Prompt: If you could change one thing to better your community, what would it be? Please explain.
Essay:
I wish to see that everyone has a place they can call ‘home’, not just four walls and a roof, but a sanctuary of love and care, a part of a community that comes together. When I was in grade 9, I started to volunteer with Habitat for Humanity, to help build affordable homes for those in need. As I was too young for the actual physical labor involved in construction, I was assigned to the Habitat for Humanity ReStore, which refurbishes furniture and accessory donations for sale at low prices.
I had the privilege of helping people transform their place of living into their home, whether it was working with a new immigrant family to pick out colorful blankets for their children or assisting an elderly couple to find the right night lamp. Working with Habitat ReStore and interacting with families reaffirmed my belief about the immeasurable impact of a community coming together and the support it provides. I am blessed to live in a community where my parents have the confidence to leave the country for a family emergency and know that our neighbors will take care of me.
The love and the sense of belonging that the community provides is what makes it a home, and Habitat strives to deliver this communal sense of reliability, safety, and warmth. I feel lucky to be able to help people find housing and provide them with a community to be a part of. We have got more work to do.
Tips for Writing:
When brainstorming what to write your essays on you should note down a list of activities and topics that are important to you. Looking at your activities list can also help spark inspiration, but then you should make an additional list with personality traits and things you can’t learn from the list. After, you should go through the prompts and jot ideas down for each one. Usually you will get to pick 1 or 2 to write on, so from there pick the prompts that resonate with you the most. When first drafting, write without any guidelines or word counts in mind, just get your thoughts down and then when editing you can start cutting down and adding structure. The most important thing is to be authentic!