An Important Experience in My Life

Tell us about an experience, in school or out, that caused you to rethink or change your perspective. What impact has this had on you? (maximum 200 words)

An experience that has really changed my perspective was international teaching in Morocco in July, 2013. I changed my perspective when I observed children aged 3 to 16 years who were fundamentally same as Canadians but with no educational opportunity. As a volunteer to AMESIP (Association Marocaine d’aide aux Enfants en situation Precaire) my role was to teach English as a second language to underprivileged children while involving them in sports activities.

One boy in particular, about seven years old, seemed very bright and interested in learning. For example, he was eager to ask me questions and quick to answer mine. However, because Morocco does not have publicly funded education and this boy was from a poor family, he literally could not get an education. This was a new realization for me because I was fond of this boy, who I thought would have done well in a Canadian school.

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I thought how unfair it was that this healthy, willing 7-year-old boy would not reach his full potential because of the country he was born in. As a result of this experience, I decided to take better advantages of the opportunities I have as a Canadian and pursue a career which truly enables me to help others.

Explain how you responded to a significant challenge that you have encountered and what you learned in the process.

(maximum 200 words)

A significant challenge that I had encountered and learned from was how to hold a job while being a full-time student. In September, 2013, I began a job as a server at Bubbletease (a retail drink store) at Square One Shopping Centre in Mississauga. I found it difficult to make time for the job while keeping up with my studies. My marks dropped significantly and the thought of quitting occurred to me. However, I had friends who were performing jobs and maintaining high marks simultaneously and I decided to confront and handle this time manage problem. Seeing this as a problem to be solved instead of avoiding it was the first step. Then, I started to plan my time carefully by distributing heavy assignments to weekdays when I was scheduled to work at weekends. Planning ahead was the key. From this challenge, I learned that quitting is not the way to solve a problem. Instead, taking more responsibility to resolve a problem is the essence of personal growth.

Activity List

Volunteer

From July 13th, 2013 to July 28th, 2013

Description: -International Volunteering in Rabat, Morocco

• teaching children at AMESIP, a charity organization where less privileged children are gathered and educated.
• construction of a cafeteria at AMESIP placement

Leadership

From September 10th 2013 to ongoing

Description: - photo editor at Yearbook 2013-2014 at Rick Hansen Secondary School

• Instruct photographers on how to improve their skills
• Choose photos that will be in the yearbook
• Coordinate among photographers
• Communicate photography team, design team and writers’ team in Yearbook

Employment

From September 15th, 2013 to ongoing

Description: - barista and cashier at Bubbletease at Square One Shopping centre

- Achieved an average of 23 work hours per week

Performing Arts

From January, 2003 to ongoing

Description: - persisted playing the violin for an average of 14 hours per week

Achieved level 10 violin at Royal Conservatory of Canada

Volunteer

Description: - ambassador at Carassauga (Mississauga Cultural Festival)

• Communicate between different pavilions in Carassauga
• Instruct the visitors about the route information and the pavilion culture

Tell us more about one of the activities you listed above, explaining what your goals were, what you did to pursue them, the results achieved, and what you learned in the process. (maximum 200 words)

Right now, I am engaged in one of my most valuable leadership experiences: I am the photo editor of my high school’s Yearbook team. This experience has taught me that an effective leader does more than give clear orders, he/she must also be able to motivate his/her group members. Specifically as photo editor, I saw a lack of collaboration among members of my team and acted to fix it. I designed a work assignment that required them to communicate and co-operate to complete it. This involved taking pictures showing stages of life and having individual photographers to produce one picture representing each stage. The photographs had to work with each other to express the overall theme, which was determined throughout the photographers’ discussion. Throughout the assignment, the photographers developed a better idea of working as a team and learned to trust each other and assign work based on what each photographer was good at. As a result, the group came up with a strong theme that unified the individual photos. A faculty sponsor was so impressed that he kept the series as an example for future yearbooks. To conclude, I now see that a leader must get personally involved with her team.

Please include any additional information that you would like the Admissions Committee to consider when reviewing your application. (maximum 100 words)