Thanks for posting this and for all the great responses; I always have this problem when writing about myself and my interests, and it definitely gave me some approaches to the SOP that I hadn't considered.
It is a cute story, though, so maybe you could integrate it without spending too much time on it. "Like many children, a trip to Sea World sparked an interest and a love in marine life, but it was my experiences doing such and such a thing that...".
If you're feeling stuck, just start writing it. It's a good rule of thumb to delete the first paragraph or two of anything you write (unless you're just amazing). It takes at least that long to start getting into a rhythm. Introductions and conclusions are always the hardest, but considering that most people remember the first and the last things that they read best, you might want to have a brief list of some of your greatest accomplishments spelled out for them (so they know what to expect further down in your essay).
I started my SoP by framing the research questions that piqued my interest. Rather than narrate the moment, I tried to channel my sense of curiosity towards those issues into the intro paragraph itself.
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Thanks for posting this and for all the great responses; I always have this problem when writing about myself and my interests, and it definitely gave me some approaches to the SOP that I hadn't considered.
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If you're feeling stuck, just start writing it. It's a good rule of thumb to delete the first paragraph or two of anything you write (unless you're just amazing). It takes at least that long to start getting into a rhythm. Introductions and conclusions are always the hardest, but considering that most people remember the first and the last things that they read best, you might want to have a brief list of some of your greatest accomplishments spelled out for them (so they know what to expect further down in your essay).
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