Every summer, we procure seeds from giant pumpkins and plant them in this strip of land. Another idea: It’s also possible to combine the narrative and montage structures by describing a challenge WHILE also describing a range of values and lessons. Photo by Dan Hubbell 1996. the stories that you tell at family holiday gatherings, the jokes or chain letters that you forward to friends, the ghost stories or legends you tell of strange happenings Deep inside, I feared I’d labeled by my airport customs category: a foreigner everywhere. That means it is a system of systems, and that it is composed of things that are learned rather than transmitted by genes and chromosomes. A community is a group of people who share something. and passed on informally from person to person. and the region where you live. Imagination ran wild, characters came to life, and I became acquainted with heroes and lessons that continue to inspire me today. I love to perform with my theatre class to entertain and educate young audiences throughout my community. We were devastated; the pumpkin was part of our identity. Throughout my childhood, my mother and I spent countless hours immersed in the magical land of bedtime stories. This ambiguity, however, has granted me the opportunity to absorb the best of both worlds. The next morning, our patch contained twelve new pumpkins. passed on informally, by word of mouth, observation, or imitation. But in retrospect, I realize that there’s a bit of magic in growing something from a seed and tending it in public. Every fall, the pumpkin grows to be giant. But I also loved macaroni and cheese and LeBron. However, among every group containing … Tagged: supplemental essay, college essay, community, community service, Video Course: How to Write a Personal Statement, Video Course: How to Write the College Application + Supplemental Essays, Video Course: How to Write the UC Personal Insight Questions, Essay Feedback: Work with my friends at Prompt, Get the Complete Guide to Writing the "Why us?" pumpkin on our doorstep. Promote Fairness. Word spread, and people came to our house to share in our dismay. anonymous—no one really knows where they came from. That's what this poster is all about! This covers the spoken and unspoken rules and traditions by which the community lives. Sure, I held a Korean passport in my hands, and I loved kimchi and Yuna Kim and knew the Korean Anthem by heart. Clearly, that pumpkin enriched our life and the entire neighborhoods’. While this author doesn’t go into too much depth on the “What did you do about it?” question named above, we do get a sense of the challenge he faced and what he learned. Growing up, the pumpkin challenged me as I wasn’t always comfortable being the center of attention. Travus Carlson riding bareback, detail from poster. Third: Describe one example per paragraph, perhaps in chronological order. The Narrative Structure. dynamically according to who is creating and sharing them. in your neighborhood, the way your grandmother prepares special holiday dishes, the notes and rhymes you inscribe in each other's school yearbooks, the songs your parents learned from your grandparents and sang (250 words), Brown University: “Tell us about a place or community you call home. When I tell a story, I can shape the world I live in and share my deepest emotions with the audience. Second: Identify 3-4 uncommon connections (values other students would be unlikely to think of) and give an example of each. This is exactly why I love theatre so much. Standing in the “Foreign Passports” section at JFK, I have always felt out of place. Then she raises the stakes: the pumpkin was part of her family’s identity as well as that of the community. Culture is the center of a longstanding social group that can give meaning to habits and relationships in the family or the community. And colleges want students who are going to be active in engaging with their community. Arian Zwegers/CC-BY 2.0. The author makes another uncommon connection in her conclusion with the unexpected idea that “the pumpkin challenged [her].” She then uses beautiful language to reflect on the lessons she learned: “there’s a bit of magic in growing something from a seed and tending it in public.”. Spend 5-10 minutes making a list of as many as you can think of. Choose one of the communities to which you belong, and describe that community and your place within it. (250 words)” I belong to a community of storytellers. A cold December wind wafts a strange infusion of ramen and leftover pizza. How did you apply the lessons you learned in and outside of that community? and current to be folklife, though it may have existed over long found in several different versions and variations. How has it shaped your perspective? Go with the one that you feel gives the best chance to help you share more about yourself. It sometimes helps to outline and draft one or two different essays on different activities, just to see which community might end up being a better topic for your essay. The author touches on the values of family and ritual in the first few sentences. To write this essay, I recommend the “uncommon connections” exercise. free guide to writing the personal statement. I have learned that telling stories can be just as powerful as hearing them. such expressions communicate the shared experiences, thoughts, Culture can be distinguished by 2 types, which are individualistic and collective cultures. The audience can relate to the story in many of the same powerful ways that I do.