Common App Essay

I still remember the day like it’s yesterday. I’m standing in our kitchen in a pink collared

shirt as my mom reminds my sister and me of our duties while she is away: play nicely, do well

in school, and help our dad. She stands in front of me in her Army uniform and tells me for what

felt like the millionth time how fast the year will fly by, how proud of us she is, and how she is

going overseas to protect us all. I beg her to stay, promising if she stays home I will never fight

with my sister and I will do unlimited chores forever. An hour later, standing next to other newly

separated military families, we are waving goodbye to the long line of charter buses while our

loved one begins the trek to Kandahar, Afghanistan for the next year. As a promise to my mom, I

am holding back tears, but I attempt to chase down the bus hoping that if my six-year-old legs

can run a little bit faster, then I can stop the bus and bring her back for just five more minutes.

While I am unsuccessful in my pursuit then, a year later, I return with my dad and my sister back

to the same field. I am chasing after my mom in uniform again, but this time, she is also running

toward me. My sister and I zig-zag through the crowd of hundreds of other families, and we

jump into our mom’s arms, just like those stereotypical military homecoming videos on Youtube.

Growing up with my mom in the military has shaped me in a multitude of ways. As a

result, I have spent time living in Peterborough, England; Fort Hood, Texas; Norfolk, Virginia;

Rocky Hill, Connecticut; and Muskegon, Michigan. These moves were difficult for me because I

was forced to adjust to new friends, new environments, and new curriculum every few years, but

the moves have given me perspective and life lessons along the way. I have become more

open-minded to new experiences, new cultures, and new changes around me. Through moving, I

have learned the importance of taking responsibility for my life in order to reach my greatest

potential.
 One impactful move was when we made our way to Virginia from Texas halfway through

third grade. When I arrived at my new school, the class was in the middle of their Virginia

history lesson. I was unfamiliar with the material because I only knew Texas history and nothing

about Virginia's. I could talk about the Battle of the Alamo and the Rio de Grande River, but I

had no clue about the founding of Jamestown, the Revolutionary and Civil wars, or the five

regions of Virginia.

In my first weeks there, while our house was still a maze of moving boxes, I spent hours

reading through the history I missed and wrote notes on scraps of notebook paper. Each day, I

would excitedly present my findings to my teacher, the librarian, and my classmates. I wanted to

catch up as quickly as possible, knowing that the more I knew, the less I would feel like an

outsider. Things eventually improved: I slowly made friends and caught up with the class

curriculum; of course I was eventually forced to move again and start all over.

While I resented moving, I am grateful for what these unique experiences have taught

me. I have learned to independently overcome challenges with persistence and hard work. I have

learned that life is unfair: many things happening outside my control for unexplainable reasons,

but it is how I react to these situations that have the biggest impact. I have learned to embrace

change and take advantage of opportunities. While I have been uprooted many times, I have

gained the skills necessary to grow and flourish wherever I am planted in the real world.