Compiled by Jayne Caron, ’10, former The Lens Section Editor, and Kathryn Black, ’11, The Lens Section Editor
While the rejections are in so, too, are the acceptances, and the class of 2010 already has an impressive display of college decisions. The essay is an essential factor in a college’s decision to accept or reject an applicant. Standardized test scores and GPA’s can only tell admissions personnel so much. The essay portion of a college application is the student’s opportunity to let the schools know what kind of person they really are. Here is a college essay by senior Liza Cohen who has decided to attend Vanderbilt University.
In response to the prompt “Write about a book that you found especially challenging or stimulating,” Liza Cohen wrote:
“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life.”
-David Henry Thoreau
The woods are always open, the trails always ready to be hiked, the rivers ready to be navigated, but it is our responsibility to take advantage of nature’s bountiful gifts. While an afternoon hike can let a person view nature, it is hard to really understand nature until you are consumed by it.
I took the opportunity to really immerse myself in nature at the age of 16 when 4 counselors, 11 campers and I took off westward, starting in Wyoming, for a five-week backpacking journey. We spent weeks at a time in the backcountry, nothing but ourselves for entertainment and only the food and supplies on our backs to live on. Days went by when we saw no other human traces, and it was essential to rely on each other and work together.
We became cut off from society, living simply and self-sufficiently. We made meals by adding water, played games with nothing more than a deck of cards, and entertained ourselves with songs and stories. We adopted the lives of turtles, carrying our homes on our backs, and the lives of nomads with no stable home for more than a night. The ground was rocky, the food was watery, and our clothes were dirty, but those five weeks were the most memorable and enjoyable of my life.
Over those five weeks, I learned to take nothing for granted. A group of girls raised in well-off families, we weren’t used to sleeping on the ground or wearing one outfit for weeks, but we soon embraced this new life. We learned to love sleeping outside and waking with the sun. Showers became special occasions, and the dirtiest-camper contest was one we all secretly strived to win. The oatmeal wasn’t that bad when enough brown sugar was added, and every once in a while we even got just-add-water cookie dough for dessert. But in the end, nothing compared to the sights we saw: the views from the summit of Mt. Robson and the Grand Tetons, the crystal clear Lake Louise, and the Haig Glacier. Simple nature, hardly touched by man. While I could have seen these sights in photographs or from a car window, the real impact of this trip came from the journey, not the destination: the combination of the bruised hips, sweaty clothes and singing mouths.
Like me, David Henry Thoreau returned to the woods to see if he could live with “only the essential facts of life.” He wanted to discover what was most important by detaching himself from everyday life. Thoreau instructs each of us to take control of our own lives, to find what is important and to embrace it, to “live free and uncommitted.” I intend to.
Photo Courtesy of http://crossroadstalk.wordpress.com
