Describe an activity or incident that you think was meaningful in your life          

            About 17 years ago, when I was not even a year old, my family moved to live in the United States because of my dad’s job. I lived there for about 10 years and I moved back to Korea when I was in 4th grade. Since I had lived in the States almost of my entire life, it was my first time living in Korea. I was a little bit nervous but much more excited, so on the day before my first day of school I was barely able to sleep.

           However, school life in Korea was not like I had expected. I had a tough time adapting because of the numerous cultural differences. Instead of running outside during break times, the girls gathered in groups and chitchatted about topics that I had no idea about. None of the students asked questions during class and everyone went to private academies right after school. Some of my classmates even called me a foreigner or American, which made me confused about my identity. As time went by, my personality started to change. Instead of the always active and enthusiastic student, I became quieter and self-conscious.

           A few years passed, and I started middle school I was finally able to adapt to the Korean society with quiet and self-conscious personality. This all changed due to a coincidental happening. Not long after starting middle school, I received a sign-up sheet for after school programs. I was looking down the sheet thoughtlessly when I saw a class called Creativity Olympiad. It caught my eye and I started to read the description. It said that students would learn creative ways to express their thoughts, do creative projects, and participate in the Creativity Olympiad. I found it interesting and immediately signed up.

           I always waited for Tuesdays and Thursdays, the days we had the Creativity Olympiad after school program since it was very fun. We expressed funny situations like an award ceremony in space with octopuses as the award receivers using only our bodies and made bridges out of chopsticks, wire, and post labels for a golf ball to pass. However, because of my passive personality, I was never able to do the roles that I wanted to do. Even if there was a role that I really wanted to do I would give it to a different student if he or she wanted to do it. As I continued practicing, I started to realize that if I did not change my personality, I would never be able to do what I wanted to do. I participated in the program more actively and raised my hand for roles that I wanted. Slowly but with confidence, I was changing back to the person I was years ago, and I realized that this really made me happier. Eventually, I became the team leader and lead our team to win the Bronze medal in the World Championships of Creativity Olympiad.

           The Creativity Olympiad is a memory that I will never forget not just because it was fun, but because it helped me change back to myself and become a happier person. Instead of always worrying what my peers would think about my acts, I started to gain confidence when I did what I thought was right. Now, I am sure that I will be able to survive in any society because I have successfully survived one already, at an early age.

Describe a place or environment where you are perfectly content. What do you do or experience there, and why is it meaningful to you?

  I started playing the violin when I was eight years old, and at first, I hated it. Before playing the violin, I had learned to play the piano and unlike the violin the piano makes sounds when pressing the keys. However, in the case of the violin, there are no fixed keys and I must press the right place to make correct notes.

  Then, when I started to go to middle school, I signed up for the school orchestra. The orchestra from my middle school was very big, with about 100 students participating in it. As I practiced with my friends and seniors, I started to love it, which also lead to me loving the violin.

  Because we participated in a lot of competitions and concerts, we had a lot of practice. We usually spent about 7 hours a week in the orchestra practice room, and if there was an important event like an orchestra competition or our orchestra’s annual concert, we spent at least 3 hours there each day. So, about a thousand hours of my middle school life was spent in the orchestra practice room.

  In my last year of middle school, I became the concert master. I had a lot of responsibility, but I also had my entrance examinations for KMLA. Additionally, because I was the concert master, I had a violin solo at the annual orchestra concert which was 4 days after my last entrance examination. So, after my classes, I ran straight to the orchestra practice room and practiced for 2 hours, then ran home and prepared for my entrance examinations. My last year of middle school, was a very crazy one, because of the many big events throughout the year.

  So, from my explanation about my experiences from the school orchestra, you may think that it was very hard and tiring and wonder how the orchestra practice room makes me feel perfectly content. Yes, it was not a place that made me perfectly content when I was a member of the orchestra. But now, it is.

  I made a lot of happy memories as well as the tough ones in the orchestra practice room. Because we spent so many hours there, we did various things there from eating pizza together, playing games, and napping on the floor lying down side by side. After classes, I was able to play music with my close friends and seniors and it was not because we had to but because we wanted to. The orchestra practice room was more like home than a practice room. My difficulties may have outweighed my happy memories then, but not anymore.

  Also, because I spent such a crazy last year of middle school, when I go there now to meet my juniors, I feel perfectly content and comfortable. It also makes me remember my crazy year, which helps me muster up my spirits and fill up my energy for my life at KMLA.