Anonymos: US Apps Application Essay

                Instructions were given. Everyone got up from their sits to follow the instructions. It was a real buzz and hectic since the instruction was to combine all the cut-at-the-bottom water bottles into a very long chain, then later a number of marbles were supposed to flow through the chain of bottles without breaking the chain. I stood in the corner watching everyone rapidly combined all the bottles since the time was recorded. I didn’t know what else to do since everyone was gathering around the long chain of bottles and holding it tight, so that the chain won’t broke, while a very tall, Chinese guy let go of the marbles one by one.

                Seeing them, I wondered, how can they just work together as a team while not knowing each other. They were giving instructions to each other and helping each other out. It was as if they knew each other well already. Standing in the corner made me felt jealous of them as they can freely work together even though they didn’t know each other. Then I said to myself,” I want to be part of the team as well. I want to have the feeling to just talk to strangers and suddenly we were friends fulfilling a task.” I walked around to see whether there was any space for me to fit in to help; however, since I’m short and small, I just couldn’t bulge in like that because obviously I am going to get crushed by them and I would be like someone drowning in a pool of people.

                Then I went to the far end of the chain where the tall, Chinese guy was putting the marbles in the chain of bottles. I stared at him, he looked exhausted but then he was the only one who could reach the tall end. Then, I realized every face was tensed and tired. Their hands hurt as they held the bottles tightly and they had to squeeze between each other. All of a sudden, I just felt adrenaline rushed through my whole body and the energy rising in me, the energy whenever I got excited or anxious. Out of nowhere, I screamed and shouted for them not to give up. It just came out spontaneously. The tall, Chinese guy looked at me and smiled. I suddenly felt motivated, since I can’t help them out with holding the bottles or putting in the marbles, I could at least cheer for them.

                So I just went around them and just cheered for them, giving them courage and support. Some smiled, some annoyed, some ignored but that didn’t bother me because I, too, wanted to contribute something to the team and I believed that cheering for the team is important no matter how the conditions are. Finally, after all the marbles went through the chain of bottles, everyone was like breathing out of relieved and smiled to each other. Again, I stood in the corner and watched everyone as they were shaking hands, hugging each other and new friendships were blooming and in the room, everyone didn’t seem like strangers anymore. Some of them acknowledged me as well and thanked me for my enthusiasm. I just smiled from ear-to-ear and congratulated them.

                It was really an eye-opening experience as I realized that there are a lot of ways to contribute to a team, not only by being the main player or the manager. Being the cheerleader, the one who will never be dispirited is also a very crucial post needed in a team because whenever the team spirit is gone or they just feel discourage, that is where the cheerleader, me, came into the picture, giving them the spirit, the courage and the support they need. At least, they would feel that there is still hope and someone still have hope in them to succeed. Since then, I realized I had always had this enthusiastic and full spirit character of mine, looking back to all the memories, this was not the first time I suddenly have that ‘adrenaline rush’. It had occurred a lot of time without me realizing. Now that I realized it, I will always enjoy and love to go to any competition or anything that needs some cheering to simply support the team even though I am the only one cheering for them because that is me.

Editor's note: The author of this post does not want her name to be revealed. She applied to some US universities by using this application essay. We truly appreciate her effort to contribute to this blog for the reference of future incoming PPOU juniors. Copyright: Permission to use, copy, and modify this application essay is strictly prohibited.