"A college degree is not a sign that one is a finished product...
...but an indication a person is prepared for life."
Reverend Edward A. Malloy, Monk's Reflections
I finished my UW essay! This has been hanging over my head for like, the past month. Seriously. But I finished it! I know some of you wanted to read it (or at least my sister did) so I'm just gonna post it in here. Have bundles of fun!
Imagine a place where no one watches you. No one waits to judge your next move, or notices the brand of jeans you are wearing everyday. In this place you belong. You feel a connection with every person you encounter from the moment you awake in the morning to the moment you go to sleep at night. In this place you are free; utterly and completely free. Now imagine a place which is totally opposite. Everything about this new place is stifling. In this place you have no room for creativity, because anything creative which you may express could be shot down at a moment’s notice. In this new place you find yourself becoming part of a crowd - doing and saying everything the girl next to you does or says, simply because then she won’t shoot you that dirty glance you have endured so many times before. This second place was school, and my reality for three quarters of every year since seventh grade. However, two summers ago I discovered the first place. This place wasn’t new. In fact, not only had I been visiting this place for 11 years, but it had existed for nearly 80. The difference was in how I viewed it, and what I decided to learn from it. This place is my summer camp, Camp Sweyolakan, and according to me, it is the best place on earth.
Camp is indescribably incredible for so many reasons. How can one not enjoy a program whose sole purpose is to provide kids with a place to run around for a week ignoring every boundary which they have succumbed to for nine months, and simply be themselves. It is a haven. I have always known this. However, two summers ago, when I was 16 years old, I entered the Counselor in Training (CIT) program at Sweyolakan, and an entirely new crop of ideas I could learn from camp was planted in my head. Sure, I learned how to plan a day’s activities, and how to cook No Bake Cookies over an open fire. But what I really took from the program was the more relevant lesson of overcoming stereotypes, and knowing people for who they truly are, rather than who their friends expect them to be. In the CIT program I lived with 13 other individuals, all of whom I would never have even considered speaking to, much less sharing a home with. There was Kelly, the jock who constantly asked me to “hook him up with my hot friends,” Colleen, the kooky theater kid who had no inhibitions and said exactly what was on her mind, and Kate, the deeply thoughtful “quiet type” who, although appeared shy, was not afraid to show her crazy side. Then there was Jake, who had a 1.6 GPA, yet was one of the smartest kids I knew, Amanda who had learned a lot about life and usually had a lot to teach about it, Stephanie, the "band geek" who I could always count on when I really needed true advice, and Darcy who, while living across the country from me, exists in an entirely different culture from that which I live in. Every person I know from camp is completely different than I am, and every person teaches me something about both myself, and life. Through this place, and these people, I have learned to hold no judgments, and to look beyond the exterior of a person because it is usually deceiving. I have learned to shed materialistic values which were once so important to me, because in five years what a person is going to remember about me is not how “cool” my friends were, but why I chose them as my friends, and what I saw in them. Since participating in the CIT program, I am generally a much happier person. I am able to view life in a way which I want to see it, and learn everything there is to be learned from it. Camp has taught me not only to be my own person, but to live by that same person’s values, and pursue that same person’s path. For the past two years, I have applied these learned lessons to life at school. I am now friends with anyone I want to be friends with, regardless of what “group” they belong to. If I want to share my opinion with a class, I am not afraid to do so. Camp Sweyolakan has provided me with people, experiences, and messages which I will take with me into college, graduate school, my career, and my adult life. It has helped to shape me into the person I am today, and it has done so in an invigorating, effective way. How can it not be the best place on earth?
Yeah, I don't know how to do a cut, so don't read it if you don't want. And don't make fun of it for its cheesiness!
Reverend Edward A. Malloy, Monk's Reflections
I finished my UW essay! This has been hanging over my head for like, the past month. Seriously. But I finished it! I know some of you wanted to read it (or at least my sister did) so I'm just gonna post it in here. Have bundles of fun!
Imagine a place where no one watches you. No one waits to judge your next move, or notices the brand of jeans you are wearing everyday. In this place you belong. You feel a connection with every person you encounter from the moment you awake in the morning to the moment you go to sleep at night. In this place you are free; utterly and completely free. Now imagine a place which is totally opposite. Everything about this new place is stifling. In this place you have no room for creativity, because anything creative which you may express could be shot down at a moment’s notice. In this new place you find yourself becoming part of a crowd - doing and saying everything the girl next to you does or says, simply because then she won’t shoot you that dirty glance you have endured so many times before. This second place was school, and my reality for three quarters of every year since seventh grade. However, two summers ago I discovered the first place. This place wasn’t new. In fact, not only had I been visiting this place for 11 years, but it had existed for nearly 80. The difference was in how I viewed it, and what I decided to learn from it. This place is my summer camp, Camp Sweyolakan, and according to me, it is the best place on earth.
Camp is indescribably incredible for so many reasons. How can one not enjoy a program whose sole purpose is to provide kids with a place to run around for a week ignoring every boundary which they have succumbed to for nine months, and simply be themselves. It is a haven. I have always known this. However, two summers ago, when I was 16 years old, I entered the Counselor in Training (CIT) program at Sweyolakan, and an entirely new crop of ideas I could learn from camp was planted in my head. Sure, I learned how to plan a day’s activities, and how to cook No Bake Cookies over an open fire. But what I really took from the program was the more relevant lesson of overcoming stereotypes, and knowing people for who they truly are, rather than who their friends expect them to be. In the CIT program I lived with 13 other individuals, all of whom I would never have even considered speaking to, much less sharing a home with. There was Kelly, the jock who constantly asked me to “hook him up with my hot friends,” Colleen, the kooky theater kid who had no inhibitions and said exactly what was on her mind, and Kate, the deeply thoughtful “quiet type” who, although appeared shy, was not afraid to show her crazy side. Then there was Jake, who had a 1.6 GPA, yet was one of the smartest kids I knew, Amanda who had learned a lot about life and usually had a lot to teach about it, Stephanie, the "band geek" who I could always count on when I really needed true advice, and Darcy who, while living across the country from me, exists in an entirely different culture from that which I live in. Every person I know from camp is completely different than I am, and every person teaches me something about both myself, and life. Through this place, and these people, I have learned to hold no judgments, and to look beyond the exterior of a person because it is usually deceiving. I have learned to shed materialistic values which were once so important to me, because in five years what a person is going to remember about me is not how “cool” my friends were, but why I chose them as my friends, and what I saw in them. Since participating in the CIT program, I am generally a much happier person. I am able to view life in a way which I want to see it, and learn everything there is to be learned from it. Camp has taught me not only to be my own person, but to live by that same person’s values, and pursue that same person’s path. For the past two years, I have applied these learned lessons to life at school. I am now friends with anyone I want to be friends with, regardless of what “group” they belong to. If I want to share my opinion with a class, I am not afraid to do so. Camp Sweyolakan has provided me with people, experiences, and messages which I will take with me into college, graduate school, my career, and my adult life. It has helped to shape me into the person I am today, and it has done so in an invigorating, effective way. How can it not be the best place on earth?
Yeah, I don't know how to do a cut, so don't read it if you don't want. And don't make fun of it for its cheesiness!