What is your intended major? Discuss how your interest in the subject developed and describe any experience you have had in the field-such as volunteer work, internships, employment, participation in student organizations and activities-and what have gained from your involvement.
When I read a book, I often highlight sentences or phrases that strike out to me; they're often pleasing to hear out loud, beautiful in meaning, or both. There are streaks of colors from pens and highlighters within the books in my library that bookmark the pages where something jumps out and makes me feel. I'm an English major because, to me, literature is not only a safe place where I can escape, learn, and become another person. It is also a place of reminder and documentation of the growth of my voice and myself and history as I leave parts of myself in it. Literature has inspired me to support in continuing its ability to empower the voices of other people.
I grew to love literature when I was nine years old. Forced to come to my mother's work everyday for 12 hours during the summer, I had plenty of time away from my friends, the television, and the computer. Annoyed by my boredom, she took me to Borders one night and picked out Anne of Green Gables and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone for the next workday. I remember loving Harry Potter so much as a kid that I began to write similar stories after finishing the book, hoping to duplicate the genius I found in J.K. Rowling's words.
Since middle school, I have always kept a blog where I poured my thoughts in the form of poems or regular prose. Although it is my second language, English is my favorite subject and I enjoy everything that roots out of it-reading, writing, analysis, and grammar. Because of this, I have devoted some of my time to tutor students in essay writing, as well as help out my own peers with their papers. I find it quite rewarding to help others with fine-tuning the voices they express within their writing and making it heard loud and clear.
I took a literary magazine course where I became the Assistant Blog Editor, helping our Chief Editor with managing and proofreading pieces. I learned how to critique and see the different ways a piece of writing can grow and manifest in itself something stronger after polishing it in the right ways. I also took a Journalism class to experience a completely different style of writing from prose, which made me appreciate one of my favorite writers, Charles Bukowski, even more. Writing journalistically-in short, concise, and simple sentences-is a difficult task and he does it with much skill.
It has been my dream primarily to become a part of the publishing industry. Learning about Filipino history and experiencing social advocacy personally through non-profit organizations I have affiliated with, I realize I come from a country and culture that has been continuously overpowered by someone other than its own people-no matter how hard we have fought for it. I want to help strengthen the voices of those who have been fighting for years and those who don't know how to do so. I want to be a part of the process of creating or distributing words that will create some favorable ripple effect in the lives of other people.
