Prompt: Briefly discuss the significance to you of the school or summer activity in which you have been most involved. (approximately one-half page single-spaced)
I joined Youth and Government (YAG) when I was a sophomore thinking it was another activity I could put on a résumé. In my early years of high school, I felt that public speaking was the epitome of suffering. I hated the idea of people staring at me in awkward silence. In my first year at YAG, I couldn't even talk. I remember presenting my bill to the people in Senate-the chamber I was assigned to-and with every sentence, I stuttered embarrassingly. After a while, it was something that I was able to overcome because I felt that through YAG, I was given a platform to voice out my ideas without it being ignored. I didn't want my bill to just "pass," I wanted people to talk about the issue I wrote about (which was minimum wage) and bring awareness to it.
Although hours of debates may be boring after a while, it exposed me to different issues in Hawaii. I was intrigued and my interest in current events and national and international affairs grew. Through YAG, I was able to realize that I had an interest in Political Science. I wanted to learn about the different topics that could affect how people, including myself will be affected by a specific action or policy.
Looking back, I now see YAG not as a program that creates mock legislation for the means of debate, but as a program that gave me the platform to speak about issues that I'm passionate about but also by uniting teens and experiencing real-life situations and teaching them that their opinions mattered. Today, I am proud to call myself a YAG delegate.
Current word count: 276
school or summer activity influence
I joined Youth and Government (YAG) when I was a sophomore thinking it was another activity I could put on a résumé. In my early years of high school, I felt that public speaking was the epitome of suffering. I hated the idea of people staring at me in awkward silence. In my first year at YAG, I couldn't even talk. I remember presenting my bill to the people in Senate-the chamber I was assigned to-and with every sentence, I stuttered embarrassingly. After a while, it was something that I was able to overcome because I felt that through YAG, I was given a platform to voice out my ideas without it being ignored. I didn't want my bill to just "pass," I wanted people to talk about the issue I wrote about (which was minimum wage) and bring awareness to it.
Although hours of debates may be boring after a while, it exposed me to different issues in Hawaii. I was intrigued and my interest in current events and national and international affairs grew. Through YAG, I was able to realize that I had an interest in Political Science. I wanted to learn about the different topics that could affect how people, including myself will be affected by a specific action or policy.
Looking back, I now see YAG not as a program that creates mock legislation for the means of debate, but as a program that gave me the platform to speak about issues that I'm passionate about but also by uniting teens and experiencing real-life situations and teaching them that their opinions mattered. Today, I am proud to call myself a YAG delegate.
Current word count: 276