hazel o’neil: for university of california: santa cruz "Tell us about a personal quality, talent, accomplishment, contribution or experience that is important to you. What about this quality or accomplishment makes you proud and how does it relate to the person you are?" When my family moved to Hong Kong for the year of 2012, we didn't pack any of our Michigan winter wear. We were operating under the assumption that because of South China's proximity to the equator, we wouldn't need warm clothes. While it was true that I didn't need a parka in Hong Kong, I was now in Xi'an, China, on a school trip. Today, we were hiking to the top of Mt. Huashan. I was wearing sweatpants over my jeans, three sweaters, a light jacket, and two pairs of socks under my Converse. My feet were sopping wet because of my ridiculously inappropriate choice of footwear and I was now hours into the climb, miserably frozen, and sporting two large wet patches on my knees from where I had lost traction and slipped on the icy mountain trail. The climb hadn't seemed nearly as challenging when the morning began. I come from a family that values nature walks, and
I've been on my fair share of hikes. I felt as though I could handle this. However, when we reached the top of the most precarious flight of stairs I'd ever tried to climb and were told that we weren't even a fifth of the way to the top, I began to reevaluate my decision. People started breaking off and heading back. Another two hours into the hike, the wind picked up, and it began to blizzard. My hair had chunks of ice frozen in it, the peak was miles away, and I was now starving and tired in addition to freezing. Had I been with my family, I would have whined my way back to the car ages ago. There was no shame in giving up around my parents. Would they have declared the hike, with its twisty ice covered paths and questionable rope railings, unsafe? Without my parents here to tell me that I had to either turn back or reach the top, I had to to tell myself. In my frozen and delirious state of mind, I equated the mountain to a test of character, and I was going to make it to the top. A few more hours passed, and only ten students remained. We caught up with each other a little ways from the top, on a picturesque bridge covered in snow. For many of my Hong Kong native classmates, this
was their first time seeing snow. As a winter veteran, I was both amused and charmed by the way my friend stuck her tongue out, trying to catch snowflakes, and how several boys started gathering ice and gravel into snowballs to throw at each other. I thought about how if I'd turned back, I would have missed this moment. Eventually we reached the peak. Tears were shed. Pictures were taken. Thoughts about how we now had to make the same trek down were avoided. Standing by the edge, I looked over the railing to what should have been a beautiful view, but was mostly fog and barely visible craggy peaks. But it was beautiful to me; I had made it to the top. This entire year - transitioning to living in a foreign country, picking up in the middle of the school year, being the only American in my grade - had been a metaphorical mountain of sorts, and now I was standing at the top with the friends I had made on the way up. It seemed as though I could take on any challenge. I know that other mountains lie ahead. Starting college is sure to be one. But that trip taught me that I can make it to the top - ice, snow, and questionable footwear included.
fernando rojo:forfor university of north carolina: hill fernando rojo: university of north carolina: chapelchapel hill “If you could travel anywhere in time or space, either real or imagined, where would you go and why?” As a nine-year-old, the decisions I made did not deem whether I would live another day or not – a burden unimaginable for a young child, but experienced by my maternal grandfather, Miklos Szekasy. Throughout my childhood I listened to his stories, and as a result of his strength to overcome the tribulations of living in Budapest, Hungary during the Second World War, I am here. These stories have driven me to travel back in time to Budapest in 1944. The bombing had been going on for weeks. Miklos and his mother were hiding in the basement of their apartment building rationing a bag of beans between the two of them, but after twenty days they ran out of food. Miklos, nine years old, went four days without a single bite to eat. Experiencing excruciating starvation taught him to never allow food to go to waste, and because of this my life has been shaped 54
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around truly valuing what I have. I am inspired by his ability to persevere through challenges as a child, and traveling back in time would allow me to meet him as a young boy to experience it with him. Above all, I will never allow a crumb of food to go to waste. For generations, my family has migrated across the world, from Spain, Germany, Lebanon, and Hungary to Argentina, and from Argentina to the United States, either to reunite with other family members or to discover a safer life. Miklos did so for both. My grandfather’s ability to overcome obstacles for his parents has contributed to my unwavering value for family. Searching for freedom and to reunite with his father who was working in Argentina, Miklos and his mother escaped war-torn Hungary. They memorized the time shifts of Soviet soldiers who guarded the border and boarded trains with false Austrian passports. Without a possession in hand or a single goodbye, they left their lives behind on their journey to Argentina. Even one minor mistake while
escaping could have led to their deaths. And still, even as a young boy, my grandfather was courageous enough to leave behind every possession and to risk his life to reunite with his father. All the difficulties he faced remind me that struggling for family is life’s most important virtue; I owe my entire life to his untouched hope that his struggle will lead to a greater future. If given the opportunity, I would travel across time to that basement in Budapest to witness the hardships my grandfather endured in order to further understand the lessons of resilience he has taught me. My mere existence and privilege throughout my childhood is due to his unstoppable tenacity to overcome living in the middle of a war zone as a young child. I feel inspired by my grandfather’s struggles and by the way they have shaped my life, and after traveling back in time I will treat the values I that have learned from him as responsibilities throughout my life.