Tallulah Falls School Application Essay

For the last 17 years my father has worked with nonprofits to bring education to refugee camps in the most forgotten places on earth. He goes where the most basic services that we take for granted are lacking. All his efforts are made under the premise that education is the most liberating assistance of all. This early awareness of the abysmal inequalities that exist in the world has profoundly influenced my character and worldview. I carried out a variety of service activities in high school, all focused on helping leverage educational opportunities. My volunteer work allowed me to put my

Over a century ago, Woodrow Wilson implored higher education to seek to answer the questions and challenges of our community and nation by sharing ownership of the issues that define the well-being of our society. More recently, President Barack Obama stated: “Our task, working together, is to constantly widen the circle of our concern”. Service to others has been an integral part of my life that I anticipate continuing through adulthood. A service project that I completed over the summer taught me about the resiliency of the human spirit and the importance of widening my circle.

Acts of service always created a desire in me to help make people’s lives better. People often put forth their best when

Mahatma Gandhi once proclaimed, “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” Serving others, more commonly known as volunteering, means to freely offer to do something out of the kindness of one’s heart. From helping serve at a local food shelter to going on a mission trip to Costa Rica, there are a variety of serving opportunities around every corner. For centuries, service has shown its importance through a plethora of benefits to both the individual and the world. Individuals who dedicate their time to serve find career opportunities, uncover life passions, and learn character traits that develop them into a valuable member of society in order to benefit to the greater good.

Serving others is a down deep way of learning more about yourself and helping others to see past themselves. Our Business and Professional Communication class participated in several service projects, which were interesting and exciting to be involved with helping others. As I am studying the major courses of Early Childhood/Special Education, our group project with the “Big Brothers Big Sister” program was very memorable to me. It was wonderful to have fun and participate in various activities with the kids. The environment was caring due to everyone helping each other accomplish different tasks. It was a great feeling to be able to share our time, talents, and hearts with the kids.

Often, we never see the effects of our actions. Sometimes, we find ourselves comfortably distancing acts of service from why they are committed and whom they impact. I never genuinely understood what lies at the root of service until my freshman year of high school.

Tangible learning can be an excellent method of learning. Students who are able to take information from the classroom and apply in it the field can understand the how and why things are done the way they are. Moreover, Sax and Astin stated that service learning requires students to go out into their field and then return to relate their experiences via writings, discussions, or class presentations (Sax & Astin, 1997). I related to Sax and Astin with their characteristics of service participants. The authors claimed that a student who has longevity in volunteering, leadership and strong family commitment to their community are strong candidates to volunteering. My biggest inspiration for service comes from my father who spent 25 years as a volunteer fireman in our community. My childhood idolization of my father corroborated the authors claim that service participates are not to be motivated by materialistic values (Sax & Astin, 1997). Ultimately, Sax and Astin stated “during college, service participants exhibit greater increases in social self-confidence and leadership ability than do nonparticipants” (Sax & Astin, 1997). In relation to Sax and Astin I feel I have enhanced my interpersonal skills, confidence in dealing with people, and working in a profession that is not common for

In educational institutions they ignore certain students by being unaware of students’ funds of knowledge and their truth depth of knowledge. (Rios-Aguilar 164) Students have a wide understanding over a range of topics, but schools maintain a deficit perception of culture when it does not adhere to the dominant education system. If we were to bridge funds of knowledge and capital we would have the potential to have a better insight into students’ opportunities and experience in educational institutions. (Rios-Aguilar 163) Wolfram et a. clarifies how essential it is for students to attend a school that acknowledge distinct cultures and backgrounds, “When schools do not systematically accommodate different language varieties, some group of students do less well in the gate-keeping activates that determine program access, placement, and progress (Wolfram et a. 87) Program (such as AVID, honors, etc.) may have an essential role in college acceptance. Schools should allocate their resources and funding towards equipping teachers with imperative skills and knowledge to teach students from all socioeconomic backgrounds. Some of the qualities of a superior teacher are being academically prepared, knowledgeable about the subject they are teaching, and hold an interest in students’ needs. Having a good teacher is essential to a student’s success. (Watanabe

As a student, I want to promote a worldly view to my peers and, by being open-minded, I hope to create an environment where my peers and I can view everyone as a culmination of unique and diverse experiences. I truly believe that, especially within the realm of education, people’s distinct stories and backgrounds can contribute to everyone, whether through exposing others to new ideas or providing a new outlook towards problems and discussions. As a Vietnamese-American, I am proud of the qualities that make me unique and I want to use the philosophies I have gained as an immigrant to contribute to those around

My service learning experience opened my eyes to many new ideas and supported the information that I have been learning in class. For my service learning, I went to West Elementary school and worked in an all girls first grade classroom. West is located in a very urban neighborhood right outside of East Lansing. In the beginning of my service learning, I was in culture shock due to the size of the school, make up of the students/teachers, and the social economic status of the students. All of these components were drastically different from the school I came from. At first, I didn’t know what to think of the school or students, but I eventually realized that their goals and priorities were different from the elementary school I went to. The three main concepts that stuck out to me during my service learning experience include, the social construction of gender, special and gifted education, and funding.

As an American who has Russian parents and was born in Israel, I have always been engaged in multiple cultures. My parents have put emphasis on preserving our Russian heritage while encouraging me to immerse myself in American culture. As I stand at the threshold of entering college, I am thrilled by the prospect of becoming acquainted with yet another cultural sphere.

Service in many ways brings us to a beautiful mind of our own, and knowledge, because service itself is a form of teaching. In other words, service teaches us valuable lessons. Lessons

According to Kathleen Flecky and Lynn Gitlow, service-learning is defined as, “learning that occurs in experiences, reflection, and civic engagement” (Flecky & Gitlow, 2011). In recent years more universities are implementing service learning into their curriculum. A key concept of service learning is civic responsibility. Civic responsibility can simply be defined as your responsibilities as a citizen. As will be shown later in this paper, service learning can have many benefits not only to a student, but also to the community members

The Society for Experiential Education defines service learning as, “any carefully monitored service experience in which a student has intentional learning goals and reflects actively on what he or she is learning throughout the experience” (Staton 1). Service learning is a great opportunity to get extra learning experiences while also experiencing the community around the universities campus. “Service learning allows students to apply what they are learning from their instructors, peers, and readings to genuine tasks that occur outside the four walls of the classroom while simultaneously helping others” (Staton 1). Universities are using service learning to expand beyond the classroom and provide students with experiences that will

As a daughtor of an ethnologist, I grew up to be a nomad culturally and intellectually. When I was seven, I followed my father to China and grew up in Beijing for three years. From then on, I have been following him as he conducted fieldwork in Southwest China, learning about the most exuberant diversity a nation can express. I double majored in integrated studies of culture, a self-designed major in Scranton Honors Program, and sociology, in Ewha Womans University, Korea. I persued variety not only in curriculum, but also in extracurricular activities. I volunteered in Cambodia, learnt Thai culture and history, and studied in University of Hawai'i at Manoa for one academic year as an exchage student.