“This I Believe” Essay

Our first english essay assignment was to write a short essay about a belief that we hold.

Going Beyond The Emojis

I believe in authenticity. 

From the days when I used to sit on the driveway for hours on end, doodling colorful creations with chalk, to my teenage years now, the nickname “Sunshine Marie” has followed me throughout. I’ve always been known to carry a bright outlook on the world and I find joy in forming genuine connections with others.

Some time ago, I started a kindness community project. I painted a board, went to my local farmers market to set it up, and provided markers so that people could write encouragement notes to others. I invited crowds of strangers to contribute to the kindness board. Whether it was kids or elderly citizens, each individual made a unique contribution to the board, many of which sparked meaningful conversations as well. The project fostered growth and genuine kindness in my community. And although small projects like these are not life-saving, they are thought-provoking, as I certainly made many passerby’s stop and think. And their smiles were the greatest gift of kindness in return.

But as the generations evolve, I have come to notice changes in mannerisms. I tend to wonder if the highly edited, facetuned pictures, and surface level emoji-filled comments on social media are the new normal. If authenticity isn’t what our modern world is about, then I want to be abnormal. But I believe it is. I crave real conversations where nothing but the words that come out of our mouths matter. Have we forgotten how to be ourselves, and has society swayed our values?

Being real and being aware of your surroundings and others can go a long way. Some time ago when I was at the mall, a woman with a bouquet of flowers and three shopping bags in her arms passed by in the corner of my eye. As the wind blew her hair back, her keys simultaneously dropped to the ground. Unaware, she kept walking. Several moments passed by until the consequence of doing nothing registered. I abruptly stood up and ran after her. My friends laughed at me, but I didn’t care, because I had just saved this stranger from hours of looking for her car keys. 

Being authentic and spontaneous in this age of polished social media makes us human again. And sometimes we lose sight of that. Whether it is inviting someone to open up about how they are doing beyond greatness and smiley’s, or simply listening to them, real human connection and kindness plays a pivotal role in my day-to-day life. So: how are you really doing today?

Honors Memoir Essay

As part of the reflections unit, honors students were tasked to read a memoir of choice and write an analytical essay. I chose to read Susannah Cahalan’s memoir, “Brain On Fire: My Month of Madness”, which discusses her experience with a rare auto-immune illness. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, as it was a very eye opening read on a topic that I had not learned about before. Memoir essay linked here.

Personal Essay

Our next assignment was to craft our 650-word college personal statement essay. As a class, we read Ethan Sawyer’s book “College Essay Essentials”. I greatly valued this assignment because we did many brainstorming and writing exercises which strengthened the writing process and final product.