College Admissions Essay: Pride On The Breach

Overcoming my timidness may not seem like such an important deed, but when I look back, I recognize how much it held me back. The fear of speaking up crippled me and caused me to be unable to speak my mind. The black hole that consumed my life was my own insecurity. I started my first year of high school perfectly content living without a voice, as long as I was not the center of attention, I was at peace. During my junior year, I decided that it was finally time to face my challenge head on. I did the one thing that scared me most, I ran for treasurer for both the senior class and National Honors Society. At the time I made the decision, I knew that an important part of being an officer was speaking in front of my peers and teachers. I made

As I mentioned before I enjoy playing sports especially volleyball. This year was my third year playing volleyball but it was my first time ever being a captain. Being a captain for the first time was a really good experience for me because not only did I feel as a role model to the newcomers but I was able to show and develop leadership. During the first few days of me trying to get used to the fact of being captain I was under pressure of always having to do good so the teammates would follow, I later understood that I didn’t have to be perfect, that as long as I showed commitment and encouragement it was enough.

So, I’d try and encourage my team and others by giving words of encouragement such as “You guys can do it, I know and believe you can! Just keep thinking positive, and you will hit it!” Those comments made all the girls faces beam with excitement, which made me feel accomplished on the inside. Even when the squads were perfecting every tough stunt given to them, I still would go over and joyfully tell them what a fantastic job they were doing. Finally, my positive attitude at camp made me realize I am a leader, and it’s the quality I have grown the most in. Rather than get down and have or speak negative thoughts, I was continually positive at camp, even amongst the burning heat and exhaustion we all faced. During my final time at UCA camp, I really began to realize that a leader isn’t somebody who tells their team to go and do something, but somebody who says lets go and does the activity with their team. One tiny cheerleader had the guts to come up to me, a loud and obnoxious senior cheerleader, and say how she wanted to be just like me when she would become a senior, and I was speechless when she did

As my time at Capay comes to an end, it is time to reflect on the memories I have had, and to search for the opportunities that will lead me to success. My whole life is dependent on what open doors I choose to walk into. “When one door closes another opens. But often we look so long so regretfully upon the closed door that we fail to see the one that has opened for us.” As Helen Keller famously said, opportunities are about reaching for the positive. Nothing is worse than missing an opportunity that could’ve changed your life. That’s why we need to take opportunities, even if it sounds intimidating.

I could have done better. I believe that I can always improve and get better. The Power of an Insecurity is one of my least favorite essays that I’ve ever wrote. It was an essay that I felt nervous while writing, as I was now in a college class. I have my losses in this paper and I have my victories, but my ability to better myself in my writing is always improving.

As voted captain on Hampton-Dumont's athletic teams, I discovered the value of communication, unity, perseverance, and passion. Leaders are only successful if they have followers. I have come to know that every individual has a gift to contribute. Every role is vital. My teammates trust me because I value the individual and withhold judgement. I genuinely care about each and every girl, regardless of who she is or where she's come from. I seek and expect the best out of everyone, and when you do that, anything is possible. With this leadership style, each of our school athletic teams became cohesive and united. It became less about me and more about friends with true commitment to each other who focus on the big picture of teamwork.

When life gives you the opportunity to be successful, you take it. So, out of every let down or every time you ever ask yourself, “was it worth it?”…, you say “definitely”, persevere, and continue seeking greatness. When I got that opportunity, I hit the ground running. I was hungry to become successful, hungry to graduate from college, hungry to even hear my dad say, “I’m proud of you”. Maybe I could have taken a different route but hey, growing up in a small town like Mullins SC with a high unemployment rate, don’t get you too far. I couldn’t find myself falling into that statistic. Working temp jobs, wondering how I would pay for college…, it was rough, definitely some humble beginnings. This by no means is a message for sympathy.

I have always been fascinated with the human condition. As far as I can remember, a lot of my most interesting trains of thoughts and conversations with others have revolved around dissecting the human condition and discussing the anxieties and insecurities that bring us great guilt but at the same time propel many of our actions and schemes for self-actualization. To me, this is the most defining trait of my identity. Even though it is not a trait I always choose or am able to express openly, I consider this interest, and the values that it spawns, to be more important to my identity than anything about me that external forces can easily perceive, such as my appearance or familial ties.

At my softball practice, one of my teammates forgot to help pick up the field with the rest of the team so the next day they had to run laps around the field. The next practice came and we waited for her to run. It was then that I realized even though it wasn’t my punishment it was most likely a tad embarrassing being the only one running while the rest of the team watches on their break. I got up from the bunch and as soon as she came back around i started running with her. In a matter of seconds the whole team was running with her as well. As well as this I have was presented with the opportunity to represent my class by my peers. For three years straight I was nominated to represent my class at monthly meetings alongside other representatives

Education is one of the many things I am willing to fight for. I believe in everyone getting an education and succeeding in becoming who they want to become. The future many people wish for is based upon the education that they receive. I believe that everyone in the world deserves education, wherever they may be. Education should be a free thing that people can receive without anyone going up against them for just wanting to be educated.

I’ve always enjoyed being in sports basically anything that had to do with me being active I would join. But as we all know being in a sport you had to have good grades at least a C or better, I wanted to do track so bad so I had to increase my grades. It was hard managing the both, I could remember all the anger and frustration inside me that I can’t hold in any longer and I start getting frustrated with everything around me even frustrated with myself. Somehow I managed to balance both and I achieved what I wanted to do.

If you asked the younger version of myself what failure was it would have included not earning straight A’s or not turning in my homework on time. Little did I know, the meaning of failure is not always as innocent as those days on the playground. The moment I entered junior year, I knew I discovered the world was filled with more diverse forms of what failure meant.

When I am playing chess or a board game, I will refuse to lose. For me, winning is the best. During basketball, I never really care how I am personally playing, whether or not I have a lot of points, or even if I don’t play a lot. The only thing that I am paying attention to is the scoreboard. It's not that I want to win just for my personal satisfaction, but it is also about representing the town of Wayland. I know most of the kids from the other towns that we are going to play. We grew up playing against each other in Metrowest basketball and AAU, and I have also played with a lot of them in AAU. Now, that we are on the biggest stage of our basketball career, it is time to show them what we are made of. For example, we played Weston every year in Metrowest, and played them for the metrowest championship in 8th grade. I personally know everyone on their team, and whenever we play, it is extra competitive. The Wayland soccer team won a state championship this fall and in 2014, the wrestling team always goes nearly undefeated and has won a few state championships in the past years, the swimming team is always really good, and the golf team won a state championship last year. The point is, Wayland High School always has great sports teams. Us players representing the basketball team want to show the rest of the school, as well as the entire state, that we can be up there as a top tier sports team. We all love to win, and this winter, we will try

My favorite sport is basketball, but I have been a four-year varsity starter for both the baseball and the basketball teams at our high school. Being thrust into varsity as a freshman was very challenging as the pace of play in both sports increased drastically from junior high. However, I knew I needed to keep working hard and not become complacent. I have remained the starting shortstop for out baseball team every year and have become a team captain. I also became a team captain in basketball and became the leading scorer for the team. In fact, I was a 1,000 point scorer in basketball finishing with a total of 1,355 points thus making me the 25th highest scorer in Franklin/Fulton County history according to Chambersburg’s Public Opinion. Not only did I have a successful individual career in basketball, but our team also accomplished many things over my four years. When I first started as a freshman and for many years prior, our team was not that good. We finished the year below .500 and did not make the district playoffs. However, our team really turned the program around over the next three years. In my sophomore year, my team finished 3rd in the district and made only the second state playoff appearance in our school’s history. Then, the next 2 years, our team finished as the runner-up in our district and made 2 more state playoff appearances. Also, in my senior year, we became the

I’m a sixteen year old female who has been raised my whole life around the fact that my mind must be perfect. If I wasn’t meeting up to the standards of my parents, then I needed to change everything about myself to meet them. My anxiety eats at me everyday. It feels like I have a colossal boulder sitting on my chest a lot of the time. The other times, I lose all of my care for anything in that moment. One day, I attempted to explain the situation to my mother and asked her to take me to a doctor. I had been waiting until my parents could afford health insurance for me to go, but all she heard was that there was something was not up to her standards inside of my head, like I was defective. After the odd conditions of my childhood, I didn’t know how to think for myself. I didn’t know how to make rational decisions for myself. I’m still excessively lost. I look all over the place for help. I searched for that help so much anywhere that I could think of. I looked at school,