500 Words or Less Read online

  Allpoetry.com, an online world for aspiring poets, is the one place where I am able to completely escape from this life of endless homework and stress. Poetry allows me to express myself and show my true feelings towards anyone or anything. When I close my eyes, I paint a masterpiece with words, tasting each syllable on the tip of my tongue. I breathe poetry and listen intently to the words that spill from my lips. The feeling of ebony letters being painted onto a fresh page allows me to create a whole new world, one that only I can enter. I am the poetry that sets my mind at ease, containing my sanity. I reside in the world of allpoetry.com, my escape from reality.

  Sonya Akhavan

  Accepted to:Cal State San Marcos, San Francisco State University

  Attending: Cal State San Marcos

  It is 6:00 p.m. in the afternoon after school. I am in my room studying when the next thing I know, I am interrupted from an array of vibrations on my desk. The concentration from my work is switched from the screen of my phone to my father calling. I answer with a "hello" and my dad abruptly asks, "What are you doing?" I respond that I am busy doing school work. Then, again, my dad's monotonous lines are overplayed like an obnoxious song stuck on repeat. These phrases consist of him repeating, "Good job, study your hardest, these are the most important years of your life, spend it wisely, if you work hard now all the fun will come later, and it will be worth it."

  His persistence has made me the ambitious person I am today. Without him, I would not be able to cope with all the difficult situations I have stumbled across in my life. With his guidance, I am now able to solely get through a hard task by pushing myself to be a strong person. I cannot recall a time when I have given up, whether I ran two miles straight under fifteen minutes to try out for my high school soccer team or studying eight hours straight for my hardest class and final of the year, Biology. Both rewarded me: I ended up making the freshman soccer team and I got a B on my final.

  In order to accomplish my dreams and aspirations for the future, I have worked my hardest to my best potential. Even though I'm not a straight A student and do not have a majority of AP classes in my schedule, that doesn't matter. What matters is I have abided each and every day to get to the place I've strived for, college. Currently during my senior year, I have challenged myself to take AP English and AP Psychology to prepare myself for college level classes in the future. The decision was arduous, however, it was my choice and I knew I wouldn't be dwelling on my father's support for much longer. Knowing the preconceived level of difficulty, I inquired a commitment independently of an unknown path to challenge myself.

  College is where I will continue to work hard in succeeding my dream to be a psychiatrist. Just like the bumps in the road I've had in my life, I want to give therapy to people who are diagnosed with mental disorders by assisting them through their issues. I know the journey will be hard and long, but it will be like an old dirt path. I will work hard to build concrete over all the ditches, thuds, and pebbles that stand in my way so I can make my way through it, and in the end, it will all be worth it.

  Eric Stern

  Accepted:University of California San Diego, University of California Santa Barbara, University of California Davis, San Diego State University

  Attending: University of California Santa Barbara

  A Daily Ritual

  To most, it is nothing more than the Latitude: 33-02'13'' N and Longitude: 117-17'31'' W. To many it is Encinitas, California, the number three surf town in the US according to Surfing Magazine. However to me, it means much more.

  Everyday I cherish my good fortune to have grown up in such a diverse community. Every house I pass on my daily commute to the beach is unique in its own way. In Encinitas, there are few regulations on houses, allowing the personalities of the homeowners to be reflected in all houses landscaping and architecture. Here it is not uncommon to see surfing Madonna murals, paintings of waves on the sides of buildings, older boats on plots of land being reused as apartments, and even 83 year old projection movie theaters still kept in use. These details that add character to the town help to show the diversity of where I come from. You can see the surfing community all around when you walk around the town and look at the houses. Surfboards are shaped into mailboxes, hung from trees, and even used as makeshift street signs. These totems are a sign of pride and adds to the uniqueness of the home.

  As I venture out, down to the beach, and into the ocean time and time again, I am always in awe at its power and beauty. As I sit in the lineup, it is apparent that surfing has a profound impact on everyone who is out in the water. Everyone is there for the same purpose: to have fun and enjoy the time spent in the water; this enjoyment is universal. When one is out in the ocean, it does not matter where they come from, their economic status, or their age. What does matter, however, is the way in which they live their life, making the most of every day. While surfing, people are judged based on how they treat, and respect others. One can trust others and leave their personal belongings unattended on the beach, knowing that others are looking out for them and their best interest. In Encinitas, I feel a sense of unity, allowing for less hostility towards other beach-goers, something that I have yet to find exist at any other beaches.

  Surfing has shown me that I can only gain respect of others through my own merit and actions, it will not simply be given to me. This idea has transpired into other aspects of my life. In school and work, everyone comes for a common purpose to learn, develop, and in the case of work, to earn a living. This community has allowed me to go out and achieve what I set out to do, making something for myself. Having grown up in Encinitas, surfing has become a part of my identity, who I am as a person. I aspire to always surf and maintain a close connection with the ocean throughout my life. Encinitas is not just a set of coordinates on a map, instead, it is my home, where i grew up.

  Erica D.

  Accepted to: Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, University of California Irvine, University of California Santa Barbara, University of California Los Angeles, University of California Berkeley

  Attending: University of California Berkeley

  I don’t sell cookies. I don’t wear a sash adorned with patches and pins. I don’t meet with a troop every week to eat snacks and play games. I am a Girl Scout, and although I have done all of these things over the past 13 years, I have now settled into a scouting life that works for me at 18 years old.

  Last year, I completed my Gold Award. I interviewed residents at an elderly home for hours about their lives and wrote articles about them. After I did this for nearly 20 residents, I gathered all of the seniors I had interviewed and presented them with articles about their lives. They beamed with pride as they looked back on their past in a 2 page biography that I wrote, and proceeded to show their stories to other residents and workers at the home. This experience helped me realize my love for the elderly and patience with people. The nature of the award taught me that I can accomplish things on my own and without rubrics or guidelines, giving me more initiative and competence.

  After 13 summers, I still haven’t grown out of Girl Scout camp. I love it just as much today as I did the first time I stepped on the bus as a nervous third grader, but now I am a quirky, confident counselor. Camp opened my eyes to other types of people and ways of life, and over the years has transformed me from a traditional, sheltered girl to a tolerant, universal individual. I have had life changing experiences at camp, like bonding with girls who I never would have the chance to meet at home. I have had touching moments at camp, like when I was a counselor in training and a young camper held my hand for an hour long hike because she missed her mom. I have had unforgettable, fun and crazy times, like when I was an intern and a friend and I flipped all of the tables in the lodge upside down. I know every corner of camp we hike, every song we sing, and every meal the cooks serve. I have immersed myself in the unique world of camp, and can’t wait to spend most of next summer working at Camp Winacka.

  I am lucky to be a proud, passio
nate Girl Scout who knows exactly where she belongs in the scouting world. I have been acknowledged for epitomizing my world so clearly by being invited to speak as the representative of camp at a Girl Scout convention in front of more than 300 adults about what Girl Scouts means to me. Although I don’t recite the Girl Scout Law or diligently complete badges, I have settled into a corner of Girl Scouts of my Gold Award and camp that fits me perfectly. Finding my place in the Girl Scout community has helped me realize who I am, and helped me find my place in the world.

  Jan Bernard

  Accepted:UCSB,UCSD, Cal Poly Slo

  Attending: Cal Poly San Luis Obispo

  My goose’s name is Dan. At the time of the accident I was only 11, so Dan stood about as tall as my waist. I guess his gargantuan size compared to the other geese made him overconfident because he decided to waddle up to my horse and attack her. The result was Dan flying 30 feet across the corral; he is a flightless bird. Dan laid on his back bleeding profusely from his head. I went and picked up the mutilated, 30 pound pile of feathers and showed him to my mom. She didn’t scream, just uttered “Damn it.” She went inside leaving me on the front porch with a half dead goose. I inspected his injury; from the left, his face looked fine. From the other side I could see the white of his skull and the pinkish, twisted flesh of the inside of his face as it flopped down like the ear of a basset hound. My mom returned holding her sewing kit. She ran the nylon thread through the head of the needle and said, “Hold him down.” Apparently Dan was more alive than I thought. As my mom held his lacerated face together and started piercing the skin with the needle, Dan turned the scene into an amateur rodeo. I struggled to hold him down with my legs as I carefully aligned his flesh so that his ear lined up with the ear cavity and his eye lined up with his eyeball. As I held his face together, my mom stitched the flesh back together, creating a pattern of thread at the crown of his head.

  After that day, I realized that I didn’t exactly have a regular suburban-kid life. My friends in 5th grade didn’t have horses or geese or pigs or chickens; much less have they helped stitched any of the formentioned together. The thing that sets me apart from my friends is that unlike them with fancy cars, two story houses, and Hawaiian themed backyards with pools, I live on a farm. My life is structured differently. Ever since I was physically able to, I have been waking up at 5:30am every morning to feed the animals and clean their pens, only then do I go on to make my own breakfast, take a shower, and go to school. On Mondays I don’t hang out with my friends because the trash truck comes on Tuesday morning and it takes me a few hours to clean all the corrals and pens and lug the 200 pound trashcans to the front of our driveway.

  I’m not going to lie. Trying to find time to do all my chores, go to school, do homework, play soccer, go to work, participate in 4H, and have a social life is still difficult. But there are a few things I will take from this childhood. I will always be reliable to do what is needed of me. It started with having to feed all the animals in the morning in kindergarten, but transpired through my life. In this sense I have also become independent; my parents stopped having to tell me to do homework by fourth grade, I do my own laundry, I drive myself everywhere I need to go, I maintain good grades and a job, and I can’t remember the last time someone made me breakfast. I’ve never received a dime of allowance and the only things I have that I don’t pay for are my car and my phone.

  If I stand next to another jock at La Costa Canyon; we look one in the same, except he doesn’t have a farm.

  Anonymous

  Accepted to: Cal State San Marcos, SDSU

  Attending: Mira Costa

  Personal Essay

  They never speak to one another. They never smile or even consider the other’s existence; they are known to complain about each other at times, but they still respect each other. My grandparents are divorced, a rare situation in Mexican families. Even odder is the fact their homes are both next to each other on the same property, and grandpa spends a considerable amount of time on his red and white rocking chair on grandma’s front porch. I never noticed this separation until I was nine, until then I had no realization that they were on bad terms with one another. I was completely ignorant to every warning sign around me, like having to decide where to eat dinner, or having to pay for each of their packs of warm tortillas separately on my trips to the store during my summers down in Mexico.

  I remember the warm July days I spent climbing trees in my grandma’s back yard, and yelling, “Pa Teban! Mirame!” when I reached the highest point my little legs could get me; of course I was immediately told to get down from wherever I hung. He always laughed, “Tu mama siempre se subia a el mismo arbol.” Remembering those long summer days, my mind sometimes travels back to my sixth birthday, the one time I remember him stepping foot in grandma’s traditionally large, rose colored kitchen, that moment he held me in his arms to blow out my birthday candles and how she gladly accepted his presence there. Even though they were separated, our family still functioned, even in the oddest of situations we still managed.

  Even though my grandparents were two people that wanted nothing to do with one another, they put differences aside to make one little girl happy. They may not know this, but they both cooperated to help make me who I am today. I have learned one of the most valuable lessons from them, no matter how much you can’t agree with the people around you, you still can set aside your differences and not let your problems affect others in a negative way. This lesson has become applicable throughout my life. In theater rehearsals, in academic league practices, through dance shows, and even in class the lesson has served me well. We are surrounded by people and differences are bound to happen, but everyone we encounter deserves respect. In theater, I have applied what I have gained from my grandparents most, respect is key when communicating on stage, with the director, and even with the audience, everything we do is a team effort.

  Anonymous

  Accepted to: University of California Santa Cruz, Fresno State University, University of Oregon, San Marcos State University

  Attending: Sonoma State University

  Growing up as the middle child, I have been able to experience both sides of authority. I have been lorded over by my older brother and I have been the authoritarian to my younger brother. Every challenge I met as a child and a young adult has been experienced through this dual role. At all moments, I am both the leader and the follower and that has allowed me a unique perspective on how best to accomplish my goals. I brought that perspective to the role of captain on my varsity water polo team this past season, where I was both a role model to my teammates and a subordinate to my coach.

  I recalled my relationship with my brothers to help empathize with the younger players, and help them adjust to the rigors of two-a-days and significant fatigue without berating or intimidating them. I used my experience as a senior player to advise and encourage them. It’s easy to tell someone what to do, especially if your are older and bigger and have more experience than them. It is another thing to conscientiously take the time to understand who your teammates are so as to better coach them. As a younger brother, I always yearned for respect from my eldest brother and in the role as the older sibling, nothing satisfied me more than having the respect of my younger brother. This is the relationship I succeeded in establishing with my teammates, one of mutual respect. Creating this positive team dynamic was the only way I knew they would be willing to fight through anything to get the job done. To persevere to the final buzzer, not for me, not because of me, but with me. In this spirit, I led my team to CIF for the second year in a row and went the farthest our school has ever gone in the playoffs.

  This team, the season we had, and the fact that I was named captain for this group of guys has made me truly understand the power of cooperative, respectful interaction. I have realized that paying attention to the individuals around me and working with everyone’s strengths is the best way to achieve my goals. I am convinced that I will be able to apply
these skills to all of my future endeavors and I’m sure it will come in handy with my brothers as well.

  Evaluate a significant experience, achievement, risk you have taken, or ethical dilemma you have faced and its impact on you.

  Adam Brandon

  Carwash

  I love to sing in the shower. The acoustics are so incredible that I often think I have talent. But this Saturday morning, Blink 182 will have to wait, since I need to wash my car before the sun teaches me a lesson in timing. I grab the towels and fill the bucket until the bubbles overflow onto my bare feet. The chilled water stimulates my senses, recalling the fun I have had with this childhood chore. As I survey the car, I notice a reflection of someone on the hood. Determined to reveal their true identity, I spray the hose and begin washing away the weeks of dirt that obscure the image.

  I kneel down into the puddles to clean the wheels. They experience the worst road conditions Mother Nature can deliver, collecting layers of grime along the way. Still, they roll on. This reminds me of one Atlanta summer when my dad and I spent hours circling the green searching for misguided balls to resell to passing golfers. Days would pass without selling a single ball, but I refused to let rejection defeat my will to work. I toiled every day and by summer’s end, made enough money to buy a new basketball. I cherish that feeling of accomplishment and use it to remind me that there is a purpose for all of my hard work. I take that feeling with me as I wash the rest of the car.

  I use extra care with the windows because they are the portals through which I see the world. One viewpoint I embrace is welcoming the unexpected. Last spring, while tutoring a second grader named Sahil, our roles were reversed. I patiently sat and learned, while he taught me his yo-yo tricks. It was not how I envisioned the day, but by being flexible, I learned a valuable lesson and we created a memorable experience. I realized that mentoring had a social component that was just as important as the lesson itself. Opening my mind to new ideas is the part of my future I look forward to most.