Admissions Essay

A few years back I was involved in an organization called the Institute for Community Leadership [ICL]. This group was a non-profit organization that mostly worked with middle schools and high schools, teaching students how to do public speaking as well as write speeches to help them express and stand up for their beliefs. I first found out about it because they worked with my cousin’s high school and she had invited me along with them one Saturday. I was involved with this organization for about two years. I would have continued on with the program if it weren’t for my schedule conflicting with it although I feel that it would have been to my greater benefit if I would have continued on.

In this program I was able to grow and change a lot. One thing that I did that I feel helped change my community was that I helped other students at other schools find the courage to speak on what they believed. It worked exceptionally well because majority of the time I was the youngest member and they saw that if I was capable then there was not really a reason why it was not possible for them. During one summer I spent about three consecutive weeks with the organization. We first went to Eastern Washington, where we had many team building and poetry workshops. The next week we drove down to a small city, not far from Portland, and worked with the city’s middle school students for a few days and helped out on the families’ farm that we stayed at. While we were there we learned a lot about their Native American heritage and even helped them with the festival they had put together in celebration of their heritage and a memorial celebration of their daughter who had passed away from cancer at a young age, so it was in part a cancer benefit. It really helped me grow because where a person comes from and their background has a lot to do with why they are the way they are and why they believe what they believe. Therefore it strengthened my speeches and gave me a great understanding of how important it is to know where you come from and what your people have worked for in order for you to get where you are today. Our next and last stop was in Oakland, California. There, we worked with the students of Castlemont High School. I believe that I really got to connect to many different people. This school was considered to have the most violence and many troubled families. I really got into talking with some of these students and they let me in on how many of their friends were dying because of unnecessary violence. I, this little kid that they had just met, coming all the way from up North, was able to convince them that they did not have to just sit there and not attempt to put a stop to it. It was clear to me that we really came in and changed the lives of those students over a course of three days. Through all the bug bites, lack of sleep, sleeping on hard-wood gym floors and tents in the middle of no where, long distances traveling and not eating much, everything I experienced with them was well worth it and life changing. Some things with that group I can look back on and laugh, like showering in a lake or our out door portable showers in the backyard barn of the main organization’s house. Another life changing activity that I was able to be a part of with ICL was on Martin Luther King Jr. Day one year. We first went to the main Starbucks manufacturing building in Seattle and preformed our speeches on integration and non-violence and then to this huge auditorium in Olympia where we did the same. It was definitely mind-racking and not easy, but there could not possibly have been anything better that I could have done that day in my capability. I can honestly say that at least a good sixty percent of the students we worked with have used what we taught them at least once since then and I think that all schools should have this program open to them.

At PSEC, I could use all that I learned and experience in many ways. Leadership was a big thing with our organization and I could bring that leadership into PSEC in all that I do. In group activities, I definitely am not afraid to be the first one to stand up, help take charge, and delegate work as well as do my share. I could also help my fellow classmates and group members by showing the proper, efficient, effective, clear, and strait to the point way of presenting projects. Standing up for what I believe gives me the ability to make relevant suggestions on how we can improve our community, our school, and our classes. Over all, there is so much I know can bring to PSEC positively.

The Institute for Community Leadership was one of the experiences that I feel both helped me as a person and my community. Just because I am no longer a part of the organization does not mean that I do not still believe what they are doing is helping things change for the better and I am still able to apply what I have learned. I hope that I can continue to try improving my community. One motto I find important is, “If you do not stand up for what you believe in and think is right, then what is its significance and why should it matter to anyone else.”