College Admissions Essay: Volunteer Work

I started wrestling in sixth grade. Even though I didn’t win one of my first seven matches, I developed into a successful wrestler. In high school I won tournaments and beat high-quality wrestlers. During my junior year I was determined to become a great wrestler. I worked harder than ever and didn’t let anyone stop me. That year I lost the Illinois state wrestling tournament championship match by one point. Over the next six months between my junior and senior season I was runner up at AAU national tournament and wrestled at Disney Land in Florida at the Disney Duals with over 50 other teams and only lost 1 of 8 matches. These are a few of my achievements in high school. Now that I am in college there are many

Throughout high school and undergraduate studies, I have tried to achieve academic excellence, improve my athletic abilities and become a better employee at a law firm. Although several experiences have shaped me as an individual, I believe that wrestling set the foundation for most of my improvements and accomplishments. I first started practicing wrestling when I was six years old and competing when I was nine. Although I was training four times a week, I failed to win anything for several years. I became less confident in my abilities, but I did not give up on the sport. I wanted to prove to myself that I can compete for medals with other athletes. Poor performances motivated me to work harder in practices, spectate older wrestlers and exercise

Every May fifth Americans across the United States take the opportunity to celebrate Cinco de Mayo with parades, mariachi music, folk dancing, Mexican food and of course margaritas. But for most Mexicans Cinco de Mayo it’s not a big deal. It is nothing more than a national holiday. Cinco de Mayo is one of the most misunderstood Mexican holidays.

I consider myself to be a multi-sport athlete because I have participated and continue to take part in various sports such as figure skating, competitive swimming, and soccer. Along with these sports, I’m currently taking life-saving courses to eventually become a lifeguard. I’ve also volunteered at my skating rink to help younger children learn how to skate every Saturday morning. I make school my number one priority so having these sports can be difficult to manage so I tend to shy away from extracurricular activities, but when I do find time I try out for the basketball team and the track and field team. I’ve previously played with the school’s junior girls basketball team and played discus and shotput in the track and field team. Inside

Currently I am in cross country, basketball, and track, but I have done many other sports in the past. I joined the cross country team in 8th grade in hopes of finding a new passion. I fell in love with running and decided to join the track team that same year. Basketball is a different story; I joined in 3rd grade just because my parents signed me up as most sports go when you're younger, and I struggled greatly with learning and understanding the game. I spent long summers training in my yard trying to get better. This determination helped me significantly when it became time for tryouts, as I ended up making the higher team. To this day I still have a lot of determination when it comes to sports and most things in

My love of sports led me to playing soccer, basketball, volleyball and softball. I was on the JV Softball and Basketball teams for two years, and the Varsity Tennis Team for three years. During basketball, my sophomore year, I learned I had a splayed pelvis with a bone missing that supported my back. It was very painful. My spine surgeon encouraged me to quit sports, telling me physical therapy would be difficult, and at best, would only allow me to continue with one sport. I went to physical therapy; it was extremely difficult, but made my back strong enough to play tennis. My senior year I was the Varsity Team Captain and placed fifth on the singles

I have always prided myself in being involved in my community. Outside of school, I spend most of my free time volunteering at my church, First United Methodist Church of Waynesville. On Sunday nights I get the opportunity to share my love of music with my peers, leading them in worship as one of the lead singers of the Youth Praise band. On Wednesdays I volunteer teaching elementary school children music as well. I do several other odd jobs around the church as well, whenever I am needed. Besides music, one of my hobbies is hiking. Wilderness Trail is a backpacking ministry for youth based in south west Virginia. The past 3 years I have spent my summer volunteering for a month with the organization, both leading groups as well as helping organize future events. By getting the chance to combine my love to help with my love for the outdoors, it makes for the perfect marriage.

I've been playing sports for about ten years, and always had quite the passion for it. I have play a couple sports, I played baseball for four years and i wrestled for about four also. Then i got into rodeo i've been riding horses ever since i was for but never really did much competing until i was around seven

Living in a strongly religious community, I was given many opportunities to provide service to fellow church members and also under privileged youth of the community. When I began high school I was given the opportunity to become a counselor during Vacation Bible School and

I began wrestling since my freshman year of high school, as I have always wanted to wrestle. I did not necessarily at the sport, but I enjoyed it. I earned medals and won tournaments, and for a time I even saw myself wrestling in college. I thought that I had my future planned until I dislocated my knee. I first viewed the incident as a freak accident, but it soon happened frequently. It reached to the point where I required invasive surgery. Mulling over my surgery and repeated injuries, I concluded that wrestling became too dangerous. But I committed myself to wrestling; I had no idea what else to do. Desperate to find an activity to fill the void that athletics left behind, I decided to try something outside of my comfort zone. As a result,

I have been involved with several service activities throughout my life. Some of the more recent services that I have participated in include: Helping set up and helping teach underprivileged children at the Children's Defense Fund Freedom School. Here I volunteered my time during the summer helping set up the classrooms and supplies, moving and unpacking and organizing; supplies, food, and donations the summer program. I also helped out this summer program by checking people in and out, guiding and directing people where to go, and unload and load the children onto the busses. During the summer I also volunteered a week of my time to be a “buddy” to a special olympiad at their Special Olympics Athletic Retreat. Being a “buddy” included self regulation, chaperoning on field trips one on one, assisted with self care skills when they where needed. Also this summer I volunteered my time for four weeks being a counselor in training at the Stowe YMCA. This included reading to the campers, helping serve meals to the campers, Chaperoning on field trips with the campers and being camp counselors to campers in grades pre-k through fifth grade. I also have been participating on my temple’s youth group advisory board. There I help determine, plan, organize, and run group activities and social events for the youth groups. I have been doing this for the past three years. This group also partakes in several community service projects throughout the

For as long as I can remember, I always had the passion to assist others. I find joy in helping others because I enjoy seeing others happy. In my earlier years as a child I would see other children just like myself but some were not exactly like me. They were unable to do things on their own, unable to walk, or maybe just a little different. I was not the type of person even as a child to look at others any different than myself because I realized everyone was still human. Everyday throughout my middle school years I would go to school happy, because I found joy in first finishing my work then maybe helping others who needed help.

The death penalty has always been a long lasting debate for centuries. According to the information gathered the death penalty is racially/mentally biased, does not favor those who are low income, and does not show any change in crime rates. The text that will be used is Top Ten Pro and Con - Death Penalty- ProCon.org. The websites that will be used are www.ammestyusa.org/DeathPenaltyfacts and www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/document/FactSheet.pdf .

I remember the first time I understood French outside of the classroom. I was visiting France on a balcony in the Louvre when a man passed by me. He stopped, held out his hand and said, “il pleut.” I will never be able to convey the feeling I got when I understood that one simple phrase. I was practically vibrating with excitement.

This year, I decided to join the wrestling team. I am a very unskilled wrestler. I’m not saying this to tear myself, it’s just true. However, I do love the sport, and would like to continue wrestling throughout High School. When I first joined, I was unable to take down a single boy on my team. Not even a single one. By the end of the season, the boy who I had been unable to pin once the first month I was able to pin half the times we wrestled by that last month. This was a lesson in hard work, and the fact that I am able to beat up boys (and girls). Those two things have given me lots of