JE56 Big Apple

            If I had a chance, I would choose to attend NYU in NYC. Studying and living in New York has always been my dream. Living in a big city reminds me how competitive the world is and how I should always keep up my pace to learn new knowledge. I have always imagined myself to work in a fancy office in a big city like New York, interacting with people from all around the world. The “Big Apple” is an integration of people with different cultures. With such cultural variety, it connects people from all around the world to be at the same place. To me, attending a global network university would definitely benefit me from understanding people with different cultural background and perspectives and knowing what is going on around the world.

             Among the books and movies I’ve read and watched, New York is always portrayed as a place where dreams would be accomplished. To me, I feel like there would be many opportunities for me to experience. Also, a global network allows me to access to more resources. It would definitely help me on my future career when I encounter people from different places. As an Asian who initially had no American background and was gradually assimilated to a more western mind, I feel close to the concept of global network.

JE55 Public Interest

Respond to the quotation below. It is not necessary to research, read, or refer to the texts from which these quotations are taken; we are looking for original, personal responses to these short excerpts. Remember that your essay should be personal in nature and not simply an argumentative essay.

“It seems to me incumbent upon this and other schools’ graduates to recognize their responsibility to the public interest...unless the graduates of this college...are willing to put back into our society those talents, the broad sympathy, the understanding, the compassion...then obviously the presuppositions upon which our democracy are based are bound to be fallible.”

--John F. Kennedy, at the ground breaking for the Amherst College Frost Library, October 26, 1963

             Education, besides absorbing knowledge, is also a process of consuming society’s resources. It is not an easy thing to go to school without any other resources, such as food, transportation, teachers, books, electricity, etc. Because we want to continue our education, we need to consume resources from the society. Therefore, we should definitely pay back by contributing the knowledge we learned into the society. Many people, including parents, work hard for us so that we have the knowledge today. We should return them by making their lives better and easier. Working is not just about money; it’s for our passion. Our passion should include the part of giving something back to the society. It is useless for people to advance their skills just because they can earn money and live good lives. It is also important to pay back to the societies. I think public interest is a duty that everyone has. 

JE54 Literature and Death

            I often questioned myself why we are studying literature. I did not think I would ever use literature in my future since it is only a collection of a bunch of words that expresses abstract ideas. However, my perspective turned out to be different after I took American Literature during my junior year. I realized styles of literature changes in different period and different places. Furthermore, some of the ideas are actually similar to my thinking. For the first time in life, I actually wanted to read the stories that I might find connections to myself. During the reading process, I explored my heart and understand myself better through the powerful usage of words.  

            The speaker’s father enjoyed himself when performing. I find the same way to me when I listen to music and watch movies. I realized they are only ways to escape from reality. Literature, on the other hand, is timeless. It remained in the past, the present, and even the future. People die. Entertainment are being replaced. However, literature always serves as an inspiration when we need it, no matter in what period of history and future. When I read stories, I am actually exploring my mind and analyzing my ways of thinking. Literature gives us equanimity that we cannot simply find in other forms of entertainment. Literature has the power to enlighten our minds and tell us the meaning of life.

JE53 Reasoning and Insight

            Rigor, in definition, means the quality of being extremely thorough, exhaustive, or accurate. Having a rigorous attitude benefits our lives because we can reduce the mistakes we make and become more perspicacious with things around us. However, it doesn't guarantee us to understand how everything works. Insight, on the other hand, does. Insight, or an educated guess, is a further inference based on our knowledge to the subject. Making insights makes us understand more thoroughly about the subject because we challenge our brain and work on our critical thinking. Having a good critical thinking skills empower us to have the ability to analyze and solve problems. That’s all science about after all, isn’t it? We observe, make hypothesis, and try to analyze why by doing the experiments. At last, we came up with a conclusion based on the experiment. The whole process is about making inferences based on what we observe and believe. And then we design tests based on our insights to prove it. However, before making all the theories and hypothesis, our observation was surely not enough for a rigorous science because we haven’t seen the “other side” or another “guarantor of correctness in the science”. In order to have a deeper understanding on the subject, we therefore should make insight. 

JE52 Life of Service

Faith is the one thing that we believe in no matter what happens. Since I was little, I have always believed that after the pouring rain, there will be rainbow. But in order to touch for the rainbow, one has to do whatever it takes to reach for it. This idea may seem easy and banal, it actually helped me went through a lot of things. There were lots of disappointing and depressing things in my life that pushed me to the edge of giving up. However, my faith has always kept me from jumping off the cliff. When I think about my future, I thought I had to go through the pain in order to taste the sweet outcomes. This faith is my motivation of doing many things. It kept me working and doing things that I am supposed to do. I think it always renewed my mind if I get really depressed. The faith of believing that the better future is out there waiting for me kept me moving and believing that every hard work I pay is going to be worthwhile despite any hardships I am facing now. Having faith is important because that’s what keeps our spirits stronger and more optimistic. 

JE52 The Best Laid Plans

Few years ago, just few nights before the sports day, I was trying hard to manage all the props and costumes that would be needed on sports day. However, there were not enough resources and time to finish all the work. Our theme was not even decided. I remembered there were also another event going on, which made few other people missing too. It was such a big mess and I had to take the responsibility to finish everything on time. I called myself down and tried to reach some help. I found two other classmates who were willing to help and we settled down to have a quick meeting. Later that night, we bought all the materials we need and started on every detail that needs to be taken care of. Still, customs and props were not that easy to make. We spent the whole night doing it and realized we only completed a small part of it. It really was a lot of pressure to complete all the tasks within a given amount of time.  But there was no time to panic. I remember I just forget everything else I had and wholeheartedly focus on the thing that matters the most.  Finally, everything was done in the last minute before the even began. 

JE50 My World

            The world I came from is a typical Asian family. I do not have any siblings but a cat. When I was in 10^th grade, I transferred to an American school. Although it is a so-called American school, all students in high school are Asians. My school was pretty competitive because everyone has a goal and plans for future. Being in American system, my vision became wider and more international. I became more familiar with the trends around the world and also became more acceptable of different cultures. Recently, the world has become so competitive that no jobs are guaranteed even one has a doctor degree. Still, there are many successful people in this world. I heard a lot of them in my society. I realized the major difference is at the attitude. Successful people usually have a positive attitude on everything. I guess my admiration for these people have shaped me to become more optimistic and determined person. I remember I was so afraid about the future. But now, I have great hope in it because I am daring to dream big now. Only dreaming big can make everything possible. I think that’s what all successful people have in common.