participated in a fashion show, took a Jazz Dance class, and even made one disastrous attempt at playing with the school's "football" team. Trying all these activities was made more exciting because of the cultural differences. My dance class was completely in French, and the people I met through theater and jazz band taught me as much about their own cultures as I was learning about theater and jazz. My European friends were also very different from my friends in California. As a result, I found that I was exposed to new movies, books, and music. I was determined to try new things, however foreign and different they were.
Although I do not know if I found a new "passion," I discovered a lot about myself. I developed a love for French films, I found a hobby in Jazz Dance that I hope to continue, and I found that for the safety of others, I should not be allowed around a soccer ball. Most importantly, I discovered the importance of being open and trying new things. Through this experience, I have come to believe that it is necessary to try everything before making a decision. I look forward to the opportunity to enter college as an undecided major and experiment in a variety of fields before deciding my own field of study. More than anything, I have learned to be open to every opportunity, and every possibility.
Thank you!
