Prompt: Some students have a background or story that is so central to their identity that they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.
Any help would be appreciated!
Mapping Me
Sometimes I try to create maps in my head. Past the office and into the courtyard with the sandpit, past the water cooler and up the stairs...I trace the route out on to the palms of my hand; following the curves and the lines, and then moving up my fingers. I am creating a map of Mirambika.
I imagine the whole of Mirambika to be bathed in this beautiful golden light, and I associate it with this feeling of being infinite. I remember sliding down the giant stone pyramids during the rains; cycling up and down the tarry roads and lying down on the roof some nights and just counting the stars.
I grew up amongst these memories, in Mirambika- my school till the 10th grade. It imbibed in me this sense of freedom and lightness; it gave me the gift of exploration and adventuring, and being lost in childhood. It taught me to just be.
But it also taught me to research, and apply that research in projects, plays, stories and art; unlike my peers in other schools who were burdened with heavy textbooks- we were given loose guidelines, and made to work within that. This planted in me this need to be process oriented rather than outcome oriented.
Eventually, my days in Mirambika were numbered, because the school only went up till the 10th grade- and an almost unknown fear crept up in me. A sense of not- belonging. Sadness. Uncertainty. What would I do next? Where would I go? And worse, would I become like my peers in other schools?
Eventually, everything worked out. I think it always does. I applied to just one school, and got in. Vasant Valley School, ranked the best in all of India. Of course I felt lost at first- from the vast openness of free progress school to the seemingly rigid walls of formal school. However, I overcame these feeling... of doubt, or insecurity- and transformed it into one of belonging, love, happiness.
And now I don't need to make maps in my head, on my palms. Because I can walk into the classrooms, smell the scents in the art room, run across the open courtyard in the pouring rain. I can lie down on the wet grass, talking away; stay up all night studying and enjoying it, and spend hours reading in the library.
Vasant Valley gave me the gift of openness; it taught me never to restrict myself, ever. It also gave me exposure, and awareness.
I feel this journey from one school to the other has really shaped who I am today - because both schools were so complimentary and instrumental to create me- this person who is an amalgamation of contrasts and contradictions.
Mirambika taught me to be infinite, free; and Vasant Valley taught me to be uninhibited and open. One taught me to wander, be lost in the beauty of the world, while the other gave me a structure, a way within this wandering. While one taught me to not restrict myself, the other taught me that I can take that freedom a step further, and treat the whole world as my canvas.
Mirambika gave me my dreams, and Vasant Valley helped me transform them into goals, into reality, into fruition. I always knew I wanted to be involved in something creative when I grow up, but now I know that I want to be a designer- I want to create art, and create worlds through my art for people to explore and get lost in.
And today, I am everything my schools could offer me; but then again, I am more. I am unique, and then I'm not. What I've come to accept through this experience, this story- is that I am just me, a sum of all my experiences and more. I have come to believe in the power of me.
Any help would be appreciated!
Mapping Me
Sometimes I try to create maps in my head. Past the office and into the courtyard with the sandpit, past the water cooler and up the stairs...I trace the route out on to the palms of my hand; following the curves and the lines, and then moving up my fingers. I am creating a map of Mirambika.
I imagine the whole of Mirambika to be bathed in this beautiful golden light, and I associate it with this feeling of being infinite. I remember sliding down the giant stone pyramids during the rains; cycling up and down the tarry roads and lying down on the roof some nights and just counting the stars.
I grew up amongst these memories, in Mirambika- my school till the 10th grade. It imbibed in me this sense of freedom and lightness; it gave me the gift of exploration and adventuring, and being lost in childhood. It taught me to just be.
But it also taught me to research, and apply that research in projects, plays, stories and art; unlike my peers in other schools who were burdened with heavy textbooks- we were given loose guidelines, and made to work within that. This planted in me this need to be process oriented rather than outcome oriented.
Eventually, my days in Mirambika were numbered, because the school only went up till the 10th grade- and an almost unknown fear crept up in me. A sense of not- belonging. Sadness. Uncertainty. What would I do next? Where would I go? And worse, would I become like my peers in other schools?
Eventually, everything worked out. I think it always does. I applied to just one school, and got in. Vasant Valley School, ranked the best in all of India. Of course I felt lost at first- from the vast openness of free progress school to the seemingly rigid walls of formal school. However, I overcame these feeling... of doubt, or insecurity- and transformed it into one of belonging, love, happiness.
And now I don't need to make maps in my head, on my palms. Because I can walk into the classrooms, smell the scents in the art room, run across the open courtyard in the pouring rain. I can lie down on the wet grass, talking away; stay up all night studying and enjoying it, and spend hours reading in the library.
Vasant Valley gave me the gift of openness; it taught me never to restrict myself, ever. It also gave me exposure, and awareness.
I feel this journey from one school to the other has really shaped who I am today - because both schools were so complimentary and instrumental to create me- this person who is an amalgamation of contrasts and contradictions.
Mirambika taught me to be infinite, free; and Vasant Valley taught me to be uninhibited and open. One taught me to wander, be lost in the beauty of the world, while the other gave me a structure, a way within this wandering. While one taught me to not restrict myself, the other taught me that I can take that freedom a step further, and treat the whole world as my canvas.
Mirambika gave me my dreams, and Vasant Valley helped me transform them into goals, into reality, into fruition. I always knew I wanted to be involved in something creative when I grow up, but now I know that I want to be a designer- I want to create art, and create worlds through my art for people to explore and get lost in.
And today, I am everything my schools could offer me; but then again, I am more. I am unique, and then I'm not. What I've come to accept through this experience, this story- is that I am just me, a sum of all my experiences and more. I have come to believe in the power of me.