October 2021 Scholar Blog
Hello! My name is Sydney and I’m a high school junior participating in the Wake Forest College LAUNCH for Leadership program, as part of the Charlotte cohort. I recently participated in the October Saturday Summit and would like to share a little bit about my experience during our in-person session. After a year of online school, it was so nice to meet new people and participate in an in-person program!
Sydney, College LAUNCH Scholar
During the session, we learned about how to write college admission essays, the challenge of food insecurity in our communities, and how to create a budget and meal for an imaginary family. My favorite part of the October Saturday Summit was examining college admission essays. We were given the task to pretend we were admissions officers and were divided into groups. We read and closely examined four students’ essays and chose which essay we thought was the strongest based on the information we were given in advance about traits of excellent essays. We learned that in order to have a strong essay, you need to begin by clearly answering the question presented in the prompt. We were advised to write clearly and concisely, share our personalities in our response, and focus on our outcomes instead of our challenges. This activity was so important to me because I analyzed common mistakes and found ways I can improve writing my college admission essays in the future.
Another exciting activity we completed was a food insecurity activity that also included elements of budgeting and meal planning. During this activity, we simulated a variety of real-life family situations and had to create a meal plan for a week’s worth of food. In my simulation, I was given the real-life example of only having $95 for the entire week and I had to feed a 67-year-old and an 8-year-old on my restrictive budget. This was very tough and taught me to appreciate the food and opportunities I have in life. I learned that when you are on a tight budget, you have to sacrifice taste for nutrients to ensure you are eating enough calories to stay alive. In addition, I learned that you have to make strategic financial decisions and know how to budget your paycheck. For example, after budgeting, a family may only have the opportunity to eat two meals a day, or they may have to eat the same thing every day until their next paycheck, or they may use a community resource (such as a food pantry) or unfortunately, not eat at all. These were all tough situations that many people are unaware of and College LAUNCH exposed me to this uncomfortable topic, which will help me be more understanding, show empathy to others in need, and make smart financial decisions in the future. Overall, this was an eye-opening session and I can’t wait to learn more! We ended the day on a positive note by coming together and reciting our dynamic affirmation, The Origin of Things by Listervelt Middleton – “As we know our story, we know our power.”