stories, our lives
impress target rsonal stories
write and submit one essay that they send to the schools of heir choice. Some schools might require additional or optional writing with different prompts. The Common App prompts hange each year, allowing students to have a broad range of uestions they can expand on.
Open Sesame
Salma Ghorab guest writer
My tongue had never felt heavier. The weights of speaking a second language made me stammer, stutter, forcefully sputter out verbs and nouns in a heterogeneous mixture that made no sense. I was a foreigner in my own country. My family had just moved from America, my home and birthplace, to Despite all of the test scores, academic transcripts and Egypt, the home of my parents. Previously, my visits to Egypt eacher recommendations, one of the most important factors were limited to a couple of weeks of feeling self-conscious hat admissions officers consider is the college essay. With essays, about having my parents translate between myself and my grandparents. This, however, was no visit. I knew I would not udents are able to share their experiences and aspirations so be able to survive in a country when I did not know its own hat their selected college can have a better understanding of who language. hey are, not just academically, but on a personal level. Here are a The skills that I had just begun to practice were already ew remarkable college essays written by seniors mastered by my fellow classmates. I forcefully held the pen, hat are sure to being some inspiration etching down rigid box-like Arabic letters, in an attempt to o anyone starting their application match the fluidity of my classmates’ calligraphy. The rocess. way in which their letters glided into one another, as a cohesive unit, made me notice more clearly my incompetence, as I was so accustomed to the discord among the letters in the English language. The swaggering manner in which the words swiftly and nimbly escaped from their tongues mocked my accent, as I would dawdle and stumble over my words. I began my journey of learning this new language with my grandma. After school I would ride the bus to her house. She spent all of her time in the kitchen. That small 675 square foot room- with the chipped white tiles on the wall, the silver pots toppled over one another on the floor next to the stove-became my second classroom. My grandmother, Zaza, would hold my Arabic book in one hand, and stir the lentils for the koshari on the stove with the other. Her voice resonated over the sound of the oil dancing in the pan, whether it was when she recited to me the various pronunciations of a single letter, or when she recounted Egypt’s extensive history. All the while I would be sitting down on the small wooden chair in the corner of the kitchen. While the street barters were hollering below, touting passerbyers channel my extra energy into an activity that embraced to purchase their fruits, chickpeas, it and that I loved. Being able to learn new skating or popcorn, my Saturday evenings techniques in a skate park setting came easily, would be devoted to watching and it helped me to build confidence and make Egyptian black and white new friends. I was patient and persistent, cinema. I, like the damsels he because learning to land new tricks took would try to woo in his lots of time and repetition, and I also Senior Salma Ghorab movies, was enthralled became comfortable interacting with by the captivating voice of people older and younger than myself. Abdel Halim Hafez. As I began to Slowly, I began to also become more patient be able to discern the meaning of innuendos and jokes, in my schoolwork, which allowed me to benefit I would find myself bursting into laughter along with my from the focus that the medication provides. cousins at the acclaimed comedian Ismail Yassin when he I am determined to work hard, because doing would manifest his by presence by his gawkiness. well in school will open up new opportunities I started reading the Mickey Mouse comic books of for me and help me to become more connected seven year olds, but I was only at first able to ascertain the to the world I live in. This was reinforced about meaning of the storyline from the pictures that supplemented a year ago, when my parents allowed me to take a it. Eventually I turned to One Thousand and One Nights. Much job while in high school, provided that I was able to like the king Shahryar, I became enraptured by the stories maintain my academic and personal performance. I Scheherazade narrated, similarly losing track of time. am proud of the fact that I am still working and skating Iftah Ya Simsim. Upon the orders of Ali Baba, “Open almost every week. Sesame,” the doors to a cave unlocked, unleashing the As I have gotten more confident, my parents treasures that were hidden inside. Unlike Ali Baba, opening have also put more of the responsibility on me to selfthis door took much more exertion than mindlessly reciting advocate with respect to my educational needs, and three words. Nonetheless, the treasure I emerged with when I I have slowly embraced this responsibility. This has eventually opened the door, mastering the language, would be allowed me to achieve even greater success, as I not only a treasure I would keep with me for the rest of my life. feel more confident in my schoolwork, but I also feel ready When I returned to America three years later, I was at to take on the responsibility for managing my education first relieved to use English again. However, I found myself and my future. I am looking forward to the opportunities naturally slipping into speaking Arabic with my family. Arabic and challenges that the college experience will provide, and had become the language of my home. will find a way to skate through them with hard work and perseverance. Senior Jake Soberman
Piano Kwasi Frimpong guest writer I fail. To be more specific, I fail everyday between the times of 6:00 to 6:30 am and 10:30 to 11pm. These times in the day are reserved for my personal piano practice. I believe it was the famous Thomas Edison that once said, “I have not failed, I have just found 10,000 ways that will not work”. This principle has impacted my life immensely and my craft on the piano. This is how it all began just 6 years ago. I began playing the piano when I was 11 years old. I took two different lessons each week, one from my uncle and another from a local music shop. At the beginning, I struggled mightily to understand concepts such as tempo, finger placement, reading notes, and rhythm. The more I failed to grasp the concept, the more stressed I became. Then one saturday morning after another disappointing practice, my uncle asked me, “Do you really want to continue playing? Because you seem frustrated and stressed out”. I did not know what to say. On one side, I really wanted to give up because I was tired of failing to understand how to play the instrument. On the other side, I did not want to quit because that would mean that I wasted my parents money, my uncle’s time, and even my own time that I sacrificed. After an awkward silence I finally responded, “I’m tired of failing and not meeting the expectations that I set for myself when I decided to learn the piano”. My uncle stared at me and said, “You can not be afraid to fail, you have to keep practicing until you get it, or you’ll never make progress not just at the piano but in life. That’s how life works buddy.” From that day on, I took it upon myself to practice more and more. Through hard work and practice nearly every single day, I was able to play music from all sorts of genres within just a year. From beethoven’s famous classical piece, “Fur elise” to Josh Groban’s Senior Kwasi Frimpong famous gospel song, “You raise me up”. After the worship team leader and the pastor acknowledged my talent, I was called to become the lead pianist at my church congregation at the age of 13! When many of the church members heard the news they were surprised that a 13 year old would be taking such a huge role in the church. However, I was not taken by surprise because I knew that all my persistence and hard work was paying off. After playing in my first service, many of the members came up to me and expressed their gratitude, others still couldn’t believe I was just 13, and some even asked me to give them a lesson. Playing the piano has taught me that you can not move forward in life if you are afraid to fail. No matter how many times you fall down, you must get up and continue walking to face your next challenge. Sometimes I look at my transcript and think about how much better I could have done, but I understand those 13 AP and Honors classes I took during my time at Wootton were only obstacles that made me stronger and more prepared for my future in college, and my life after college.