Pennsylvania State University

When I started high school, I often had crumpled wads of paper sprinkled around my room and pens all over my desk. I was learning how to write in calligraphy but clearly, it was not going well. One stroke up and one stroke down to form each letter. It seemed very easy but my letters looked lopsided. I kept working on it and ruined many envelopes but for some reason, it was just not clicking. I decided to stop practicing and leave it alone. It was just an extra skill anyway so, no harm done.

Much later, I was really bored on a rainy Saturday with nothing to do. I figured "hey, maybe I'll give calligraphy another shot". I busted out more paper from the printer and my favorite Tombow Fudenosuke pens to get to work. I kept practicing the upstrokes and downstrokes but now, I was thinking less and feeling more. My hands started to move gracefully across the page with beautiful lettering left behind. My block had been mental and now finally, I could write in calligraphy. I have many experiences like this and they have all shaped me to realize that I want to become the most beautiful version of myself, like calligraphy is compared to regular writing.

At Penn State, I will strive to become more polished and refined. College will not be my final draft, rather it will consist of more editing. I know that I love science but now is the time for me to refine my interests. I can put my up and down strokes together to form letters. I look forward to taking advantage of the unique classes PSU has such as Science, Ethics, Policy, and Law, or Biology of Aging. These will create words.

I can intern at the Fox Chase Cancer Center to understand the ins and outs of a career in medicine and to interact with patients. I can be responsible for others besides myself in a different light and learn from other healthcare professionals. These experiences will help me form elegant sentences.

I will learn to make time for other things besides schoolwork to make my letters varied. I will be cheering in the stands on Football Saturdays, decked out in white for the white-out game. I can spend time with friends outside of Berkey Creamery in between classes. I can have dinner with my roommate on the other side of Pollock Road. I aim to have a holistic experience at Penn State and focus on more than just academics because I am more than my grades.

My experiences at PSU will make me refined just like the sophisticated letters on my graduation invitations. I can picture it now: PSU in huge writing. The only question is, blue or white?

The clock ticked 09:25 a.m., exactly an hour left for my exam. Unlike other exam days, I was nervous. Well, it was understandable, I had spent a whole 2 months in a hospital bed and another week or two recovering and flushing out the heavy doses of medicines out of my body. Dizziness was still there, however platelet count has only crossed the bare minimum mark. My attention span dropped drastically and I found it hard to focus for longer hours.

Only I knew how I managed to climb up the stairs to the 3rd floor and walk across the classroom in midst of all the concerning and questioning gazes of "Where Have You Been?"

I was just setting up my books and stationary, when my friend came up and asked for my help in some topic related to the exam. It was in no means new, we usually discussed after our lectures and cleared our doubts. I've always believed that peers understand our perspective better than teachers, because they are as new to the topic as myself.

I spent another 20 minutes explaining and making her understand the concepts. It turned out 2 more classmates had the same doubts and we ended up revising the whole chapter, along with quick summaries of other chapters as well.

The bell rang and it was time for the exam. We followed the same ritual for the following exams. We were 9 classmates; discussing problems, giving explanations and finding solutions, and giving our 100% in exams. Unknowingly we formed this study group that continued the whole academic session and helped us in the best way possible.

I wonder if it was my instinct for feeling responsible and agreeing on helping out my classmates or I was grateful that she helped me in escaping the questions coming my way that day.

This experience didn't only help me in accelerating my studies, but also as I listened and asked questions, I soon noticed a variety of viewpoints and approaches to the same idea and problem. This helped me in developing critical thinking skills and collaboration abilities.

This is an excellent practice for when I've finished school and out where I will find myself in similar group dynamics.