Written Answers

“If you live life without trying your hardest, it isn’t a life worth living.” These words struck me the most throughout my cousin’s lecture after I had failed to meet his expectations during my visit to Korea this past summer. It was my first time me

I want to be my own person. Growing up, I did everything that my older brother was doing. If it was not by choice, then it was by my parents’ jurisdiction. I went to the same schools as he did, and I also competed in the same sports as he did. When I

People always think that I’m hopelessly naïve when I tell them that I want to spend my life doing nonprofit work. When I add that I might want to work on the legal side of the nonprofit sector, they think I’m downright idiotic, and they immediately t

It been approximately seven months since I've graduated from high school, but I feel like its been about three years. Even though my best friends from high school and I talk, i feel like they are all distant memories and dreams. I have no physical pr

Why I study at UCLA

I came to UCLA not for the academics, but for a bedroom. I chose to study at UCLA because when I was accepted I was living in a small bedroom apartment with 8 other people and I needed my space. I knew that UCLA was highly valued

The phone rings and all I can hear is a quivering voice say, “she’s dead”. My heart drops into my stomach, my mind is racing, and tears immediately start welling in my eyes.

I have yet to decide whether being empathetic is a positive or negative quali

As a kid, I always prayed for wisdom. Growing up in the church, the story that always left the greatest impression on me was the story of King Solomon. I guess I’ve felt kinship to him ever since I was little; I’ve always felt like I was powerful, wi

Numbers, an inheritance I can never forget! My passion for numbers began a long time ago, a time I was still not a part of. I had acquired it in my mother’s womb. Undoubtedly, this trait comes from both my parents, who majored in Statistics and Accou

I have fought so hard not to fall into a very typical and expected mold. Both my Mother and Father of are of mixed race; although both of them identify as African American. I take so much pride in the fact that I am African American, but I hate the w

My biggest fear has always been being a failure. Not even having a near death experience being in a car accident, and injuring two of my organs changed that fear. I am thankful that god has given me a second opportunity to live a normal life and have

           I do what I do in order to finally be happy in my life. I hang out with friends because that is when I feel happy—to present myself in a society, in a way. Also, my friends are people who I chose to be with, which means that among uncounta

My first day volunteering at the Child Life Department at the hospital was nothing like I expected it to be. I did not imagine it to be a location for the “rejects of society”. My supervisor told me that these were not ordinary children and that they

     The greatest gift someone can give another person is the gift of life.  My goal in life is to become a surgeon so that on a daily basis I could give people back a life that for a while they thought they were going to lose.  I consider myself ext

One of the most memorable moments of my life took place on a trip to Snow Summit. Having never boarded before, I spent most of my time adjusting to the bunny slopes where I discovered how difficult snowboarding really was. My first attempts at standi

My lifelong goal since I was 12 was to never have a boss in my entire life.  Needless to say I was pretty naiive.  I was the crafty, pushy kid selling random stuff to people and explaining why they were making a sound investment.  Yeah, I was that ki

Because I haven’t died yet

In me, I can still fly, believe in monsters and cast spells on those that hurt me.

In my mind, I can still dream and feel like light and jump from place to place without a care.

Magic hasn’t died, and I am like a rainbow in th

     When most of my friends were having fun at the beach, I was sitting in my room while Andrea and Justin (photographer and assistant) yanked and stuffed a black t-shirt in my hair and Caroline, the makeup artist with the makeup bag that’s literall

It was over before it even began. In an instant, a woman was underwater holding her newborn infant above her head. I reacted faster than it took to realize what was going on. I saved a young mother and her baby from drowning in a pool on a sunny Satu