Holiday Hope from the Hearts of HS Seniors!
(If you’re a newsletter reader, skip down to the paragraph after the first photo.) As the nights grow longer, melancholy rather than merriment comes easier to many of us. In 2020, a year in which we’ve lost so much, this tendency would be even more understandable. So, as an online college essay coach I’m writing this blog post as an antidote to COVID fatigue and the holiday blues.
Much ink has been spilled about the inability of “this generation” – sometimes called Gen Z – to relate to others. As “digital natives,” those born after 2000 are supposedly too stuck to their screens to take much of an interest in the world, let alone make it a better place. Crotchety naysayers argue that Greta Thunberg and social justice activists are the exception rather than the rule.
However, if my work as an online college essay coach with more than a dozen high school seniors this summer and fall has taught me anything, it’s that “these kids” might be (to paraphrase Princess Leia) our only hope. Here’s a brief synopsis of what Crimson Coaching students (names changed) told admissions offices they want to learn and accomplish, during college and beyond. (If these kids don’t give you hope for the future, then let me introduce you to a character called Ebenezer!)
Having already overcome their own emotional challenges during middle and high school, New Yorkers “Jade,” “Alisha,” and “Jules” have already “paid it forward” by helping peers and younger children in their own communities, either through tutoring or counseling groups. These three empathetic teens all plan to study psychology at college and to become therapists dedicated to helping adolescents struggling with mental health issues.
Photo by @yilmazjon on Unsplash
Another group of students plan to devote their lives to improving our physical health. Belgian “Sadie” hopes to continue her long track record of caring for children as a pediatrician or NICU surgeon, while Swiss-American “Rachel” intends to become a nurse for the U.S. Army. Texan “Ashish” – who has already developed an app that assists dental surgeons to teach best post-operative practices to their patients – will surely merge his loves of biology and entrepreneurship to continue to disrupt the field of oral and maxillofacial surgery.
Having researched the phenomenon of neurogenesis (she had to explain what that was to me!) as a high school student, Minnesotan “Liz” will straddle both groups as a future scientist exploring the biological roots of mental illness.
Three boys are poised to reshape our digital, physical, and extraterrestrial worlds. Pacific Northwesterner “Jack” already serves on a statewide task force intent on bridging the digital divide, while Franco-American “Lane” plans to conquer the world of chemical engineering. British-American “Ray”’s studies of quantum physics may solve the climate change crisis by establishing colonies on Mars.
Photo by @joshgordon on Unsplash
Climate change has also influenced the future plans of Briton “Samuel” and New York “Isabelle.” Both see dual majoring in International Relations and Geography / Environmental Science as a way to give them the background to help shape policy that may save our Earth.
New Yorker “Steven” and New Jerseyan “Harry” also hope to improve the world through policymaking. Steven’s formidable work as a high school community organizer will serve him well bridging competing interests in the corporate or political arena. And Harry’s decades as a criminal defense trial attorney (yes, I also do online coaching for graduate school application essays!) will enable him to craft practical policies that will reform the education – and eventual rehabilitation – of incarcerated people.
Finally, New Yorker “Olivia” and Russian “Igor” ensure that our world remains beautiful. Olivia will share her vocal talents as a high school music teacher, and pianist-composer-digital artist Igor will continue to nurture others’ creativity through his own boundary-smashing work.
Photo by @strompictures on Unsplash
I’ve been truly blessed in 2020 – blessed with good health, supportive family and friends, and online college essay coaching students whose determination to change the world inspires me daily. Thank you to them, to their parents, and to you, my readers, whose little notes of encouragement have also sustained me during the past year.
Here’s hoping that the optimism and ambition of these students and others like them is the only pandemic the world experiences in 2021!
Wishing you and yours health and happiness in the coming year,