Challenge 8: The medal

114. Have you ever struggled mightily and succeeded? Describe what you have felt at the glorious moment of victory? What does a winner feel?

Finally it was the time to show what I have prepared every single day for three months. Standing in the middle of the big performance field, I looked around and decided that I will never let lose my chance. In this very spot I stand, I would show my every move of PoomSae of Tae Kwon Do with all my energy. I took a deep breathe as I looked at the shiny banner hanging on top of the stadium board on which was these words: Karnataka State Championship, India.

As the crowd’s shouting grew louder was my nervousness and exhaustion increasing. The competition was harder than I had imagined. Different people of a big range of diversity showed their talents in Tae Kwon Do: Europeans, Americans, Asians, kids, adults, and so on. All the judges were Indian National representatives of Kukkiwon, the World’s Tae Kwon Do institution. I had stood in front of the judges for more than 7 times. Now was the final. Just the three out of around three hundred competitors waiting to compete including me. All the other events that were happening simultaneously were over. The other two final competitors had showed their last PoomSae. One of them got a really high score, a 70 out of 80; it made me get more butterflies in my stomach. And finally was my turn. With thousands of eyes starring at me, I performed my very last PoomSae with all my power. I couldn’t let all my hardship that I went through go in vein. As soon as the director said “Start,” my body started performing without my mind knowing it. I was back to my sense when I heard thousands of people clapping for me, screaming and shouting. All were happy including me, my mom, my master and the audience but the judges. They started discussing whether I am disqualified or not. I did not know what mistake I have done to be disqualified nor did the audience understand. The audience started questioning the judges. And soon after that, the judges raised their score boards and the total of my score was a 77 out of 80.
I had won the gold medal of Karnataka State Tae Kwon Do Championship! It felt like I got the whole world in my hands.

Later on when I found out that the judges were hesitating to give me a score because they were bribed by the second prize winner before the competition, that gold medal seemed so different. It symbolized the true defeat with pure hard work over bribery. More than the fact that I was the winner of the Championship, the fact that I was able to move the audience and the judges’ hearts to support me was incredible. Standing on that amazing victory stand, I took a deep breathe as I looked at the same banner now in my hands, promising to myself that I will fight only the right way with sincerity and honesty because I know that unexplainable feeling of being a true winner.

Challenge 7: Nickname

90. Describe a humorous experience you have had.

One fine day in my new school, after a meal together, my friends and I started chatting. The conversation was mainly about what the teenagers usually talk about, celebrity. All my friends seemed to be extremely excited to talk about the topic. However, since the environment in which I grew up didn’t give me enough knowledge about celebrities, I could not understand nor talk anything to my friends. Noticing this, my friends were beginning to doubt why I wasn’t talking much about this particular topic, about which teenagers go on chatting. Soon they realized and started laughing at the fact that I really hardly knew about celebrity. And so began their questions: Do you know Justin Bieber? Have you heard about Angelina Jolie? What movies of Brad Pitt have you watched? Well, all I could tell them was “I have no idea.” The situation was funny to my friends because I knew nothing and to me because I did remember hearing those names the friends asked me about but couldn’t match them up with any face of celebrities I saw in TVs.

My friends then asked me if I knew a singer from southern part of India where I have lived for eight years. I was pretty confident that I would know this one just because the celebrity is from the place I’ve lived for a long time. But my confidence was thrown off as soon as I heard the name. I had no idea who the celebrity was. My friends told me she is a very famous singer and also sang for me one of her hit songs. And yet I couldn’t figure out. The whole week I tried my best to find out which singer my friends were talking about. But one night as I was passing by a room in corridor of dorms, I heard a sweet singing coming out of it. I was captivated by the high-pitched voice. But as I was listening, something strange hit my mind; the song coming out of the room was exactly the song my friends were singing for me to figure out the celebrity. As soon as I realized that I opened the door ajar and there was the quietest girl of our grade! It turned out that she was the celebrity my friends were talking about, just to have fun with me not knowing anything about celebrities. And when I found out that the song girl was singing was an old south Indian song, I burst out laughing. And that day, I got a funny nickname: an Old Age girl.  

Challenge 6: Home

106. Of everything in the world what would you like to be doing right now? Where would you like to be the most? Who would you prefer to be with at this moment?

Living in India for the past eight years, there wasn’t a day I stopped thinking about my grandparents back in Korea. Only the two of them, my grandfather and grandmother, live in a house filled with photographs of my mom, aunt and me. With both their children gone to different places—their first daughter (my mom) gone to India and second daughter away in Spain for years—they have never had the chance to stay with the rest of their beloved. I remember how they were trembling in sadness when my mom told them that she would leave for India with me. But with a warm heart, they allowed us to walk our own paths by only giving advices.

Everyday, I think of myself and the rest of our family spending time altogether in my grandparents’ house. I recall that their house was always warm, filled with their liveliness and love. I learn so much out of their daily lives. In spite of their old age, they are so hard-working; my grandmother does all the housework by herself, and my grandfather studies everyday.  Whenever my mom and I visit them during my vacations, they welcome us with the brightest smiles I've ever seen in my life. And because of their love for me, I can smile even in the middle of my stressful schedule when I think about them. Just the thought of my grandparents is so special to me. In my busy life, when I want to be free from stressful and tiresome works, when I am tired and worn out, I wish to be in that warm house of my grandparents, eating the delicious, amazing food my grandmother cooked for us and listening to sometimes boring yet helpful lectures from my grandfather. That house is where my mom and I belong with warmth, love, and happiness not because of its location but because of my grandparents' presence. 

Challenge 5: Turning-point Conversation

22. Tell us about one of the best conversations you’ve had. (Stanford/93)

There was once a time I used to think of myself as a mature girl rare to find in present generation. But this thought was void by my mom during one of our conversations about an incident I experienced in school.

I was only 12 years old then. Studying in a small school, in a class of 30 students, I was known to be the “smart one.” I was always confident that I would get the best-academic- student-prize of 6^th grade though there was another girl, my rival, who was also considered to be a smart one. I recall that I was so confident because the girl was away from school for two months, missing all the classes and exams, due to her contaminating illness. With my hopes high, I attended prize distribution ceremony. I was excited with the thought that I would be receiving a prize in front of those hundreds of people. But when the other girl’s name was called out for the prize, my heart sank. I came back home immediately after the ceremony and cried. The fact that she got the prize without even writing exams hurt me; it was unfair.

As I was explaining and expressing my anguish feelings to Mom, she gently patted my head and softly talked to me. She said that our Almighty God had created each one of us so unique and that’s how I am beautiful just the way I am. Then she kindly added that society won’t be how I always expect it to be because it is full of different people. I argued that it was unfair of the school and that my mom should go and complain. My mom looked at me straight into my eyes and asked only one more question: are you 100% positive that you studied well enough that you had to be the first ranker in whichever way people judged? I couldn’t say answer immediately because I knew how much I worked. My goal was plainly to be better than others; it never was to excel myself.

The conversation was just about five minutes. And that much was the time I took to learn and realize my shameless complains on other people ignoring me when I was ignoring the whole system of school community. In order to be respected by everyone, I have to learn to be what I want to be in whichever angle people looked on me. And that’s how I learnt to try my very best. 

Challenge 4 (in class): The taste I still remember

52. The subject of food is never far from our minds here in College Admissions. It is a topic of serious conversation this year on campus, too, with the publication of a book called The Hungry Soul: Eating and the Perfecting of our Nature, by Leon Kass, M.D., a Chicago faculty member who teaches in the College. The book takes a philosophical look at what food, eating, and table manners have to tell us about our human estate. Compose an essay about a memorable meal you have eaten. We are especially interested in the details: the occasion, your company at this meal, its physical setting, the kinds of foods you ate, or their preparation. (University of Chicago)

In my school’s dormitory, there’s only one room for 6 people. Students who’ve stayed in the room said that the internet connection, the most important thing to be considered for room choice, was horrible. Despite this, I chose the glorious opportunity to room with four students in that very 6-people room, in 10^th grade 2^nd semester. Five of us were so different: one was Indian, one Bhutanese, one Thai, one Taiwanese, and one Korean.

At first, I worried if we could get along well. But after one fine day, I realized that my worries were not at all necessary. It was after our study hall time in dorms. There was no school the next day, so the five of us decided to share the food and junk we got from our homes. As much as we were different, the food was a variety. We had tuna from Thailand, egg and rice from India, soup from Taiwan, fish from Korea, and Hot sauce with chilly from Bhutan. The kitchen in dorms was so small that it was crowded with just the five of us. We had a crazy time there; students from other room came out to see what was happening and they found us with exploding food from the small pots and flying vegetables in that small, smelly kitchen. We took around an hour to set our meal due to lack of utensils and gas stove. The rice seemed to have too less water, the fish seemed to be soaking in chilly sauce, and the soup seemed to be just a plain egg in water. But we were starving and were ready to eat everything.


As we sat in front of our invented dishes, an announcement was made by our dorm parent that it was time to go to one's own room and clean. It was impossible for us to leave the food that we cooked for around one hour with our hungry stomachs. So the five of us went to the dorm parent and got a special permission to eat it in our lounge. 


All of us took a bite and then started hogging. I still remember the taste; it was amazing. It was something I haven't tasted anywhere ever before. Part of the reason may be the fact that these were our invented dishes but I believe the fact that I ate with these friends after a hungry hour of cooking and sharing fun together with them was the biggest reason. 

That day's feast

Challenge 3: Activity Week

56. Discuss how your travel experiences have affected you as a student and a citizen of the world.

“Experience outside and you’ll learn inside,” says Ye Jin

Ye Jin Kim, an 11^th grade-Korean girl studying in Woodstock school, India, expressed her feelings after the camp experience at Utterkashi during her school’s Activity Week. She showed her determination to change her behavior as a student and a citizen of the world after the experience of no showers and no bed. “I realized how much I should be grateful to have a warm room with a nice desk and water sources,” said Ye Jin.

It was found out by her classmates that she had lost in all the games played during the Activity week and was dared to wash all their plates. “It was horrible!” exclaimed Ye Jin. “The plates were so disgusting, especially the ones with food remaining. I am not going to waste any food from now on!”

For a week, Ye Jin’s class was asked to climb rocks up and down by bouldering, jummaring, and rappelling. The activities also included river-crossing and a day hike. Emphasizing on the fact that the rocks were very slippery and hard to climb, Ye Jin stated that the Activity week certainly was a positive outcome from a plan that seemed to be unenthusiastic at first. “It surely was challenging. When my foot slipped due to water current and I was losing confidence to stand up again in the river, I saw all my classmates looking and encouraging me,” replied Ye Jin with a smile on her face to the question of her Activity week experience. “I don’t think I can ever forget what happened in this trip. I learnt important values of small things and people around me; I am really grateful to God for everything.”

Ye Jin showed her confidence to accept bigger challenges in life and expressed her greater expectations for the next Activity week in her senior year. 

Challenge 2: I'm unique!

64. How has your family history, culture, or environment influenced who you are? (University of Florida)


If anyone asks me what helped me get to this point of life, I would immediately answer with a word: mom. My mom led me to this point of being a good human with good amount of thoughts, love, and experiences. Because she is single—and I don’t blame her for that at all—she does a lot more than any other mother just for me; she makes a living as well as takes care of me. Furthermore, she serves to be a role model to me by showing her ability to work as a single missionary in this huge and mysterious land, India. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that she is my only Wonder Woman.


I certainly remember the day I stepped my foot on land called India-the surrounding hot, humid air with strange, pepper-like smell. I recall that I vomited when I first tasted the typical dish of India, Thali. And among new people speaking a foreign language, I didn’t know what to do; teachers in school seemed like aliens and villagers around my house looked like many duplicates of one Indian. 


But after eight years is me who surprise people for my Indian accent, who stand in front of hundreds of people talking about experiences of village life in India. My friends say that I’m funny when I talk about these local villages and that I’m a nice friend to talk about their serious problems in life. I’m grateful now that I’m able to read and write five different languages, that I’ve experienced diversity in India, my second home, and that I’m confident to adjust anywhere in the world. 


Well, none of these would have happened if my mom didn’t bring me here. She made all this possible.