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Examples of a short essay include the UC PIQs as well as school-specific supplementals.
Examples of a long essay include the Common App personal statement as well as longer school-specific supplementals.
Sabzeh, Samanu, Senjed, Serkeh, Seeb, Seer, Somaq. These are the core symbolic elements of the Haft-Sin (Seven-Ss), a decorative spread that millions of people, including my family, set up every year to celebrate Eid-e Nowruz, the Persian New Year. Every school year, surrounded by peers, I have told the three-thousand-year-old history of Nowruz with my traveling Haft-Sin in tow.
Initially, I only wanted to share my pride in the beautiful traditions of my heritage. Over time, I noticed that my classmates were inspired to share details about their own diverse backgrounds, which helped to create a sense of social harmony. Encouraged, I co-founded the Middle Eastern Affinity group at my school, a place where those from an often misunderstood region have been showcasing their cultures and engaging with the broader school community. These experiences have instilled in me the power of open communication and how it can foster thought and understanding, leading to positive change.
In the Summer of 2020, the racial equality crisis tore communities apart. In my town, the same parking lot that hosted anti-racist demonstrators one day, was covered with racist graffiti the next. I was determined to play a part but felt that I lacked depth in my understanding of the roots and manifestations of inequality. Reading books was helpful, but hearing the first-hand experiences of my peers helped me to empathize more deeply. This insight led me to co-found UpNext, a youth-led speaker series to create awareness about social justice issues. We enlisted youth thought leaders as speakers, and facilitated engaging discussions on topics such as gender issues in collegiate athletics and the importance of race in the classroom. Our session regarding race in the classroom was the first forum to cover this topic within my school community.
I am motivated to change minds and hearts, resulting in action. I lead by facilitating and inspiring others to take part in a safe environment where those in my community can openly talk about complex topics and reflect on what their own change might look like.
Elmer and his family immigrated from Nicaragua when he was nine years old. He knew very little English, yet he yearned to learn. We began working together at the start of the pandemic. Although I had been tutoring for three years, helping Elmer was the most challenging, and rewarding, of all of my experiences. In a single semester, he turned his grades from Cs to Bs. This was the culmination of months of intensive tutoring where I pushed Elmer to achieve more. Yes, I helped him improve his grades, but I also grew my own skills as both a teacher and a learner. I find my role as an educator to be exciting and vital in aiding others through this same journey, helping them to become lifelong learners.
I was the accidental tutor. My path began with a flyer on my middle school campus stating "volunteer tutors needed"; and I signed up. Perhaps subconsciously, I was looking for a higher purpose. Tutoring didn't come easy to me; I struggled with pinpointing a student's specific needs or keeping their attention. Still, I strove to become the best teacher that I could be by strengthening my communication, listening, relationship, and empathy-building skills. I pushed myself out of my comfort zone and opened up to people I did not know, actively growing strong bonds.
I learned how to build trust by connecting with my students at a personal level, be it getting Persian food with Darius and his family or letting Michael teach me how to skateboard. These were "trust-fall" exercises that put us on the same team. I also started to develop a keen eye towards the diverse styles of my own teachers. Ms. Jensen, my math teacher, not only guided me in creating lesson plans, but she also became my role model for how to build confidence in students.
I continue to extend my teaching skills beyond 1-on-1 tutoring by TAing a computer science class and being a ski instructor. I take joy in teaching, and have made it my mission to educate others and help with their learning journeys.
"Teeron! Teeron!" My cousins waved me over. While everyone else was fascinated by the larger-than-life M60 tanks lined up outside, pointing their turrets towards the museum's entrance, the ten-year-old me was captivated by the plaques detailing the horrors of the Iran-Iraq War. Why did this happen? Could it happen again? How can we prevent it? At the dinner table, my parents provided some answers, by traveling back in time to the Iranian Revolution and pan-Islamism, helping me realize how much these events have and will affect my family. My interest in the subject of history is rooted in wanting to connect past and present events and analyzing their future implications.
This is what compelled me to join my school's Model United Nations (UN) club, where I learned how to propose resolutions that built upon history instead of going against it. Assessing the historical reasons behind Uruguay's revitalized workforce and growing economy was one of my favorite parts of the Berkeley Model UN conference. I used this knowledge to author a bill that aimed to improve social services in developing countries, a core component for their economic vitality.
These experiences and knowledge of history have helped me to succeed in other ventures such as Vote16 San Mateo County, a campaign to lower the voting age in county-wide elections. The campaign's success has been in part due to exploring the historical rationale for the current age limit. When proposing our legislation to local politicians such as the Mayor of Redwood City, Diane Howard, explaining Reagan's dilemma which resulted in the voting age being lowered to 18 from 21, gave me credibility and made her more inclined to give us her endorsement.
Courses taken at school have also facilitated my growth in this academic interest; inspired by what I was learning in my U.S foreign policy history class, I began to write a research paper analyzing the extent to which the U.S. has been successful in its nonproliferation strategy towards Iran. In this way, I have taken my learning into my own hands, and applied my knowledge to various projects.
San Mateo County is a small suburban area south of San Francisco, brimming with ethnic, social, and economic diversity. It is where I have grown up, played, learned, worked, and taught. But until a few years ago, I did not consider it a community I was a part of, just an administrative boundary. As I developed a heightened appreciation for civic and political engagement, "county" grew from boundary to community - a place where I could support and be supported.
I have always benefited from the kindness of my neighborhood community: Mr. Han, the owner of a nearby corner store, practiced Mandarin with me; Mrs. Boer, my old neighbor, taught me how to swim; Hesam, a parent of a classmate, demystified trigonometry. Eager to reciprocate all the support I received, starting in middle school, I became a volunteer tutor, to help other students become better learners. But I also wanted to cause positive change beyond one-on-one work.
I hoped to empower and advocate for many of my peers, and the most direct way I found I could contribute was through local, grassroots activism. Empowering my peers was a key reason why I co-founded UpNext, a speaker series to inform local youth, and also a Vote16 chapter for my county, an organization that educates and pursues enabling those 16 and older the ability to vote. Through these projects, I have been able to inform those around me of the importance of youth advocacy.
My goal is to lead and constantly drive towards positive change for this community, supporting those around me, just as I benefited from the support of my neighbors. I am doing my part to give a voice to youth in San Mateo County who may feel voiceless on issues that will drastically affect their lives, such as climate change and social justice, and be empowered through their participation in the electoral process. I now deeply understand the importance of my county, and appreciate it as one of the communities that I belong to.
