Example.

Context: The student’s chosen project is exploring why some hometowns have more pride than others. This is a personal, intellectual project rather than a formal one. The student envisions himself taking a class and perhaps doing research to explore his curiosity.

Be creative. Envision yourself undertaking this project. Answer with something you’re dynamically doing in mid-action.

In my greatest moment of peak…

  1. enthusiasm, I’m: talking to a professor about my hometown
  2. determination, I’m: researching about the psychology of school pride and seeing how it affects hometown pride
  3. optimism, I’m: reading a book in the library about the town that inspired Disneyland’s Main Street. I’m learning about Walt Disney’s pride for his hometown.
  4. empathy, I’m: listening to a dorm mate describe his feelings of lacking hometown pride
  5. gratefulness, I’m: participating in a welcome week activity that makes me excited to call the college home
  6. intrigue, I’m:  listening to a classmate share her perspective in a class discussion group
  7. curiosity, I’m: learning about what makes a college town community so special
  8. focus, I’m going back to my hometown for the homecoming football game and looking at the entire event through new eyes
  9. inspiration (tip: think of lateral thinking), I just had the idea to: look into anthropology or sociology to understand the impact of culture on tribe and group behavior
  10. excitement, I’m almost running to meet with my professor to share my findings
  11. innovation, I’m: sharing lessons I learned from college with my former high school football coach that could potentially increase school pride
  12. confusion, I’m: wondering why people lack school and/or hometown pride
  13. creativity, I’m: participating in dorm bonding activities while studying how they grow community
  14. sensitivity, I’m: I hear someone bluntly tell me they don’t care about hometown pride
  15. hope, I’m: learning cool things about the history of my hometown that allows me to feel greater appreciation for it
  16. anxiousness, I’m: not sure if there is a way to grow hometown pride if the architecture of the neighborhood isn’t conducive to it
  17. vulnerable, I’m: telling someone where I’m from and hoping that person won’t judge me
  18. hesitant, I’m: wondering if my hometown’s history is even interesting to young people
  19. risk, I’m: applying for a competitive research position
  20. tight-knit/closeness, I’m: with my dorm mates and marveling how close we’ve grown over freshman year
  21. nostalgism or regret, I’m: wishing that the exciting history of my hometown was known to me back when I attended high school. I would’ve had more school pride.
  22. fear (as in: do something everyday that scares you), I’m: signing up to study abroad to explore another culture and “hometown” (note to the reader: as long as the setting is not the International campus, this is okay)
  23. passion, I’m: researching my town’s hidden, exciting history
  24. skeptical, I’m: doubtful if my hometown can overcome its own 

 

Choose your favorite mid-action moments:

#3 optimism learning about Walt Disney’s hometown
#7 curiously learning about what makes the typical college town in America so special
#9 inspired to look into anthropology and psychology classes (lateral thinking)
15 hope as I learn about my town’s exciting history

The student’s first scene will combine one or more these elements! Voila! The student can also get creative with how he’s learning in this opening scene. For example: he could be researching in the library or his dorm, having a class discussion on the topic, speaking with a professor in office hours, before or after class, over lunch, listening to a lecture or guest speaker, etc.

Tip: To find more creative and unique scenes for the body paragraphs of your essay, repeat steps 2, 3, and 4 from Part A here.

 

 

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