College Essay and Info
Prompt: Describe a problem you've solved or a problem you'd like to solve. It can be an intellectual challenge, a research query, an ethical dilemma-anything that is of personal importance, no matter the scale. Explain its significance to you and what steps you took or could be taken to identify a solution.
Colleges I’m Considering
Colleges I’m Considering
- Quest University Canada
- Colorado College
- University of Puget Sound
- Lewis and Clark
- Western Washington University
Just moments before, I stood huddled in a gangly mob of skiers, talking and laughing, and now here I was, alone, crouched over my friend Al as he lay convulsing on the snow.
A group of 5-6 of us were skiing on an early season day at our local ski hill, and with just a few runs open we had been doing the same trails all day. We would take a smooth, high-speed run from the top, cut over to drop a cliff, and finish off with a natural jump on a run called Pandemonium. It was cold enough to blow artificial snow, but no significant natural snow had fallen yet, so our turns were all met with the scratching and clawing of edges on ice. Still, hoots and hollers could be heard as we bobbed and weaved through the mountain, swerving to avoid trees and popping off any little bump we could find.
It was about mid-day, maybe our sixth or seventh run, when our group stopped to hit that jump on Pandemonium again. A few people went, spinning 360s or tossing backflips, stopping on the next rollover to watch the rest of us go. Soon it was just Al and I up top. Al dropped in, bombing straight towards the jump, and threw backwards, attempting to backflip. I watched in horror from the top as he completed the flip too early in the air, did another half-rotation, and landed directly on his head on the rock-hard snow.
Skiing down to him, my mind raced, terrified for my friend. As I arrived to where he had stopped sliding, I saw his chest and shoulders quivering, and my first thought was He’s okay, he’s laughing, it’s alright. Calm washed over me, and I practically let out a small chuckle. But as I leaned down to ask him if he was fine, the shaking intensified, taking over his head and arms. Panic gripped my chest and overwhelmed my mind. I didn’t know what to do, I didn’t know ski patrol’s number, I didn’t even know if seizures were fatal or if he sustained other injuries. At that moment, I felt helpless, paralyzed, and useless, yet my mind was sprinting, running away from me as fast as it could.
Though it seemed like hours, Al stopped seizing in about a minute, and in slurred speech asked for help getting up so he could continue skiing. It was then when I realized someone needed to take control of this situation, or else things would only get worse. I took some deep breaths, told myself to do this for Al, and harnessed my nerves. I instructed someone to find the number and call patrol, and knelt down next to Al. I let him know patrol was coming, that it would be alright, and asked him the series of concussion questions I remembered from my days of playing hockey.
When patrol finally arrived, I recounted exactly what happened and how Al responded to the concussion test. After they conducted some more tests, they asked me to help them load him onto the backboards, and then skied down with them to the emergency room. After a night in the hospital, Al was deemed okay, and a few months later he was back to normal, pre-trauma state.
While my first reaction in this situation was to panic, I was able to calm my nerves and focus on what needed to be done, and I find that this skill is very useful in all aspects of life. Whether it is studying for a final, dealing with someone who has a differing opinion or attempting a ski trick of my own, approaching situations with a level-headed manner contributes to successful outcomes.
A group of 5-6 of us were skiing on an early season day at our local ski hill, and with just a few runs open we had been doing the same trails all day. We would take a smooth, high-speed run from the top, cut over to drop a cliff, and finish off with a natural jump on a run called Pandemonium. It was cold enough to blow artificial snow, but no significant natural snow had fallen yet, so our turns were all met with the scratching and clawing of edges on ice. Still, hoots and hollers could be heard as we bobbed and weaved through the mountain, swerving to avoid trees and popping off any little bump we could find.
It was about mid-day, maybe our sixth or seventh run, when our group stopped to hit that jump on Pandemonium again. A few people went, spinning 360s or tossing backflips, stopping on the next rollover to watch the rest of us go. Soon it was just Al and I up top. Al dropped in, bombing straight towards the jump, and threw backwards, attempting to backflip. I watched in horror from the top as he completed the flip too early in the air, did another half-rotation, and landed directly on his head on the rock-hard snow.
Skiing down to him, my mind raced, terrified for my friend. As I arrived to where he had stopped sliding, I saw his chest and shoulders quivering, and my first thought was He’s okay, he’s laughing, it’s alright. Calm washed over me, and I practically let out a small chuckle. But as I leaned down to ask him if he was fine, the shaking intensified, taking over his head and arms. Panic gripped my chest and overwhelmed my mind. I didn’t know what to do, I didn’t know ski patrol’s number, I didn’t even know if seizures were fatal or if he sustained other injuries. At that moment, I felt helpless, paralyzed, and useless, yet my mind was sprinting, running away from me as fast as it could.
Though it seemed like hours, Al stopped seizing in about a minute, and in slurred speech asked for help getting up so he could continue skiing. It was then when I realized someone needed to take control of this situation, or else things would only get worse. I took some deep breaths, told myself to do this for Al, and harnessed my nerves. I instructed someone to find the number and call patrol, and knelt down next to Al. I let him know patrol was coming, that it would be alright, and asked him the series of concussion questions I remembered from my days of playing hockey.
When patrol finally arrived, I recounted exactly what happened and how Al responded to the concussion test. After they conducted some more tests, they asked me to help them load him onto the backboards, and then skied down with them to the emergency room. After a night in the hospital, Al was deemed okay, and a few months later he was back to normal, pre-trauma state.
While my first reaction in this situation was to panic, I was able to calm my nerves and focus on what needed to be done, and I find that this skill is very useful in all aspects of life. Whether it is studying for a final, dealing with someone who has a differing opinion or attempting a ski trick of my own, approaching situations with a level-headed manner contributes to successful outcomes.