Name John Xiong

Period 6
Date 3/27/17

1.Question Here:

What have you done to make your community a better place?

Response here 350 words

Throughout my high school career, I have been involved with various community service
events. The events that worked to help the homeless and needy people changed the way I
viewed this world. The small town I live in has a serious homeless issue. In my school, Im a
member in the club KIWINS and KIWINS is a club that provides community service, and
fundraisers for charity programs. KIWINS has a monthly service event where the members
would volunteer at our towns homeless shelter and serve food for the homeless. Ive been
involved with our local homeless shelter event and every month, I would cook, and serve food
to the homeless. I also have encouraged members of my club to participate in helping the
homeless shelter. Furthermore, Ive been to other cities and helped pack lunches, hygiene
packs and wrote cheerful letters for the homeless.
While serving and interacting with the homeless, they have taught me the tough situations
they have been through, whether they have lost their jobs, dealt with tough situations with
their family, or experienced drug abuse; all of them have been living with fear in the streets. I
wish to continue serving and participating in homeless shelters in the future regardless of
where I end up.

2. Question Here:

Describe the most significant challenge you have faced and the steps you have taken to
overcome this challenge. How has this challenge affected your academic achievement?

Response here 350 words

 Throughout my life, Ive faced and overcame various challenges, however the most significant
challenge Ive ever faced is anxiety. I was frightened by the size of high school. I thought high
school would be like the type of high school in the movies, the ones where there were bullies
and etc. In my sophomore year, I felt that anxiety was beginning to take control of my life,
therefore I forced myself into doing something that I would never do: getting involved with
the school and community. So, I joined KIWINS, a community service club, but wasnt really
satisfied because I disliked the fact that we had to interact with people, however, after
attending my first service event, I felt less anxious and more cheerful when I interacted with
other volunteers, and served in the community because it made me feel that I was a part of the
community and think less about how others feel about me. My anxiety level has gone down
over time as I force myself into meeting new people and attending community service events.
In addition, my grades have also improved as I am less afraid to ask teachers for help.
Although I may occasionally experience anxiety today, I am willing to lead others to a bright
future and raise my self-confidence and relationship with my friends, family, and community
through leadership roles.

3.

Question Here:

Describe your favorite academic subject and explain how it has influenced you.

Response here 350 words

During my childhood, my father would always take me to see art in museums and show me
the different types of art that I was missing out on. That visit changed my life the day I went. I
knew what I wanted to be, I wanted to become a graphics designer. Moving on to high school,
taking various art and computer graphics courses has allowed me to determine which field I
wanted to do. In fact, in my sophomore year, I found that I was passionate about computer
 graphics as I began to learn various interesting concepts that revealed the capabilities of what
photoshop could do. Furthermore, my friends introduced anime to me. The intriguing
approach to the drawing and the animation. It blew my mind how amazing the graphics looked
and I wanted to make my own designs similar to anime.
What I really enjoy about computer graphics is the freedom to do anything I please. I could do
animation, 3d modeling, painting, or other layer effects. In addition, I have taken every
opportunity in high school to learn more about computer graphics. I took computer graphics in
my junior year and computer graphics 2 in my senior year. Learning computer graphics
through different experiences has helped me decide my future career path and allowed me to
meet others who are also passionate about computer graphics.

4. Question Here:

Describe how you have taken advantage of a significant educational opportunity or

worked to overcome an educational barrier you have faced.

Response here 350 words

Taking computer graphics in my junior year was perhaps the best educational opportunity Ive
ever had. At the end of my junior year, my computer graphics teacher assigned a final project.
I was required to do an independent project that had to challenge our skills and see what
weve learned. This project was quite challenging. I took a full body picture of myself and
painted over myself. I couldnt find the right skin tone for my face because I had a light brown
but little bit dark brown at the same time. I didnt know how to use layers that much in
Computer Graphics 1. I realized that I needed to use layers by the end of the project and that
accelerated my progress with the self portrait. From this project, not only that I learned the
importance of layers but I also developed various skills. When the project was done, I worked
on my presenting skills by presenting my project onto the class. My classmates had no
knowledge of the project but I learned that strong communication, and I taught them how I did
the project. Leading a large group of people also puts responsibility to myself and I know that
this experience will allow me to apply these skills in the future when I have the chance to
teach the class of what I did again.