The University of Colorado at Boulder's Flagship 2030 strategic plan promotes exceptional teaching, research, scholarship, creative works, and service distinguishing us as a premier university. We strive to foster a diverse and inclusive community for all that engages each member in opportunities for academic excellence, leadership, and a deeper understanding of the world in which we live. Given the statement above, how do you think you could enrich our diverse and inclusive community and what are your hopes for your college experience?
"Everybody loves you when you are average - But when you are kicking everyone's butt, you lose friends." This is a quotation that I have had ingrained into my head every day for the past four years by my coach, but I never knew what it truly meant until I became captain of the cross country team.
Our first cross country practice of the year was on a typical summer afternoon: about 85 degrees with the sun blistering down upon us without a single cloud in the sky, but the heat was not what killed you, it was the humidity. You broke out into a sweat by taking a single step, so it is not an exaggeration to say that we were dreading this practice.
We arrived at the park where we always practiced and met with our coach to find out what our workout was. He said the words that we had all anticipated but did not want to believe were true, "eleven miles." Shortly afterwards we were on our run and out of our coach's sight. The layout and the many trails of the park that we were in made it very easy for one to walk instead of run outside the view of our coach. Unfortunately this happened to be the option that a few of our teammates took. To say the least, I was not very pleased when I came across three of them walking while I was on my run. As captain, I felt that it was my responsibility that they stop walking, continue on their run, but most importantly, never do it again. After practice, I had a long talk with these three individuals and made them understand that what they had done was wrong. I then proceeded to deal the appropriate punishment of 100 push-ups for each individual.
I think that the quotation above quite accurately describes my experience as the captain of my cross country team. Initially the three individuals that I had punished resented me, but further into the season we became even closer friends than we had already been as they realized that I had just been trying to aid them in becoming better runners. A competent leader must know when to put personal relationships aside and discipline the team or individuals to make the team or those individuals better as a whole. I feel that the leadership qualities that I have recently experienced could enrich any community because I can use them anywhere, whether they are on another team, in a job, or even in the classroom. I am excited to further develop these leadership skills during my college career so that I can become the best leader and overall individual that I can possibly be.
It's 456 words in length, any input at all would be appreciated!
This prompt asks for you to give examples of how you would contribute to the community in 3 areas:
We strive to foster a diverse and inclusive community for all that engages each member in opportunities for academic excellence, leadership, and a deeper understanding of the world in which we live. Given the statement above, how do you think you could enrich our diverse and inclusive community and what are your hopes for your college experience?
Your essay only gave one example in the second area (leadership) which would be acceptable if this was all the prompt asked for. As such, you risk not addressing the other areas - how you will be engaged in academic excellence, how you can contribute to foster a diverse UCB community, how you will actively get a deeper understanding of the world you live in.
