Empowerly

Student profile

1. Every person has a creative side, and it can be expressed in many ways: problem solving, original and innovative thinking, and artistically, to name a few. Describe how you express your creative side.

2. What would you say is your greatest talent or skill? How have you developed and demonstrated that talent over time?

3. Describe the most significant challenge you have faced and the steps you have taken to overcome this challenge. How has this challenge affected your academic achievement?

4. Think about an academic subject that inspires you. Describe how you have furthered this interest inside and/or outside of the classroom.

5. What have you done to make your school or your community a better place?

#1

On afternoons, I would sit and feel the wind whipping past my skin, listening to the swing’s steady creaks join the symphony of insects. The soft breezes whispered in my ear and the grass tickled my toes: the perfect state for imagination. My swing functioned as a time-machine, a transporter, a dream-catcher, and very rarely, a place to merely sway. It was my sanctuary of free trips, emotional monologues, and imaged humorous dialogues. It was where I sat and 

When I was young, I spoke with broken English. I entered preschool not knowing basic English words, and was shamed each time I stumbled while reading or when I couldn’t properly respond to a question. One day, I grabbed a book and jumped on my swing and was determined to read it from front to back. After the difficult- and long- feat, I started reading more. One book soon turned into ten books. I followed the adventures of “Junie B. Jones and the mysteries of the “The Boxcar Children.” Ten turned into a full bookshelf. Reading, the once daunting task, transformed into a pleasant escape. An escape from my faults. A world free of shame. My collection of books grew to hold Stephen King’s horrors and George Orwell’s dystopian societies.

Engrossed with the fictitious adventures and the lives of others, I soon created my own characters and their own worlds. I wrote short stories- those of science fiction and suspense. Stemming from J.K. Rowling’s stories, Saturday Night Live’s comedy sketches, and NPR’s journalism, my love for writing expanded with time. I later wrote stories with a purpose, commenting on society’s faults. One on human trafficking, another on discrimination. My writing grew to encompass science. A paper on machine learning, another on the potentials of technology in healthcare. I pour my dreams and thoughts into creative stories while upholding my scientific curiosities in more research-oriented papers. Reading and writing- the once intimidating subjects- are now outlets of creativity and a symbols of my personal growth.

#2

My darker skin color clashed with my peers’ pigments in my hometown Tomball, Texas. Kids in the neighborhood avoided my house. My preschool peers ran away from me screaming “monster,” uneasy about what my muddy skin color and my parent’s thick accents meant. My family’s foreign background made me feel separate and isolated, so I retreated. I spoke softly and looked to the ground while answering questions in class. Never participating in class and never asking help from teachers, I didn’t feel motivated, and, as a result, I didn’t learn. I was just a skinny awkward girl. I tried to make myself invisible, to disappear until I could go back home--my safe space of comfort and self-expression.

In the middle of fifth grade, I left this disparaging childhood behind when we moved to Los Gatos, California. Initially, in California, I continued feeling like an outsider, but for different reasons. This time I was starting from scratch. I had no friends, no comfort. I was obligated to assimilate, and I learned to adapt and integrate myself into new communities. My creativity and curiosity prospered in real-life situations. Aiming to improve my once faltering English, I read and practiced writing. Though once I fell behind the other kids in writing, not only do I now share ideas, but I also edit the work of my peers at their request. Without the inhibitions I placed on myself, I was able to personally grow and pushed myself into the rigor of school. The once awkward, unconfident girl overcame body image issues resulting from skinny shaming, rejected the negative comments of those demeaning my dark skin (by recommending ridiculous skin bleaching creams), and prevailed over the dramatic changes of another move.

With the newly acquired self-confidence, I expanded beyond my former desire for comfort to enjoying new experiences. I embraced the culture I had once rejected due to my self-induced isolation. I combined this culture of customs, traditions, and etiquette with a life of expectations, education, and success. Though once embarrassed by difference, my life now calls for distinction and novelty.

#3

Biology has a variety of subgroups. One of its sides I explored is its study of organisms- specifically, of plants. In Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology) in Zurich, Switzerland, I had the opportunity to work under a published mentor. My tasks varied from collecting and marking the number of moth eggs from purple devil plants, to assisting in collecting experimental data on a plant-defense experiment, to studying the feeding of Manduca sexta caterpillars on the purple devil plants with differing numbers of spines. My initial squirms regarding the behavior of the organisms soon turned to pure wonder. 

Another realm within biology I explored was its medical side. Multiple strokes had reduced my aunt to nothing more than a frail body on a hospital bed, fully dependent on a PEG tube to sustain her. Seeing the nurse's’ duties and the doctor’s limited time spent on each patient, I was interested in how a hospital functions. Ten years later, I applied to, and received, a competitive volunteering opportunity at my local hospital. Every week for three years, I was exposed to medical jargon and the appliances of the hospital. 

Being exposed to the anatomy and the technology in the hospital sparked my interest in biomedical engineering. Integrating my advanced biochemistry classes and biomedical research with the engineering and computations skills garnered from internships, I grew more interested with the intriguing--yet controversial--nature of 23andMe’s genome sequencing and the possibilities of a real-life ‘Gattaca.’ Moreover, the research conducted during my internship at CISCO allowed me to write and present papers on the potentials of technology in medicine and its implications on society.

Without getting the opportunities to explore biology in these various ways, I never would have been so captivated with the subject. I definitely want to keep exploring its many facets in college through captivating classes and innovative research. An integration of my fascination of biology and passion for writing pushes me to publish medical journals, present scientific research, or become a medical correspondent for a news company in the future.

#4

The first word was DILIGENCE. I had just cleaned out the waiting room, replacing the old newspapers and magazines with the new ones. Finished with the jobs I had been given, I was sitting at the front desk with yesterday’s newspaper crossword puzzle. Before I could finish writing the G in “diligence,” the telephone rang. It was from the emergency room; I needed to take tubes into the lab for testing.

Every Thursday for the past three years, I have been volunteering at San Ramon Regional Medical Center. During my three-hour shifts, I attend the front desk and tend to the requests of nurses and doctors. Many times, I also trained new volunteers, helping them learn the layout of the hospital, unfamiliar medical jargon, and the patient-assistance procedures. I have patient eyes for the new volunteers; a smile to greet, direct, and discharge patients; and a furrowed brow to execute deliveries and tasks of sorting and marking specimens and papers.

Though I have never performed a life-saving heart surgery or uncovered a deadly tumor, I still make a difference. Taking pressure off of the hospital employees, I turned into a speedy messenger, an informed tour guide, a respectful teacher, a comforting nurse. The front desk’s calmness contrasts the fast-paced nature of the labs and ICUs; my collared blue shirt and khaki pants represents order amidst the hidden chaos in the hospital. As a volunteer, I ease the general tension of the hospital. In a place associated with change and pain, I offer help and comfort. The pride in my work at school has never compared to how I feel when volunteering. I do something hands-on every minute and receive immediate gratification through a genuine thanks from a nurse, a beaming grin of a child, and an elderly lady’s quick hug. Three hours of work, of adrenaline, of sensitivity. If I do have a free moment, I work on the previous day’s crossword puzzle. However, before I can finish writing down a word, the telephone rings--a new task.