Washburn University Application Essay Sample

All during my middle to late teenage years I was involved in the politics of our city. My hometown was small, so there were many opportunities for youth to participate in events. From attending city council meetings that were held twice a month, I learned how I could actually become involved in the legislation process. By getting involved, I, along with some other members of the town, were able to pass a local ordinance, and I was also involved in the process of passing Utah Senate Bill 60, which became a law in March of 2015. Getting involved in the law making process taught me not just about the actual process of passing a law, but also about how normal citizens can and should take part of the legislative process. It also contributed to my desire to continue working with government and the

Paul Loeb is the author of Soul of a Citizen: Living With Conviction in Challenging Times. In 2008 Loeb founded the Campus Election Engagement Project, a national nonpartisan student engagement effort that helped 500 colleges and universities engage their students in the election. Paul Rogat Loeb has spent thirty-five years researching and writing about citizen responsibility and empowerment. This book, more so a handbook, enables anyone who desires to make a change in the environment around them, leading them to get involved in larger communities. The book acknowledges that “it’s easy to feel overwhelmed and to become

As I have grown up, I have tried to be as perceptive of my environment as I can. One of the things I have picked up on is that people are quick to complain about any and all of their elected officials, but never attempt to become more involved or even vote out the parties that offended them so. It is because of instances such as these that I feel compelled to take a more active role in my government. I started the college search process a little less than a year ago, and in doing so had to refine my aspirations so that I could find a place that could help me accomplish my dreams. I, at first, was entirely unsure about what I wanted to do in life. Yet, in considering how much I believe in political activism and being responsible in civic duty, I realized that perhaps the only path for me is politics. To be successful in the political world, nothing is more helpful than a law degree. It was the same mentality laid out in this clause that led me to the decision to pursue law and

Growing up, I was surrounded by a constant stream of information and discussion about current events. My father is a lawyer and is actively involved in the political community. The constant talk of government and community activism in my home had a major contribution on how I started to plan my future endeavors. The desire

Leading the Global Awareness Club during this time, our topics focused heavily on the election. An avid social activist at heart; I was keenly aware of the political process impact on society, but was more prone to all things international. While I nurtured a passion for politics, especially for our club discussion; the possibility of venturing into the field was fantastical. Why? Representation and examples. There is a homogenous demographic in Congress, so why risk a career to venture into a field that was notorious for glass ceilings and covert

The culmination of my high school career has positively resulted in me becoming immensely educated in government and politics than I would have ever imagined. I have been a part of a club known as Youth In Government, dedicated to civic literacy and social responsibility. Being involved in this, I created a piece of legislation that exempted a sales tax (one that Rick Scott actually passed himself earlier this year), learned the importance of educating oneself, and engaged in open dialogue and logical debate with people who had both different and similar beliefs than I. As an advocate for learning, I have grown to see the importance of compromise and discussion, especially between both sides. At this time and age, we are succumbed to the polarization

This desire has been a driving force beyond more than my time with the National Parks Service and academic career. My advocacy for my preferred candidate as a persuasion captain on caucus night comes from the same place as my case for American opportunity delivered at the birthplace of Herbert Hoover, a desire to passionately advocate for what I believe to be important. This has meant leading a band of out-of-state volunteers south to Keokuk on a January Saturday and dashing through apartment buildings an hour before polls close in a bid to overcome pervasive midterm election

Serving as further motivation, I continued pursuing this desire by trying to understand everything I could about the realm of politics and government. I interned for Nancy Pelosi to get started and to learn more about the impact of politicians on the community. Despite the negative notions surrounding them, I learned that they give people hope and a way to reach ears in Washington, D.C. Constituents constantly wrote, emailed, and called in, fighting to be heard and to petition change. It was up to the politicians themselves to make a difference, but the

Working on political campaigns taught me very quickly that not all work in politics is glamorous. Some days I spent working with the candidate directly, and many others I spent working with the whole office staff to put together and mail out hundreds of letters, or contacting hundreds of voters via phone or canvass. As campaign staff, I was responsible for being present for numerous phone and live meetings, voter turnout, volunteer recruitment, contacting fundraisers, setting up events and much

It wasn’t always like this. I didn’t grow up intending to one day become a lawyer, and I didn’t meet some famous politician who inspired me to follow their foot steps. But I certainly don’t have to tell you that, my high school and junior high curriculum can. Usually any free space in my schedule would be filled with incompatible oddities, some of which include: computer aided drafting, journalism, yearbook, acting, etcetera. In actuality, I grew up despising politics due to my internal belief that they were naturally polluted or tained by the blood of the innocent people politicians corrupted and reigned over. Growing up in the late 20th century and the continuation of the 21st ultimately brought with it some needed change and with it my own. Eventually, I was presented with the question we all fret as adolescents, “what do you want to do in this world?” and as a response I looked around to find the answer and I saw a puzzle. For a long time nothing seem to fit and all my talents felt out of place. However, I found that the things I came to love were not the answer but the tools that would help put my future together. Through my love for art, history, and language, I was able to see the importance of the “details” within not only my own life but the life of those around me. The things we came to live for and to love were not simply given to us but were once fought for and had now become our unalienable rights. Looking back at the darker aspects of life I saw poverty and

I’m still discovering who I am, that’s what we’re supposed to do as teenagers, right? I know what I want to do though, which is not a common feeling among some of my friends. I have an internal love for politics—it’s my go-to thing to talk about. And the thing is, I am really passionate about it. When I was fifteen, I caucused for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign, and later on, I continued volunteering up until Election Day. I couldn’t even vote yet.

Growing up as a boy, I was exposed to politics at a young age. At the time it wasn’t really interesting to me, as I just heard what my parents thought and just assumed everyone else thought like that. It wasn’t until I had access to the internet, that I really started looking into various opinions which people radically expressed. I always loved learning about our world and the people and cultures that it was made up with. After middle school I was very excited for my World History Class and immediately made a connection with my teacher. Mrs. Hostetler was special because she didn’t teach explicitly from the textbook, she had vast

I began with the age old question of “what made you want to get involved with Political Science?” Professor Rangel, with a smile on her face and a gleam in her eye, told me about how she enjoyed researching people’s behaviors and how they relate to politics. Furthermore, she wanted to explore how to promote civic engagement and help to get more people involved in the political procedure—a noble pursuit. She went on to explain how she wanted to get young people truly involved in the theory of politics, not just the debate aspect that most of the youth see it as.

\When I first stepped into the school to see the Law and Public Service open house, the first thing that popped out to me was the rigor as well as the mention of constant debates and public service work. Debating and public service enthralls me every time I either watch or experience it myself because of how we help or defend a side. Some non-academic activities I participated in outside of school that will help me succeed in the Law and Public Service is helping out in my cultural community. In this cultural community, I was either the MC of the night, or performed on stage. As an active part of the community, I attended the annual convention and took part in helping in the games and activities provided. As well as doing public

I was eight years old when I had discovered what politics were. I remember googling Proposition 8 after walking home and seeing dozens of "Say No to Prop 8" signs scattered about neighborhoods. I remember hearing racist comments about the new president from the man behind me at the grocery store. I remember taking an 8th grade United States history class and falling in love with the famous Roe v. Wade case. I remember learning what the words feminism and social injustice meant. Throughout these realizations, I had recognized that I was insanely passionate about the role that the government played in the equality and rights of the people. It was then that I found out what political science was and when I decided that I wanted to do something