In the space provided, please write a concise
narrative in which you describe a meaningful event, experience or
accomplishment in your life and how it will affect your college experience or
your contribution to the UF campus community. You may want to reflect on your
ideas about student responsibility, academic integrity, campus citizenship or a
call to service.
Six weeks in a
wheelchair and months of intense physical therapy taught me the true definition
of my high school’s motto “Non Excidet” (meaning, loosely, “we will not fail”).
As I regained my ability to walk after an excruciating surgery, I also gained a new sense of campus
citizenship. I want to take my newfound knowledge and become a vital part of
the Gator nation in the same way I learned to give my all to my high school community.
When I lost my
independence I found the importance of community. My friends and
classmate
became my legs when I had none. Without all the support I received, I
could
never have managed to keep up with my schoolwork and my responsibilities
to my school community. I learned that the most important
part of Non Excidet is that WE will not fail. Now, I’m back on my feet
through
my own hard work and the help of countless others and ready to give back
to the
community that has given so much to me.
While injured, I had to work harder than ever to keep up and now I use
that same work ethic to contribute to my school. As an executive board
member
of my school’s Mission Club, which performs community service, I rallied
my
classmates for a mission trip Knoxville, Tennessee when we didn’t have
enough
students to go and have planned out trips to the local soup kitchen for
the
upcoming school year. Though my position as the corresponding secretary
of the
National Honor Society I personally contacted all the new transfer and
foreign
exchange students to help them prepare for orientation. However, I
didn’t let
my citizenship stop with my own school community. This summer I also
experienced what it means to be a global citizen during a school mission
trip
to Panama. Alongside the same classmates who helped me, I built a bridge
for
the Embera tribe, a cafeteria for the Ngobe children and brought school
supplies to both peoples. Thus, I came full circle and now understand
that true
citizenship means both lending and hand to others and being able to
accept help
myself. Now I’m ready to become a citizen of the great Gator Nation and
contribute to the University of Florida community and use my time and
talents
there to continue to contribute to my global community as well.
