Summertime
by: Lhasa Posada
For the majority, summer vacation can mean taking a long break to relax and treating yourself to not doing much. As you may know, it is important to use your time wisely. A productive way to utilize it this year is to brainstorm and get creative. You could be at an advantage if you decide to use these two upcoming months to dive into your interests and hobbies.
It is common knowledge that the academic side of your high school career is a significant puzzle piece when it comes to applying to colleges. You could notably impress your admissions dean by taking your love for a sport or fashion and making a passion project out of it.
This is a project where you have the opportunity to research a topic or pastime you regularly engage in and create a product from it, such as community service. As a result, your applications will be more memorable, stronger, and superior.
Nowadays, it is important to demonstrate that you are putting your maximum effort into those applications. Each year, more and more universities across the country are decreasing their acceptance rates because of the dramatic increase in received applications for each class.
Recently, high school senior Jonathan Walker from Panama City applied to 27 colleges and got received an acceptance letter from every single on. In addition to that, he received over 4 million dollars in scholarship money because of his extracurricular achievements. Walker shared that he used all of his free time to develop his invention— a device for the blind and deaf. He created a braille system, an air filter that turns gas emissions into oxygen, and a pill dispenser that keeps track of drugs.
Walker also told CBS Miami, “I’ve always loved creating devices to help people, so I definitely want to further that.” Among the schools he was accepted into are Harvard, Yale, and Stanford. This local story goes to show how much a student like you and I could achieve! Think twice about all of the time you have on your hands and how you could use it efficiently.