Josh Weckesser
College Essay: U of I
AP Language & Composition
My given birth name is Joshua Paul Weckesser. I was born on April sixteenth,
nineteen hundred and eighty two in the city of Normal, Illinois. It snowed on that day.
Even though winter cold clings to the American mid-west like fog on an overcast day it is
rare to see snow that late in the year. I have grown into a youth on the verge of adulthood
and I have not seen snow on my birthday for sixteen years, not sense the first one.
In my meager seventeen years of experience I have done my fair share of youthful
activities. I have gone though many changes as I seek to find myself and my place in this
chaotic world that is my home. I have learned and experienced much, just enough to
realize that I am as yet uneducated and inexperienced. I seek to rectify this.
My disordered life has been filled to this point with three man faucets: Those of
studies, those of sociality, and those of personal introspection. I have tried to devote a
similar amount of time to all three.
I have been to three of the finest institutions of learning that Normal Illinois has to
offer. My elementary school experience took place and Eugene Field Elementary School,
on of the last “neighborhood schools.” I owe my earthy, justice-centered values to this
first environment. The next highest level of education that I engaged was at Chiddix
Junior High School, which taught me that nothing will stay young forever, and even the
golden bubble of my elementary school can be bust by time.
The highest learning establishment that I have attended is that of University High
School. University High school (or U-High) is a semi-private school in which the student
body must apply for admittance into her halls. This presented me with the unique
experience to attend classes surrounded by people who wanted to be attending classes.
U-High has taught me the meaning of dedication, to schoolwork and to friends. U-High
has shown me that there are better people out there, who are not intellectually devoid.
Most of all, U-High has given me a taste of knowledge, and I want more.
I do realize that my grades do not seem to reflect this aching desire for
knowledge, yet I would not be able to agree with such an assertion. I have found myself
so intoxicated with learning that I would refuse to do assignments that I would consider
busywork. I have always been seeking a challenge in my life and my studies, and if I did
not find something that I felt duly challenging I would not do it. I have found recently
that this is a bad policy, not only for it’s negative impact on my scores, but also for it’s
negative impact on my ability to gain knowledge. I have realized that my teachers, being
older and wiser, do know what they’re doing and that every assignment his some
purpose. I have now taken the idea that every assignment is a challenge, it is simply a
matter of finding it, and once that challenge is identified it must be solved in my own
personal manner.
Outside of the school building I have made attempts to create relationships with
my fellow human beings. I realized that at a young age that man is a social being and
cannot live as an island unto himself. Strong relationships, with family, friends and
acquaintances are the backbone of a healthy person. I take great pride in my ability to
interact with people of all social settings and backgrounds.
I have recently completed a theatrical production and I requested that everyone I
know come on the same night. I had a rather minor role in the play, however I received
the loudest applause during my curtain call then anyone else on any other night’s
performance, I was embarrassed and proud.
On the other side of the coin, man also cannot live his life in the constant sight of
his peers. There must be time in which one is alone, to consider and reflect. I have found
that as I get older my time alone has been reduced. Greater pressures from school and
increasing social obligations have been eating at the time that has traditionally been what
I like to call “alone time.”
I find that alone time is a very healthy practice for me to make time for. It gives
me a chance to step away from the constant change of the world around me and find
where I am in it and where I’m going. It allows me to discover things about myself that I
had never before noticed.
In recent months I have come upon certain realizations in my life. The first of
these is that nothing will cease to change, I must accept that and change like everything
around me. The second is that I have no idea what I want to do with my life, I want to
learn first to make an informed decision. The third is that computers are an extremely
important factor in the world today, and I want to learn about them. The final one is that
it snowed on the day I was born, and few can say that who were born in April.