Even in my current extracurricular activities, such as on my Varsity football team, sacrificing my need to be a 'star' and instead serve the common good is a necessity. Teaching the novice debaters is an integral part of my duties on my school's Lincoln-Douglas Debate team. I must help them see the world from competing perspectives, and to see issues in terms of grey, rather than stark black and white.

I am so thankful for the people in my life who have taught me this spirit of community: the people I met over the summer in Texas taught me what it means to be a good neighbor, the children and senior citizens I have befriended who have shown me that friendship knows no age or socioeconomic status. I have, despite the shortness of my life, tried to craft an open soul with few fences, with no barbed wire around my...
[ View Full Essay]