[OVER] Personal Statement Workshop Webinar | Wed 8/23, 9 p.m. ET

David BusisDavid Busis Member Moderator
edited August 2017 in Webinars 7355 karma

7Sagers,

On Wednesday, August 23, at 9 p.m. ET, we’ll host a special personal statement workshop featuring 7Sage editors Amy Bonnaffons and Chris Schlegel.

Amy and Chris will be workshopping real first drafts submitted by 7Sage students a few weeks ago. This is your chance to see how a professional editor thinks about the revision process. And if that’s not enough to entice you…

At the end of the webinar, we’ll randomly select two attendees for a free round of editing with Chris or Amy!

You’ll find details about joining the webinar below. Farther down still, you’ll find the drafts that Amy and Chris chose. Read them yourself and think about how you would revise.

Webinar: Personal Statement Workshop
Wed, Aug 23, 2017 9:00 PM - 10:00 PM EDT Join by going to this link: https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/579343661
You can also dial in using your phone: United States: +1 (312) 757-3121
Access Code: 579-343-661 First GoToMeeting? Try a test session: https://care.citrixonline.com/g2m/getready

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Essay 1

Many people view Costco as a wonderland of gallon-sized jars of mayonnaise, industrial cans of vegetables, packages of toilet paper large enough to last the average family a year, and $1.50 ready-to-eat hot dog combos that haven’t increased in price for decades. But for me, Costco has been the backbone of my work experience, teaching me valuable skills and work ethic that could only be learned through hands-on experience. My stint at Costco began as a part-time college job to pay living expenses just in time for my first semester at Creighton University. My job at the big box retailer is one aspect of my life that has remained constant throughout my educational pursuits: from graduating college, to studying as a paralegal, to my journey to law school.

My acceptance to Creighton University brought me 1500 miles away from my hometown of Reno, Nevada to the mid-western town of Omaha, Nebraska where I was hired at Costco the week my first semester began. My weekdays were spent waking up before dawn for the 5am shift and leaving by 10am to spend the rest of the afternoon in lectures. I used the weekends to complete homework assignments and worked the late-night shift at Costco. My wages covered rent, food, and other living expenses allowing me to graduate with a de minimis amount of student loans.

Costco not only provided a means of financial support, but lead me to a great deal of self-discovery that ultimately brought me where I am today as I apply to Wake Forest University School of Law to start the next chapter in my educational career; I have learned I am highly organized, work best under pressure, have outstanding time management skills, and enjoy utilizing my strong language skills. Participation in leadership roles on and off the clock including safety committee representative, coordinator for the volunteer reading program, and Live Healthy program advocate for the warehouse promoted my personal growth. Like Creighton, Costco demanded that I give my best to the task at hand no matter how simple.

The rigorous course load of the Jesuit university not only shaped me academically, but also religiously, spiritually, and morally. The religion-based courses, including philosophy and morals and ethics, helped create the foundation for my analytic and research skills. Like many young college students, I did not have a definite academic or professional goal in mind upon beginning college studies and I took a plethora of classes in hopes of expanding my career possibilities. I do not regret the variety of courses that comprise my college transcript as I feel my diverse course load taught me perseverance to finish what I start and gave me a broad range of knowledge. It wasn't until my third year of college that I chose to pursue a degree in Spanish and Hispanic Studies to follow my passion for the language and culture. The major also suited my strength in writing that my professors had so often complimented. My time spent in the Hispanic community and in the classroom as I worked toward my major ignited my passion to study law as it left me wondering how I could help disadvantaged immigrants and minorities in a professional, legal capacity. It became clear to me that higher education could translate my passion into a career that would benefit the common good while satisfying my eagerness to gain knowledge.

Years after obtaining my Bachelor of Arts degree, I continued to work at Costco in payroll and human resource administration in the Winston-Salem, North Carolina warehouse. My job at Costco brought my thinking back once again to law. I viewed my position in human resources as a microcosm to the legal system; the company's employee handbook and policies and procedures as the laws and I the attorney advocating the rights of the employees and interpreting policies. I was intrigued to learn about the state and federal laws and regulations that had shaped the company's policies, leave of absence administration, workers' compensation procedures, and other legal matters relating to personnel and employment. My interest in employment law while working at Costco encouraged me to begin a paralegal education that flourished into a career for which I ultimately left my full-time job at Costco.

I can still vividly recall the sweltering, August day that would determine my fate in the application pool of Costco. The day of my scheduled interview, I awoke to find my car totaled by a tornado; I hadn’t even unpacked my moving boxes. Without anyone to call for help, I headed out on the unfamiliar streets of my new town on my bicycle with a folded map in hand. By the time I was able to locate the building, I had arrived over two hours late. Notwithstanding my tardiness, the hiring manager viewed me as a dedicated candidate and hired me on-the-spot. The start of my career at Costco is much like my path to Wake Forest Law; I haven’t always been sure how I would arrive to my destination but I have remained determined and haven’t given up on my dream of law school despite the obstacles that have confronted me.

Essay 2

2016 marked a pivotal year in my life. This was my first direct encounter with the social injustice that plagues our world. Working as a police officer at the Statehouse, every day, several times a day, I would interact with all different walks of life, from the homeless to the governor. While I didn’t realize at the time, there is a stark contrast in the way police officers interact with individuals of majority and minority status.

The catalyst to realizing the true existence of social injustice took place on a cold winter night in December of 2015. Around 11pm the temperature was 10 degrees with the wind chill. Just as any other night I was making my nightly rounds checking high traffic areas along Broad Street, When I received a call of suspicious activity in the parking garage. I arrived several minutes later to a small group of people standing in the garage, simply trying to get out of the cold. I promptly got on the radio and asked what the issue was, to which she replied, “the black man in the blue coat and jeans looks suspicious.” Standing fairly close to him and his daughter, he heard the dispatcher’s reply. The look on his face was of shock; was he being targeted simply because he’s black? The man and his daughter were the only two African Americans in the group. At this point I felt I was there not for a wrong doing but because the color of a man’s skin. While we usually didn’t allow individuals to loiter in the garage, if it was cold we had some discretion. Trying to rectify the situation, I carried on a conversation with the man for several minutes, telling him he was more than welcome to stay as long as he needed to get warm. Before leaving, he introduced himself ad Michael and told me I was the only police officer in his entire life that treated him like a human being. This particularly hit me hard, what made the act of profiling and mistreatment amongst minorities so apparent? Just a few days earlier I worked at a protest of police profiling and brutality amongst minorities, in which the man was present. This man stood up for what he believed in and in particular what was right.

Two months later working day shift, we received a call that an individual that had been shot in the head and needs medical attention. Less than a half mile from Capital Law School, I arrived to the crime scene in shock, this man was no stranger, rather Marshawn was the leader of many of the protests and civil rights movements that had taken place just a few months prior. He was very passionate about equality, especially in regards to police relations among minorities. While some were in shock, the apparent suicide was taken rather lightly by many others, some of which were making jokes and ready to clock out. How could they be so heartless? This was a young man who later we would find out took his own life as a direct retaliation of police profiling. The injustice that he felt could have very well been brought on by one of us, or even myself, which was particularly hard to live with.

As time went on the impact of this man’s suicide only grew on me. I began to think of every instance in which I might have unintentionally engaged in profiling or been unfair based even marginally upon race. I would never stand for such an injustice. This man believed in his cause so much, that he gave his own life. While tragic, this lit a fire in my soul in terms of the many social injustices taking place. I changed my undergraduate major from criminal justice to sociology and began to thoroughly research current injustices and police profiling. This went against everything I have ever been believed, but growth only happens in a state of discomfort. Stagnation turned to chaos. Everything I had ever known was now being challenged. Things were no longer taken at face value. This combination of events, while seemingly meaningless to others, sparked an extreme passion for improving people’s lives. Becoming an attorney would enable me to bring attention to societal issues that are not being addressed, and to give a voice to people like Michael and Marshawn, who tend to be marginalized.

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