Evaluate a significant experience or achievement that has special meaning to you. (Harvard)

Waking up the morning after my junior prom was a much different experience than most of my friends. As they woke up, reminiscing about the events of prom, I woke up looking forward to my weekend at West Point. I headed there with the sole purpose of completing one goal; to win the very first coveted Silver Saber for my troop, at the 50th annual West Point Camporee.

When I was thirteen, my Boy Scout troop attended the United States Military Academy’s camporee for the first time. Watching the cadets, in their prestigious gray dress uniforms, leading the different events, such as the commanders challenge and zodiac, I fell in love with West Point. I wanted to be in the cadets shoes one day and I wanted to lead the events. After a few years, it was finally my turn to lead the troop at the competition. I organized a plan to optimize my troops performance at each event by utilizing each member's unique skills. The plan was successful and we placed in five events, but, most importantly, we won the best troop overall award out of over 250 troops nationwide.

As the general handed me the saber, and I shook his hand, it finally hit me. The dream of winning had finally become a reality for both me and the troop. The image that sticks out the most in my mind from that day is seeing the faces of each and every member of my troop, when they finally got to hold the saber. When I saw this I knew I had truly accomplished something special.

This victory didn’t come easy. We didn’t just walk in expecting to win. My troop hiked 3.4 miles over “bull hill” (a trail with a 60 degree slope) with a well organized plan and weeks of preparation behind us. On the day of competition every member gave it their all. We used every ounce of passion in our brotherly blood to complete all 15 stations flawlessly. I personally gave every ounce of blood, sweat, and tears for my troop that day to achieve victory. After the stations closed, I finally had time to clean my wounds, to wipe the dirt from my face, and to realize what we had just accomplished. In my mind we had achieved greatness. We had worked as a unit, together, completing every task to the best of our abilities. This is the moment that made me the most proud. This is when I understood my leadership brought us together for something more than ourselves. I finally understood what the true meaning of victory was. It wasn’t the saber or the ribbons, it was the bonds built between each member of the troop that created this memorable weekend.

I will never forget that weekend. Not because it was the weekend of my prom but because I won a national competition. I fulfilled the aspirations of my troop, and at the same time brought our members closer together. I will never forget the bonds of brotherhood built that weekend. One day, I hope to watch scouts like myself make those unique bonds as a West Point Cadet.

The Truth Behind High School Reports

Lincoln
Ms. Diana
Advanced Placement Literature
June 10th, 2012

The Truth Behind High School Reports

Blood sweat and tears are the only true measures for effort and ability. Unfortunately for me, there is no check box for any of these indicators on a high school transcript, there is only room for S.A.T. scores, class rank, and grade point average. If only that single piece of paper could describe; all of my weekends spent working towards Eagle scout, my countless weekdays spent coaching youth baseball, or any of the ten plus clubs and activities I am involved in, maybe my true effort and ability would be revealed.

A high school record transforms you from a human being, full of passion and soul, into a bunch of meaningless numbers. Numbers that fail to compensate for the intangibles, the things that make you, you. The things that got you through a loss of a family member, the things that made you determined enough to win a national competition, a thing called passion. Passion has built the pyramids, it has put man on the moon, and it has a funny way of trumping logic and numbers to achieve something great.

The blood sweat and tears I shed everyday of my life to stay active in my community, school, and nation can never be represented on a piece of paper. That piece of paper will never be able to explain the weekends I willingly sacrificed to prepare my troop for the West Point camporee at the United States Military Academy. It will never reveal the amount of leadership or physical sacrifice given that weekend to win the coveted Silver Saber (the first place trophy at the West Point Camporee) out of over 5,500 other participants. Again that funny thing called passion drove me and my troop to victory.  

There may be a spot on a resume to write the clubs and activities I participate in, but it is only a single line. One line does not begin to explain the countless days of practice and work It took to win four section titles. Where do I write the amount of summer days I spent working with my coach to become the JV football quarterback that got pulled up to varsity the year we won sections? Where do I fill in the blank for social events skipped or fast food opportunities missed to stay in shape for a championship track season? There is only one generic spot for “__ years played” that doesn’t reveal the sacrifices I made each and every sports season to be the best. These may not represent me well but not all of what I do isn’t represented.

Only a select few of the activities including National Honor Society, Order of the Arrow, and Boys’ State that truly reveal the leader I am. National Honor Society I feel actually carries weight on a resume. It accepts those who maintain a good grade point average, demonstrate leadership, are active in the community, and who are people of integrity. These are all qualities I demonstrate and are the reason I am in NHS and was also selected to Boys’ State. A highly competitive program that selects one candidate per American Legion Post to represent them in a statewide leadership seminar. The board interviewing me was impressed with my resume, but didn’t truly understand me until they heard the stories behind every line on that page. Actually meeting me and asking me questions allowed them to understand I was the right person to represent them.

Thats the reason high school transcripts don’t accurately reflect my effort and ability is they don’t include anything personal. If I could sit down with anyone reviewing my high school report, and explain the blood sweat and tears sacrificed on events like winning the Silver Saber I think they would get a much better understanding of who I really am. Until then, my report will just be a bunch of black and white marks on a piece of paper that equivalents to some generic number for an admission team to analyze.

Future me

Lincoln
Ms. Diana
June 5, 2012
AP Lit Blog

Superman

    We never stop growing as an individual, we learn new things everyday that shape us to become who we are. Reflecting on my life and looking at my literacy, I see room for major improvement in reading and writing. I want future me to write essays faster than a speeding bullet, read books in a single bound, and be the Superman of the literary world.
   
    In order to understand where it is that I want to go it is necessary that I examine where I am. This last year I honestly read four books, three of which were by John Wooden, and the fourth being Heart of Darkness. John Wooden, as a person, has honestly been the sole reason for my new found love of reading. His flawless personal character and truly magical story of NCAA dominance has inspired me in so many diverse ways. This year was also big for me in terms of reading. Heart of Darkness was a great, challenging read that proved to me there are fiction books I can actually appreciate. In terms of writing I probably wrote 20 to 25 essays over the course of this school year for various classes. My writing definitely improved ten folds thanks to my Advanced Placement Literature class. On a scale from one to Superman, I am probably around a Kick-Ass. A punk who wants to be a superhero but doesn’t really have any true superpowers.

    In order to become the Superman of the literary world, I need to make many changes in my life. First off, getting rid of my smartphone; this device has been my downfall ever since eighth grade. It has only distracted me from reading and writing. I guess you could say it is my kryptonite. Secondly I need to delete my Facebook account and Twitter. These consume countless hours of my life, stalking and checking up on pointless highschool drama. They are my Atlas(Superman’s arch enemy) always hindering my peace and quiet. To really achieve Superman’s status, I need to buckle down and read some books about history. I have always loved history and I think it would really get me back into the literary world. Finally  I need to take a writing class, to help my writing skills, or team up with my friends and form a study group called Justice League.

    If I can accomplish all of these feats I will truly be where I want to be in terms of literacy. It is up to me to rid my world of kryptonite and defeat Atlas. Then I will finally be the Superman of literacy.

Lincoln
Ms. Diana
June 1, 2012
AP Lit

Technology Revolution

    In the last fifteen years the way people communicate and interact has changed dramatically due to the impact of new technology. iPhones, Nooks, along with millions of other portable devices have completely changed the game of literacy. In the world of instant gratification and instant messaging, the need for proper grammar has completely been replaced by the need for a quicker way to communicate.

    Shakespeare used over 31 thousand words in his works in 1600’s, today in the 21st century the average person only knows 14 thousand words, less than half. In a world where the dictionary, every book ever written, and every person, is in the hands of almost every human but still the volume of vocabulary decreases. Why is it that people finally have access to the world but choose to play games like angry birds instead of reading the great writings of Thoreau, Marks, or Dickens? The answer is the mindsets between generations are not the same. Past generations believed in hard work and sacrifice to achieve their goals, while new generations believe in procrastination and instant gratification as the way to get things done. Instead of perfecting their grammar and building their vocabulary they are busy texting away, missing the beautiful world of reading and writing around them.

    iPhones put the world in your hands. They allow you to surf the web, communicate globally with others, and open up many other possibilities. Personally the iPhone has both negatively and positively impacted my literacy. Text messaging lead me to use acronyms such as “LOL” and “OMG” to express complex emotions through a LED screen instead of face to face with a person. At the same time the iPhone has allowed me to use apps such as “dictonary.com” to help me correct my grammer during e-mails and letters. Nooks put the library of congress into your hands. I do not personally own one, but from what I understand they are begging to replace written books. The true impact of iPads and Nooks will not be know for another 5-10 years because of their short existence so far. I believe they will continue to take the true depth and importance of books away, thus continuing the down spiral of literacy in the world.

    The ironic negative impact of technology on literacy has really caused many problems for adolescents in school and in turn could lead to many problems in the real world. If the present generations using the technology would take their noses out of the technology and pick up a real book and read it, the world may be a very different place in ten years. Hopefully future generations will understand the true meaning of good literacy and will use technology for good.

Lincoln
Ms. Diana
May 24, 2012
AP Lit

Cheating Yourself

Whether to cheat or not is one of the biggest decisions students face everyday. Academic cheating causes many problems and unnecessary hassles that affect everyone including teachers who struggle with the moral dilemma whether or not to say anything or not when they see cheating occur. When you cheat you may be helping your grade but you are only hurting yourself and everyone else.

Cheating has become this acceptable practice by kids who believe it will give them an advantage the same way steroids give baseball players an advantage. In the end cheating kills adolescents and their academic careers the same way steroids end professional athletes careers. Cheating has become so common that teachers are being forced to create multiple versions of test and quizzes to prevent cheating. Surprisingly some student still continue to cheat using technology such as cell phones to look up answers. As teachers become more and more advanced in their prevention, kids continue to find new ways to cheat the system and the test. This doesn’t sound like a big deal, but this should not be accepted by society as normal for kids to skip out on work and use the hard work of others as their own.

There is a fine line between collaboration and plagiarism that adolescents are misunderstanding. The problem stems from the lack of discipline. In high school students caught cheating might receive a zero or a new desk assignment and that is it. In college, students are kicked out with no refund no second chance and no questions asked. If high school teachers reported cheating and created harsher punishments for repeat offenders, the practice would cease. Teachers and parents need to play a bigger role in stopping this terrible phenomenon that adults seem to be clueless about. Schools should have more assemblies and a bigger crack down to prevent this epidemic from spreading.

Children have lost the ideals of earlier generations, where hard work pays off, and instead have replaced it with how can I do as little work possible and recieve a good grade. The fact that no one is condemning this practice concerns me as it should concerns the general population. The question you should ask yourself is, “did this doctor get his degree the legit way or did he cheat his way through school?” After this you will realise the importance of this problem.    

One Giant Leap for Mankind

Lincoln
Ms. Diana
May 20, 2012
AP Lit.

One Giant Leap For Mankind

The earliest memories I have of learning to read are when I was about five when my parents 


would read to me before bed. I remember the tales of pirates and knights that I so enjoyed, but it was 


my favorite book from the “Magic Tree House” series by Mary Pope Osborne that have had a lasting 


impact on my life. I learned a lot from the books themselves about history but I learned a lot more 


about my family and myself from the experiences surrounding the books.

I remember having to wait for many weeks for the next book of Osborn’s exciting series to come 


out. When a new book would come out my parents and I would go to the bookstore the same day in 


order to pick up a copy of it. When we got home I would rush to get ready for bed and wait for my 


parents to read to me. They would always take turns switching back and forth reading to me. Usually 


about half way through no matter how interested I was in the book I would fall asleep leaving the 


conclusion for the next night. When the book was concluded I remember being sad having to wait so 


long for the next book, but I loved spending time with my parents getting the book and reading it. It 


started to be a family tradition until I grew out of it.


The reason “Magic Tree House” books stand out in my mind was those are the first books I 


remember both my parents reading to me and I remember reading. I would always picture myself in 


the main characters shoes battling monsters and saving towns from destruction. It was a good 


escape from the harsh realities of school. The other importance of the books was they really helped 


me become a better reader and a person who likes to read. Finding a book or a series that one likes 


to read is not always easy, and having one at such a young age was definitely very beneficial to my 


literacy development.


The books were also very informational, which taught me a lot about history. I learned simple 


facts about historical events, places, and people. I think the series of books is the reason I prefer 


historical books to any other type of book. They are also the reason I like books in series as opposed 


to books without sequels or prequels. The books have definitely had a big impact on my reading 


choice today.


Without reading those books I would be in a very different position then I am now. I would 


probably not be as intelligent, or as interested in history as I am now without the books. They had a 


significant impact on my literary life in a very positive way.