I promised loyal blog reader, Ailin, that I’d post an admissions essay I wrote for MIT on how my environment has affected me. In light of recent events in my high school, which I’ll detail here soon, I find the essay all the more relevant. If you could kindly hold your criticisms, I’d appreciate it. Finding problems at this juncture would torture me.
Why calculate the largest number when there is an immeasurable level of detail between the numbers zero and one? I kept telling myself that, despite its size, the small town I moved to six years ago would have plenty to offer and much to explore. Just recently, I realized that I was right. My world is small, charmingly so, and I love it that way; Dover, a small town in suburban New York, is my home.
A mantra of Gene Rodenberry’s Star Trek was that outer space is humanity’s final frontier. Despite my utmost respect for the series, I starkly disagree. My final frontier is the immediate world around me; between zero and one, I have an entire town to explore! Within that domain, I have taken a stake in others, and they have taken a stake in me. In Dover, everything is personal, and guidance is always right around the corner. For instance, my school’s principal and counselors are affable and approachable. Their doors are always open, and students are welcome to stop by and talk. I have witnessed committees send care packages to former Dover students at war and organize comprehensive fundraising efforts for former teachers who had fallen on hard times. The community pulls together, and people go out of their way to make great things happen.
On numerous occasions, members of the high school staff have challenged me, striving to lead me to a higher level. For example, when I was a freshman, the information technology director, knowing my knack for computers, asked me to consider designing a television system to distribute announcements. Within a day, I had a mockup – after a week, a prototype. Over time, I learned how to manage deadlines, set agendas, and nurture ideas from conceptualization to implementation. This last summer, another community member sought me out. My former English teacher offered me a job as a teaching assistant and camp counselor at my community college’s summer program for children, ‘The Dutchess Community College Computer Academy’. Over the summer, I learned a great deal about teaching, working with children, and managing responsibilities. These opportunities gave me the experiences that define who I am today.
I always dreamt of shaping the world in some tangible way. I pictured myself inventing or discovering something that would serve humanity; however, my experience in Dover has forced me to reconsider that dream. I have witnessed, firsthand, the merits of helping people change the world, enabling others to make a difference. Dover has unveiled the nobility of such work to me, an alternative to single-handedly attempting change. I cannot predict where I will work, whom I will meet, or where life will take me. I do know, nonetheless, that I want to give back to my future community, and return the kindness of the people who helped raise me. Regardless of where I settle down, I aspire to have an impact between my new zero and one – the final frontier.
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