Topic: Rutgers University is a vibrant community of people with a wide variety of backgrounds and experiences. How would you benefit from and contribute to such an environment? Consider variables such as your talents, travels, leadership activities, volunteer services, and cultural experiences. Only personal essays submitted via our website will be considered. You may enter a maximum of 3800 characters including spaces.
__________________________________________________
The diversity within Rutgers University creates a similar model of the world. The different races and cultures of those in the school do not only branch out the education a person can receive by interacting with one another, but it also embodies a solid understanding of another's culture, religion, etc. One of the many contributions that I can bring into the community of Rutgers is my open-mindedness and my heritage.
Generally, I was the type of person who disliked watching sports on television, but I was also the type of person that did not really like being Asian due to all the disadvantages. Thus, many people, including my friends and family, did not enjoy my company when it came to Sundays or major game days. I was often clueless and not up-to-date when it came to "sports talk". People would tend to get irritated because I knew nothing about sports. All of this changed when I came upon my first experience watching the 2002 Fifa World Cup. The fact that Korea was playing soccer against foreign countries had made me curious. The first few minutes of watching "Korea vs. USA" was very hard and difficult, but that all changed when I saw Korea score their first goal. A surge of excitement ran through my body and I couldn't help but follow the chant everyone was screaming, "Deh-han-min-gook!" (which means Korea! in Korean). I didn't realize it at that time, but it was the first time in a while that I had quality time with my friends and family. Later in the week, due to my "sports knowledge" I made a new best friend, Marco Henriques. Having Marco as a friend and watching Fifa on T.V. helped me make the decision to play soccer for my school, and by joining the team; I made tons of friends and now there is nobody in the class of 2009 that does not know my name.
My Korean heritage has given me a unique perspective on the importance of nationalism. Korea is a petite country that is known to few people. Unlike America, Korea made its name by using international sports competitions and industries. I am proud to call myself Korea, and I appreciate the fact that the people in Korea have brought themselves a good reputation. Of course having excessive pride will bring my downfall, hence I look at things in a different perspective. I find myself using my role models as my source of pride as well. I think I am Portuguese sometimes when I talk about Christiano Ronaldo, who is one of the best overall players in the world. I find amazing things about other countries so I like to have a culturally diverse state of mind. I appreciate other countries for their accomplishments and I make new friends by acknowledging another persons country. I would like to learn more about the vast amount of cultures that our world has to offer, and I believe by attending Rutgers University, I will have a chance at accomplishing my goal.
My first experience with the World Cup, and my pride for Korea has helped shaped me into a better student, and a better person. Participating in school sports has helped me maintain good grades and it even helped me elevate to a higher level of education. Not only did sports help me get into better classes, but it also motivated me to participate in clubs, such as, Science Club, Math Club, Student Council and much more. In the overall, I became a better person. I was almost 100% anti-social, until I had my reached my current pride for Korea. I help a lot of people and participated in community helping activities. My new ego has turned me around 180 degrees and my friend Chanyang Ju has praised me by stating, "I will be forever jealous of you because you have the ability to become friends with everyone around you." Chanyang's words haven proven to be true, and I do believe that my presence will make a difference the community offered by Rutgers University.
Thanks!
-David
-Edit-
Please help! I'm trying to get this done tonight!
Thanks
__________________________________________________
The diversity within Rutgers University creates a similar model of the world. The different races and cultures of those in the school do not only branch out the education a person can receive by interacting with one another, but it also embodies a solid understanding of another's culture, religion, etc. One of the many contributions that I can bring into the community of Rutgers is my open-mindedness and my heritage.
Generally, I was the type of person who disliked watching sports on television, but I was also the type of person that did not really like being Asian due to all the disadvantages. Thus, many people, including my friends and family, did not enjoy my company when it came to Sundays or major game days. I was often clueless and not up-to-date when it came to "sports talk". People would tend to get irritated because I knew nothing about sports. All of this changed when I came upon my first experience watching the 2002 Fifa World Cup. The fact that Korea was playing soccer against foreign countries had made me curious. The first few minutes of watching "Korea vs. USA" was very hard and difficult, but that all changed when I saw Korea score their first goal. A surge of excitement ran through my body and I couldn't help but follow the chant everyone was screaming, "Deh-han-min-gook!" (which means Korea! in Korean). I didn't realize it at that time, but it was the first time in a while that I had quality time with my friends and family. Later in the week, due to my "sports knowledge" I made a new best friend, Marco Henriques. Having Marco as a friend and watching Fifa on T.V. helped me make the decision to play soccer for my school, and by joining the team; I made tons of friends and now there is nobody in the class of 2009 that does not know my name.
My Korean heritage has given me a unique perspective on the importance of nationalism. Korea is a petite country that is known to few people. Unlike America, Korea made its name by using international sports competitions and industries. I am proud to call myself Korea, and I appreciate the fact that the people in Korea have brought themselves a good reputation. Of course having excessive pride will bring my downfall, hence I look at things in a different perspective. I find myself using my role models as my source of pride as well. I think I am Portuguese sometimes when I talk about Christiano Ronaldo, who is one of the best overall players in the world. I find amazing things about other countries so I like to have a culturally diverse state of mind. I appreciate other countries for their accomplishments and I make new friends by acknowledging another persons country. I would like to learn more about the vast amount of cultures that our world has to offer, and I believe by attending Rutgers University, I will have a chance at accomplishing my goal.
My first experience with the World Cup, and my pride for Korea has helped shaped me into a better student, and a better person. Participating in school sports has helped me maintain good grades and it even helped me elevate to a higher level of education. Not only did sports help me get into better classes, but it also motivated me to participate in clubs, such as, Science Club, Math Club, Student Council and much more. In the overall, I became a better person. I was almost 100% anti-social, until I had my reached my current pride for Korea. I help a lot of people and participated in community helping activities. My new ego has turned me around 180 degrees and my friend Chanyang Ju has praised me by stating, "I will be forever jealous of you because you have the ability to become friends with everyone around you." Chanyang's words haven proven to be true, and I do believe that my presence will make a difference the community offered by Rutgers University.
Thanks!
-David
-Edit-
Please help! I'm trying to get this done tonight!
Thanks