1. Because my involvement in highly selective extracurricular activities shows that I am capable of trying out new things while remaining dedicated to my passions.

High school is a time of exploration, a time to discover what's fun in life, what you want from life, and what life wants from you. Although the three are never quite the same, there is often a bit of overlap. In my freshmen year, I began searching for this overlap.

I started with Student Council. As Freshmen President, my job was to plan social events that catered to the needs of the grade. And so throughout the year, the council threw dances, pizza parties, and events that were meant to entertain and keep the grade uplifted. But there was something unfulfilling about throwing temporary social gatherings that were only meant to please the student body for a couple hours. There were changes that needed to be made around school, and surprisingly the Student Council was not the place to do it.

So I began looking elsewhere. I chose to not run for re-election, but instead ran for a leadership position in Roots and Shoots. This burgeoning club had become one of the "big three" community service clubs at SAS, and was filled with a dedication that I could not find elsewhere. I rose up the ranks, going from Secretary, to Vice President, and now President. Pushing through the often rigid and stubborn administration, we began to make changes. First they started small, such as celebrations for Earth Day and selling t-shirts to promote environmental awareness. Then we started to make permanent changes, stuff that really made a difference. We changed our school from wasting hundreds of paper cups a day to using reusable water bottles. We instituted a paper recycling plan, saving thousands of sheets of paper that otherwise would have been thrown out as trash. We even planned the first Roots and Shoots trip that brought us to Tongliao, Inner Mongolia to plant trees in an attempt to restore a destroyed ecosystem. My relationship with Roots and Shoots was reciprocal in nature, naturally, since I joined with a flair for being green and become even more passionate about preserving the environment after being in the club.

But I had loved before Roots and Shoots: Quiz Team. After participating in the Knowledge Master Open in freshmen year (our team placed 11th worldwide), I was hooked onto this purely intellectual competition for knowledge. But life reared its horrendous head and our coach, Mr. Alan Jones, passed away. Quiz team was never quite the same again.

Yet throughout all this I kept exploring. I stumbled upon APAC Orchestra in my sophomore year, and put my cello skills to the test. APAC Orchestra was a great experience, it allowed me to be part of something bigger, something so magnificent and grand. After performing with talented string players from around the world in a large orchestra conducted by Dr. William LaRue Jones, the orchestra of 36 back home just didn't feel the same anymore.

My cello also inducted me into Tri-M, an honor society focused on enriching high schools through music. My position as Vice President of the Shanghai chapter allowed me to further develop my own passion for music and of those around me. Through Tri-M, I participated in numerous string ensembles, playing at various venues and events.

In my junior year, I continued to search for extracurriculars that were both challenging and fun. I found APAC Forensics, an "intellectual competitive sport" that was focused around public speaking. I auditioned and made it into two events, Impromptu and Extemporaneous Speaking. In Seoul, Korea, I managed to snag a bronze for each event. Unsatisfied with third, I trained hard for a second competition and was rewarded with a gold for Impromptu at China Cup. In my senior year, I returned to grab a championship for Extemporaneous Speaking at the APAC Tournament held in Shanghai, and a silver for Impromptu.

I really enjoyed public speaking; it was so intense and nerve wrecking, yet so rewarding at the same time. I continued to hone my rhetoric through Model United Nations, where I submitted and passed numerous resolutions, representing countries from Bangladesh to the United Kingdom.

Although a student is never graded on his extra curriculars, and even though they are entirely optional, I have found in my high school career that what is done outside the classroom is just as valuable as what is done inside.

2. Because my rigorous course load shows that I am ready to take on the academic challenges of college.

Whether it was building my own PC, learning about the Japanese culture, or picking up books like Atlas Shrugged to read, I always gravitated towards knowledge. I had a thirst to learn, and I quenched it by being a geek, always tinkering and voiding warranties around the house. I took this approach in school too, enrolling in numerous challenging Advance Placement classes to keep my mind happy and my pen busy. I wanted to know how the world worked, why the world worked.

So in my junior year, I enrolled in all three physical sciences, physics, chemistry, and biology. Although biology was the only AP science I took that year, the other two helped me establish solid foundations that would allow me to pursue their AP counterparts in senior year. I also loved to write, non-fiction writing in particular. AP Language gave me the space and resources to write compositions ranging from research papers to satires. To date, I have earned 5s on all AP tests, and I'm working hard to ensure this trend continues into my senior year.

But in order to take three science courses a year, some sacrifices had to be made. I decided not to enroll in a foreign language class, after taking Spanish for two years. However, I continued to strengthen my Chinese, in which I was already fluent. I took classes outside of school to make sure that my reading and writing were not slipping, and that I would not forget it when I attend college in the United States. In college, I'm hoping to extend my language studies and pick up a fourth language.

I took Mr. Twain's advice to heart; I did not let school interfere with my learning. School did not dictate what I learned, nor did it limit what I could learn. I became fascinated with webdesign at a young age, and I have relentlessly followed it ever since. Inspired by my good friend Willis, I took it upon myself to learn HTML and CSS, and used the skills I learned in order to craft this website. To me, webdesign is a hobby, fueled by the ever changing face of the internet.

I wish to further my studies in college, both in the physical sciences and humanities. I will also take my webdesign to a new level in my spare time, with a little wit and a lot of Google.

3. Because my overseas experience has allowed me to develop a unique yet open minded perspective of our world.

Living abroad gives me the opportunity to experience different cultures first hand, and I have fought for these opportunities whenever they sprung up. My participation in extracurricular activities has taken me to places that I've only dreamt of going: Forensics competition in Seoul, Orchestra performance in Kobe, Model United Nations conferences in Singapore and Beijing, Spanish studies in Salamanca, and tree planting for Roots and Shoots in Inner Mongolia. But these trips weren't merely for sightseeing; it took weeks and weeks to prepare for each trip, whether it was practicing the cello or speaking relentlessly in front of a mirror, these trips were molded from my very own sweat, blood, and tears.

Traveling abroad has given me invaluable insight into a world beyond my own, a view onto cultures that are so distinctly different. As the international community gets ever smaller, cultural borders between nations will blend. My international experience has undoubtedly given me a peek at this future.

4. Because I drink tea.

I picked up this healthy habit from my dad, who brewed and drank tea every night. It's become a habit for me, one which I believe is rather beneficial to my health. Not only will it help keep me awake during those long study sessions in college, but it also contains anti-oxidants that supposedly ward off cancer. Can't be wasting away the college years sick now can we?

5. Because I am not afraid to fail.

We all stumble at one point or another, whether it is a Spanish test that gives you your first C, turning in a paper you thought would be excellent only to have it torn apart (figuratively, of course) by your teacher, or working and fighting so hard for a goal that you thought was within your grasp, only to have it all taken away from you. Heck, this website itself took hours worth of mistakes to complete. We all fail at one point or another, but failure is a pretty bad reason to stop trying.