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Sixteen training modules
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Examine the community and record your findings in a community description or overview for credibility and awareness. |
What do we mean by understanding and describing the community, why make the effort to understand and describe your community, whom should you contact to gather information, how do you go about understanding and describing the community.
For those of us who work in community health and development, it's important to understand community -- what a community is, and the specific nature of the communities in which we work. Anything we do in a community requires us to be familiar with its people, its issues, and its history. Carrying out an intervention or building a coalition are far more likely to be successful if they are informed by the culture of the community and an understanding of the relationships among individuals and groups within it.
Taking the time and effort to understand your community well before embarking on a community effort will pay off in the long term. A good way to accomplish that is to create a community description -- a record of your exploration and findings. It's a good way to gain a comprehensive overview of the community -- what it is now, what it's been in the past, and what it could be in the future. In this section, we'll discuss how you might approach examining the community in some detail and setting down your findings in a community description.
While we traditionally think of a community as the people in a given geographical location, the word can really refer to any group sharing something in common -- place (such as a city, neighborhood, or school district), experience (such as shared experience of racism), or interest (e.g., a community's concern about poverty or violence prevention).
These various communities often overlap. A Black art teacher, for example, might see herself (or be seen by others) as a member of the Black, arts, and/or education communities, as well as of a particular faith community. Whichever community defines your work, you will want to get to know it well.
Understanding the community entails understanding it in a number of ways. Whether or not the community is defined geographically, it still has a geographic context -- a setting that it exists in. Getting a clear sense of this setting may be key to a full understanding of it. At the same time, it's important to understand the specific community you're concerned with. You have to get to know its people -- their culture, their concerns, and relationships -- and to develop your own relationships with them as well.
Physical aspects . Every community has a physical presence of some sort, even if only one building. Most have a geographic area or areas they are either defined by or attached to. It's important to know the community's size and the look and feel of its buildings, its topography (the lay of the land -- the hills, valleys, rivers, roads, and other features you'd find on a map), and each of its neighborhoods. Also important are how various areas of the community differ from one another, and whether your impression is one of clean, well-maintained houses and streets, or one of shabbiness, dirt, and neglect.
If the community is one defined by its population, then its physical properties are also defined by the population: where they live, where they gather, the places that are important to them. The characteristics of those places can tell you a great deal about the people who make up the community. Their self-image, many of their attitudes, and their aspirations are often reflected in the places where they choose -- or are forced by circumstance or discrimination -- to live, work, gather, and play.
We'll discuss all of these aspects of community in greater detail later in the section.
There are obviously many more aspects of community that can be explored, such as health or education. The assumption here is that as part of an assessment, you'll aim for a general understanding of the community, as described in this section, and also assess, with a narrower focus, the specific aspects you're interested in.
Once you've explored the relevant areas of the community, you'll have the information to create a community description. Depending on your needs and information, this description might be anything from a two-or three-page outline to an in-depth portrait of the community that extends to tens of pages and includes charts, graphs, photographs, and other elements. The point of doing it is to have a picture of the community at a particular point in time that you can use to provide a context for your community assessment and to see the results of whatever actions you take to bring about change.
A community description can be as creative as you're capable of making it. It can be written as a story, can incorporate photos and commentary from community residents (see Photovoice), can be done online and include audio and video, etc. The more interesting the description is, the more people are likely to actually read it.
You may at this point be thinking, "Can't I work effectively within this community without gathering all this information?" Perhaps, if it's a community you're already familiar with, and really know it well. If you're new to the community, or an outsider, however, it's a different story. Not having the proper background information on your community may not seem like a big deal until you unintentionally find yourself on one side of a bitter divide, or get involved in an issue without knowing about its long and tangled history.
While researching and writing a community description can take time, your work can almost always benefit from the information you gather.
Much of your best and most interesting information may come from community members with no particular credentials except that they're part of the community . It's especially important to get the perspective of those who often don't have a voice in community decisions and politics -- low-income people, immigrants, and others who are often kept out of the community discussion. In addition, however, there are some specific people that it might be important to talk to. They're the individuals in key positions, or those who are trusted by a large part of the community or by a particular population. In a typical community, they might include:
To begin, let's look at some basic principles to keep in mind.
Participant observation is a technique that anthropologists use. It entails becoming part of another culture, both to keep people in it from being influenced by your presence and to understand it from the inside. Some researchers believe it addresses the problem of changing the culture by studying it , and others believe that it makes the problem worse.
To find out about various aspects of the community, you'll need a number of different methods of gathering information . We've already discussed some of them, and many of the remaining sections of this chapter deal with them, because they're the same methods you'll use in doing a full community assessment. Here, we'll simply list them, with short explanations and links to sections where you can get more information about each.
Interviews may include enlisting as sources of information others who've spent time learning about the community. University researchers, staff and administrators of health and human service organizations, and activists may all have done considerable work to understand the character and inner workings of the community. Take advantage of their findings if you can. It may save you many hours of effort.
Observation can take many forms. In addition to simply going to a place and taking notes on what you see, you might use other techniques -- Photovoice, video, audio, simple photographs, drawings, etc. Don't limit the ways in which you can record your observations and impressions.
Now let's consider what you might examine to understand and describe the community. You won't necessarily look for this information in the order given here, although it's a good idea to start with the first two.
The community's physical characteristics.
Get a map of the community and drive and/or walk around. (If the community isn't defined by geography, note and observe the areas where its members live, work, and gather.) Observe both the built and the natural environment. In the built environment, some things to pay attention to are:
This is a topic that is ripe for examination. In many rural areas, particularly in developing countries, but often in the developed world as well, there is very little infrastructure. Roads and bridges may be impassable at certain (or most) times of year, phone service and TV reception nonexistent, Internet access a distant dream. Public transportation in many places, if it exists at all, may take the form of a pickup truck or 20-year-old van that takes as many passengers as can squeeze into or onto the bed, passenger compartment, and roof. Is any of this on the government's or anyone else's radar as a situation that needs to be addressed? What is the general policy about services to rural and/or poor populations? Answers to these and similar questions may both explain the situation (and the attitudes of the local population) and highlight a number of possible courses of action.
I n the category of natural features, we can include both areas that have been largely left to nature, and "natural" spaces created by human intervention.
There is an overlap between the community's physical and social characteristics. Does the lay of the land make it difficult to get from one part of the community to another? (Biking, or in some cases even walking, is difficult in San Francisco, for example, because of the length and steepness of the hills.) Are there clear social divisions that mirror the landscape -- all the fancy houses in the hills, all the low-income housing in the flats, for instance?
Studying the physical layout of the community will serve you not only as information, but as a guide for finding your way around, knowing what people are talking about when they refer to various areas and neighborhoods, and gaining a sense of the living conditions of any populations you're concerned with.
Community demographics.
Demographics are the facts about the population that you can find from census data and other similar statistical information. Some things you might like to know, besides the number of people in the community:
In the U.S., most of this and other demographic information is available from the U.S. Census , from state and local government websites, or from other government agencies. Depending on what issues and countries you're concerned with, some sources of information might be the U.S. Centers for Disease Control , the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services , similar websites in other countries, and the various agencies of the United Nations .
On many of these websites, notably the U.S. Census, various categories can be combined, so that you can, for example, find out the income levels in your community for African American women aged 25-34 with a high school education. If the website won't do it for you, it's fairly easy to trace the patterns yourself, thus giving you a much clearer picture of who community residents are and what their lives might be like .
Another extremely useful resource is County Health Rankings & Roadmaps , which provides rankings for nearly every county in the nation. The County Health Rankings model includes four types of health factors: health behaviors, clinical care, social and economic, and the physical environment. The County Health Rankings illustrate what we know when it comes to what’s making people sick or healthy, and the new County Health Roadmaps show what we can do to create healthier places to live, learn, work and play. These reports can help community leaders see that our environment influences how healthy we are and how long we live, and even what parts of our environment are most influential.
Community history.
This can be a complex topic. The "standard" history -- when the community was founded and by whom, how long it has existed, how people lived there in the past, its major sources of work, etc. -- can often be found in the local library or newspaper archives, or even in books or articles written for a larger audience. The less comfortable parts of that history, especially recent history -- discrimination, conflict, economic and/or political domination by a small group -- are may not be included, and are more likely to be found by talking to activists, journalists, and others who are concerned with those issues. You might also gain information by reading between the lines of old newspaper articles and tracking down people who were part of past conflicts or events.
If this all sounds a lot like investigative reporting, that's because it is. You may not have the time or skills to do much of it, but talking to activists and journalists about recent history can be crucial. Stepping into a community with an intervention or initiative without understanding the dynamics of community history can be a recipe for failure.
Community government and politics.
T here are a number of ways to learn about the structure and operation of local government:
In most of the U.S., these meetings are public by state law, and must be announced in specific ways at least two days ahead.
Reading the newspaper every day is a good idea in general if you're trying to learn about the community. It will not only have stories about how the community operates, but will give you a sense of what's important to its readers, what kinds of activities the community engages in and views as significant, what the police do -- a picture of a large part of community life. Real estate ads will tell you about property values and the demand for housing, ads for services can help you identify the major businesses in town, and the ages and education levels of the people in the marriage and birth announcements can speak volumes about community values. Newspaper archives can also reveal the stories that help you understand the emotions still surrounding events and issues that don't seem current. The newspaper is an enormous reservoir of both direct and between-the-lines information.
As we all know, government isn't only about the rules and structures that hold it together. It's about people and their interactions...politics, in other words. The political climate, culture, and assumptions in a particular community often depend more on who elected and appointed officials are than on the limits or duties of their offices.
The politics of many communities embody the ideal of government working for the public good. In other communities, politics takes a back seat to economics, and politicians listen largely to those with economic power -- the CEO's, owners, and directors of large businesses and institutions. In still others, the emphasis is on power itself, so that political decisions are made specifically to keep a particular party, group, or individual in control.
Obviously, only in the first case is the public well served. In the other situations, fairness and equity tend to go out the window and decisions favor the powerful. Understanding the politics of the community -- who has power, who the power brokers are, who actually influences the setting of policy, how decisions are made and by whom, how much difference public opinion makes -- is fundamental to an understanding of the community as a whole.
There's no formal way to get this information. Government officials may have very different interpretations of the political scene than activists or other community members. You'll have to talk to a variety of people, take a good look at recent political controversies and decisions (here's where newspaper archives can come in handy), and juggle some contradicting stories to get at the reality.
Institutions.
Community institutions, unless they are dysfunctional, can generally be viewed as assets. Finding them should be easy: as mentioned above, the Chamber of Commerce will probably have a list of them, the library will probably have one as well, the local newspaper will often list them, and they'll be in the phone book.
They cover the spectrum of community life, including:
Groups and organizations.
The groups and organizations that exist in the community, and their relative prestige and importance in community life, can convey valuable clues to the community's assumptions and attitudes. To some extent, you can find them in the same ways that you can find institutions, but the less formal ones you may be more likely to learn about through interviews and conversations.
These groups can fall into a number of categories:
Economics/employment.
Some of the information about economic issues can be found in public records, but some will come from interviews or conversations with business people, government officials, and activists, and some from observation. It's fairly easy to notice if one huge industrial plant dominates a community, for example, or if every third building appears to be a construction company. There are a number of questions you might ask yourself and others to help you understand the community's economic base and situation: What is the anchor of the community's tax base? Who are the major employers? Does the community have a particular business or business/industry category that underlies most of the jobs? Are there lots of locally-owned businesses and industries, or are most parts of larger corporations headquartered elsewhere? Are there corporate headquarters in the community? Is there a good deal of office space, and is it empty or occupied? Is there new development, and is the community attracting new business? What is the unemployment rate?
Social structure.
This may be the most difficult aspect of the community to understand, since it incorporates most of the others we've discussed, and is usually unspoken. People's answers to questions about it may ignore important points, either because they seem obvious to those who've lived with them for all or most of their lives, or because those things "just aren't talked about." Distrust or actual discrimination aimed at particular groups -- based on race, class, economics, or all three -- may be glossed over or never mentioned. The question of who wields the real power in the community is another that may rarely be answered, or at least not answered in the same way by a majority of community members. It's likely that it will take a number of conversations, some careful observation and some intuition as well to gain a real sense of the community's social structure.
Once you've gathered the information you need, the next step is describing the community. This is not really separate from understanding the community: in the process of organizing and writing down your information, you'll be able to see better how it fits together, and can gain greater understanding.
There are many ways you can create a description of the community. The most obvious is simply to organize, record, and comment on your information by category: physical description, government, institutions, etc. You can comment about what has changed in the community over time, what has stayed the same, and where you think the community might be going. You might also include an analysis of how the various categories interact, and how that all comes together to form the community that exists. That will give you and anyone else interested a reasonably clear and objective description of the community, as well as a sense of how you see it.
For a fuller picture, you could add photographs of some of the locations, people, conditions, or interactions you describe (perhaps as a Photovoice project), as well as charts or graphs of demographic or statistical information. For even more detail, you might compose a portrait in words of the community, using quotes from interviews and stories of community history to bring the description to life.
Given the availability of technology, you don't have to limit yourself to any specific format. Computers allow you to easily combine various media -- photos, graphics, animation, text, and audio, for example. The description could add in or take the form of a video that includes a tour of the community, statements from and/or interviews with various community members (with their permission, of course), an audio voice-over, maps, etc. A video or a more text-based description -- or both -- could then be posted to a website where it would be available to anyone interested.
Once you have a description put together, you might want to show it to some of the community members you talked to in the course of exploring the community. They can suggest other things you might include, correct errors of fact, and react to what they consider the accuracy or inaccuracy of your portrait and analysis of their community. With this feedback, you can then create a final version to use and to show to anyone interested. The point is to get as informative and accurate a picture of the community as possible that will serve as a basis for community assessment and any effort that grows out of it.
The last word here is that this shouldn't be the last community description you'll ever do. Communities reinvent themselves constantly, as new buildings and developments are put up and old ones torn down, as businesses move in and out, as populations shift -- both within the community and as people and groups move in and out -- and as economic, social, and political conditions change. You have to keep up with those changes, and that means updating your community description regularly. As with most of the rest of the community building work described in the Community Tool Box, the work of understanding and describing the community is ongoing, for as long as you remain committed to the community itself.
Understanding a community is crucial to being able to work in it. Failing to understand it will deny you credibility and make it difficult for you both to connect with community members and to negotiate the twists and turns of starting and implementing a community initiative or intervention. An extremely important part of any community assessment, therefore, is to start by finding out as much about the community as you can -- its physical and geographical characteristics, its culture, its government, and its assumptions. By combing through existing data, observing, and learning from community members, you can gain an overview of the community that will serve you well. Recording your findings and your analysis of them in a community description that you can refer to and update as needed will keep your understanding fresh and help others in your organization or with whom you collaborate.
Online Resources
A community description of Nashua, New Hampshire .
County Health Rankings & Roadmaps . Ranking the health of nearly every county in the nation, the County Health Rankings help us see how where we live, learn, work, and play influences how healthy we are and how long we live. The Rankings & Roadmaps show us what is making residents sick, where we need to improve, and what steps communities are taking to solve their problems. The health of a community depends on many different factors – ranging from individual health behaviors, education and jobs, to quality of health care, to the environment, therefore we all have a stake in creating a healthier community. Using the County Health Rankings & Roadmaps, leaders and advocates from public health and health care, business, education, government, and the community can work together to create programs and policies to improve people's health, reduce health care costs, and increase productivity.
Describing the Community , from a WHO (World Health Organization) manual: Emergency Preparedness: A Manual for Managers and Policy Makers. WHO, 1999.
The Distressed Communities Index (DCI) is a customized dataset created by EIG examining economic distress throughout the country and made up of interactive maps, infographics, and a report. It captures data from more than 25,000 zip codes (those with populations over 500 people). In all, it covers 99 percent — 312 million — of Americans.
Ericae.net is a clearinghouse for information on evaluation, assessment, and research information.
This Human Development Index Map is a valuable tool from Measure of America: A Project of the Social Science Research Council . It combines indicators in three fundamental areas - health, knowledge, and standard of living - into a single number that falls on a scale from 0 to 10, and is presented on an easy-to-navigate interactive map of the United States.
The Institute of Medicine advances scientific knowledge to improve health and provides information and advice concerning health policy.
The National Institute for Literacy provides information about research and initiatives to expand the community of literacy practitioners, students, and policymakers.
Sustainable Measures provides a searchable database of indicators by broad topics (health, housing) and keywords (AIDS, access to care, birth weight, etc.) for communities, organizations and government agencies at all levels.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services , the principal agency for protecting the health of U.S. citizens, is comprised of 12 agencies that provide information on their specific domains, such as the Administration on Aging . Others cross health boundaries, such as the Centers for Disease Control , which maintains national health statistics. The " WONDER " system is an access point to a wide variety of CDC reports, guidelines, and public health data to assist in research, decision-making, priority setting, and resource allocation.
The U.S. National Institute of Mental Health provides statistics and educational information for the public as well as information for researchers.
Print Resources
Jones, B. (1979). Defining your neighborhood. In Neighborhood Planning: A Guide for Citizens and Planners . Chicago, IL: Planners Press, pp. 8-11.
Scheie, D. (1991). August-September). Tools for taking stock. The Neighborhood Works . Chicago, IL: Center for Neighborhood Technology, pp. 16-17.
Spradley, J. P. (1980). Locating a social situation. In Participant Observation . Fort Worth, TX: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, pp. 45-52.
Warren, R.B., Warren, D.I. (1977). The Neighborhood Organizer's Handbook . Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, pp.167-196.
When we think about community, we often think about a group of people who share something in common. This could be a shared interest, background, or identity. But what exactly is a community? And what does it mean to belong to one?
There’s no single answer to these questions, as communities can take many different forms. But psychologists have proposed some key features that are often present in successful communities. These include a sense of shared purpose or goals, a sense of social cohesion or connection between members, and a sense of belonging.
Belonging is an important part of human psychology. We all have a need to feel like we’re part of something larger than ourselves. This could be a, friends, family, or a community. When we feel like we belong, we tend to be happier and more content. We may also be more motivated to achieve our goals.
belonging to a community can provide us with a sense of purpose and social connection. It can also help us to develop a stronger sense of self-identity. If you’re thinking about joining a community, look for one that shares your values and goals.
A lot of people believe that in order to belong somewhere as a teen, you have to dress a certain way or do something to fit into their apparent “community.” I couldn’t disagree more. To me, community is my friends, family, and people who mean a lot to me. However, that’s not the correct meaning. Community actually refers to a group of people living in close proximity. In my opinion, this should be how everyone thinks of community.
A group of friends or family who are there for you and love you no matter what. Thats the type of community i want to be apart of.
A sense of belonging is important for our psychological and cognitive development. Without a sense of belonging, we can feel isolated, anxious and depressed. A strong sense of belonging can help us to feel more secure, confident and happy. Belonging to a community can provide us with a support network, a sense of identity and a feeling of connectedness.
There are many different types of communities that we can belong to, such as our families, Friends, neighbourhoods, religious groups, sporting clubs or cultural associations. It is important to feel like we fit in and belong within these groups.
We can belong to more than one community and our sense of belonging can change over time. For example, we may feel more or less connected to our community during different stages in our lives. There are many factors that can influence our sense of belonging, such as our age, gender, culture or social status.
Belonging is a basic human need and it is important for our mental health and wellbeing. A sense of belonging can enhance our self-esteem, increase our resilience and help us to cope with difficult times. When we feel like we belong, we are more likely to cooperate with others and behave in ways that benefit the community.
I am not sure if it is something special, yet it was largely values and thoughts that I gathered as I grew older. My father is a wonderful guy with excellent principles who has helped to shape who I am today. My mother also taught me numerous good qualities and assisted in forming who I am.
I grew up in a lower-income family so we had to stick together and help each other out, which I think helped create a strong bond between us. I was also always around my cousins and uncles and they were like brothers to me, so I think that sense of community has always been important to me.
Belonging to a community is important for many reasons. It can provide individuals with a sense of identity and purpose, as well as a support network of people who can offer advice, help and companionship. Additionally, being part of a community can encourage people to participate in activities that contribute to the greater good, such as volunteering, fundraising or working on behalf of a cause. Finally, belonging to a community can simply be enjoyable and make people feel happy and connected.
There are many different types of communities to which people can belong. Some examples include religious communities, political communities, online communities, neighbourhoods, sports teams and clubs. It is important to find a community that fits with an individual’s beliefs and values in order to get the most out of the experience.
My friends have great ways of thinking and are really wonderful people, so I can’t take all the credit. I must give some credit to my pals since they have fantastic methods of thinking and are wonderful individuals. That isn’t everything, though; many of these ideas come from me and ideas I conceive in my head about how the world should be run.
One of the things I’ve been thinking about recently is the idea of community and how important it is to our lives. I was born and raised in a small town in New Hampshire and ever since I can remember, community has been an important part of my life. The people in my town were always there for me when I needed them and I knew that I could always count on them.
As I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized that community is even more important than I thought it was. Studies have shown that belonging to a community can have a positive impact on our mental and physical health. Being a part of a community gives us a sense of purpose and belonging. It helps us to feel connected to something larger than ourselves and to feel supported by others.
The community that we belong to can also have a big impact on our cognition. Studies have shown that people who are a part of a supportive community tend to have better cognitive function than those who don’t. This is likely because belonging to a community gives us a sense of social connectedness and support, which can help to protect our brain from the negative effects of stress.
So why is community so important? There are many reasons, but one of the most important is that it helps us to thrive. When we feel like we belong to something larger than ourselves, we are more likely to take care of ourselves and our community. We are also more likely to feel happy and fulfilled in our lives. So if you’re looking for a way to improve your life, consider finding a community that you can belong to. It just might be the best thing you ever do for yourself.
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If you’ve started to research college application requirements for the schools on your list, you might have come across the “cultural diversity essay.” In this guide, we’ll explore the cultural diversity essay in depth. We will compare the cultural diversity essay to the community essay and discuss how to approach these kinds of supplements. We’ll also provide examples of diversity essays and community essay examples. But first, let’s discuss exactly what a cultural diversity essay is.
The purpose of the cultural diversity essay in college applications is to show the admissions committee what makes you unique. The cultural diversity essay also lets you describe what type of “ diversity ” you would bring to campus.
We’ll also highlight a diversity essay sample for three college applications. These include the Georgetown application essay , Rice application essay , and Williams application essay . We’ll provide examples of diversity essays for each college. Then, for each of these college essays that worked, we will analyze their strengths to help you craft your own essays.
Finally, we’ll give you some tips on how to write a cultural diversity essay that will make your applications shine.
But first, let’s explore the types of college essays you might encounter on your college applications.
College application requirements will differ among schools. However, you’ll submit one piece of writing to nearly every school on your list—the personal statement . A strong personal statement can help you stand out in the admissions process.
So, how do you know what to write about? That depends on the type of college essay included in your college application requirements.
There are a few main types of college essays that you might encounter in the college admissions process. Theese include the “Why School ” essay, the “Why Major ” essay, and the extracurricular activity essay. This also includes the type of essay we will focus on in this guide—the cultural diversity essay.
The “Why School ” essay is exactly what it sounds like. For this type of college essay, you’ll need to underscore why you want to go to this particular school.
However, don’t make the mistake of just listing off what you like about the school. Additionally, don’t just reiterate information you can find on their admissions website. Instead, you’ll want to make connections between what the school offers and how you are a great fit for that college community.
The idea behind the “Why Major ” essay is similar to that of the “Why School ” essay above. However, instead of writing about the school at large, this essay should highlight why you plan to study your chosen major.
There are plenty of directions you could take with this type of essay. For instance, you might describe how you chose this major, what career you plan to pursue upon graduation, or other details.
The extracurricular activity essay asks you to elaborate on one of the activities that you participated in outside of the classroom.
For this type of college essay, you’ll need to select an extracurricular activity that you pursued while you were in high school. Bonus points if you can tie your extracurricular activity into your future major, career goals, or other extracurricular activities for college. Overall, your extracurricular activity essay should go beyond your activities list. In doing so, it should highlight why your chosen activity matters to you.
The cultural diversity essay is your chance to expound upon diversity in all its forms. Before you write your cultural diversity essay, you should ask yourself some key questions. These questions can include: How will you bring diversity to your future college campus? What unique perspective do you bring to the table?
Another sub-category of the cultural diversity essay is the gender diversity essay. As its name suggests, this essay would center around the author’s gender. This essay would highlight how gender shapes the way the writer understands the world around them.
Later, we’ll look at examples of diversity essays and other college essays that worked. But before we do, let’s figure out how to identify a cultural diversity essay in the first place.
So, you’re wondering how you’ll be able to identify a cultural diversity essay as you review your college application requirements.
Aside from the major giveaway of having the word “diversity” in the prompt, a cultural diversity essay will ask you to describe what makes you different from other applicants. In other words, what aspects of your unique culture(s) have influenced your perspective and shaped you into who you are today?
Diversity can refer to race, ethnicity, first-generation status, gender, or anything in between. You can write about a myriad of things in a cultural diversity essay. For instance, you might discuss your personal background, identity, values, experiences, or how you’ve overcome challenges in your life.
However, don’t feel limited in what you can address in a cultural diversity essay. The words “culture” and “diversity” mean different things to different people. Above all, you’ll want your diversity essays for college to be personal and sincere.
A community essay can also be considered a cultural diversity essay. In fact, you can think of the community essay as a subcategory of the cultural diversity essay. However, there is a key difference between a community essay and a cultural diversity essay, which we will illustrate below.
You might have already seen some community essay examples while you were researching college application requirements. But how exactly is a community essay different from a cultural diversity essay?
One way to tell the difference between community essay examples and cultural diversity essay examples is by the prompt. A community essay will highlight, well, community . This means it will focus on how your identity will shape your interactions on campus—not just how it informs your own experiences.
Community essay examples can take two forms. First, you’ll find community essay examples about your past experiences. These let you show the admissions team how you have positively influenced your own community.
Other community essay examples, however, will focus on the future. These community essay examples will ask you to detail how you will contribute to your future college community. We refer to these as college community essay examples.
In college community essay examples, you’ll see applicants detail how they might interact with their fellow students. These essays may also discuss how students plan to positively contribute to the campus community.
As we mentioned above, the community essay, along with community essay examples and college community essay examples, fit into the larger category of the cultural diversity essay. Although we do not have specific community essay examples or college community essay examples in this guide, we will continue to highlight the subtle differences between the two.
Before we continue the discussion of community essay examples and college community essay examples, let’s start with some examples of cultural diversity essay prompts. For each of the cultural diversity essay prompts, we’ll name the institutions that include these diversity essays for college as part of their college application requirements.
Now, you have a better understanding of the similarities and differences between the cultural diversity essay and the community essay. So, next, let’s look at some examples of cultural diversity essay prompts.
The prompts below are from the Georgetown application, Rice application, and Williams application, respectively. As we discuss the similarities and differences between prompts, remember the framework we provided above for what constitutes a cultural diversity essay and a community essay.
Later in this guide, we’ll provide real examples of diversity essays, including Georgetown essay examples, Rice University essay examples, and Williams supplemental essays examples. These are all considered college essays that worked—meaning that the author was accepted into that particular institution.
Later, we’ll look at Georgetown supplemental essay examples. Diversity essays for Georgetown are a product of this prompt:
You might have noticed two keywords in this prompt right away: “diverse” and “community.” These buzzwords indicate that this prompt is a cultural diversity essay. You could even argue that responses to this prompt would result in college community essay examples. After all, the prompt refers to the Georgetown community.
For this prompt, you’ll want to produce a diversity essay sample that highlights who you are. In order to do that successfully, you’ll need to self-reflect before putting pen to paper. What aspects of your background, personality, or values best describe who you are? How might your presence at Georgetown influence or contribute to their diverse community?
Additionally, this cultural diversity essay can be personal or creative. So, you have more flexibility with the Georgetown supplemental essays than with other similar diversity essay prompts. Depending on the direction you go, your response to this prompt could be considered a cultural diversity essay, gender diversity essay, or a college community essay.
The current Rice acceptance rate is just 9% , making it a highly selective school. Because the Rice acceptance rate is so low, your personal statement and supplemental essays can make a huge difference.
The Rice University essay examples we’ll provide below are based on this prompt:
Breaking down the prompt.
Like the prompt above, this cultural diversity essay asks about your “life experiences,” “cultural traditions,” and personal “perspectives.” These phrases indicate a cultural diversity essay. Keep in mind this may not be the exact prompt you’ll have to answer in your own Rice application. However, future Rice prompts will likely follow a similar framework as this diversity essay sample.
Although this prompt is not as flexible as the Georgetown prompt, it does let you discuss aspects of Rice’s academic life and Residential College System that appeal to you. You can also highlight how your experiences have influenced your personal perspective.
The prompt also asks about how you would contribute to life at Rice. So, your response could also fall in line with college community essay examples. Remember, college community essay examples are another sub-category of community essay examples. Successful college community essay examples will illustrate the ways in which students would contribute to their future campus community.
Like the Rice acceptance rate, the Williams acceptance rate is also 9% . Because the Williams acceptance rate is so low, you’ll want to pay close attention to the Williams supplemental essays examples as you begin the writing process.
The Williams supplemental essays examples below are based on this prompt:
Reflecting on the prompt.
Immediately, words like “diverse,” “backgrounds,” “perspectives,” “interests,” and “differentiate” should stand out to you. These keywords highlight the fact that this is a cultural diversity essay. Similar to the Rice essay, this may not be the exact prompt you’ll face on your Williams application. However, we can still learn from it.
Like the Georgetown essay, this prompt requires you to put in some self-reflection before you start writing. What aspects of your background differentiate you from other people? How would these differences impact your interactions with peers?
This prompt also touches on the “student community” and how you would “add to the conversation with your peer(s).” By extension, any strong responses to this prompt could also be considered as college community essay examples.
All of the prompts above mention campus community. So, you could argue that they are also examples of community essays.
Like we mentioned above, you can think of community essays as a subcategory of the cultural diversity essay. If the prompt alludes to the campus community, or if your response is centered on how you would interact within that community, your essay likely falls into the world of college community essay examples.
Regardless of what you would classify the essay as, all successful essays will be thoughtful, personal, and rich with details. We’ll show you examples of this in our “college essays that worked” section below.
Besides Georgetown, Rice, and Williams, many other college applications require a cultural diversity essay or community essay. In fact, from the Ivy League to HBCUs and state schools, the cultural diversity essay is a staple across college applications.
Although we will not provide a diversity essay sample for each of the colleges below, it is helpful to read the prompts. This will build your familiarity with other college applications that require a cultural diversity essay or community essay. Some schools that require a cultural diversity essay or community essay include New York University , Duke University , Harvard University , Johns Hopkins University , and University of Michigan .
NYU listed a cultural diversity essay as part of its 2022-2023 college application requirements. Here is the prompt:
Duke university.
Duke is well-known for its community essay:
A top-ranked Ivy League institution, Harvard University also has a cultural diversity essay as part of its college application requirements:
Johns hopkins university.
The Johns Hopkins supplement is another example of a cultural diversity essay:
University of michigan.
The University of Michigan requires a community essay for its application:
Community essay examples.
The Duke and Michigan prompts are perfect illustrations of community essay examples. However, they have some critical differences. So, if you apply to both of these schools, you’ll have to change the way you approach either of these community essays.
The Duke prompt asks you to highlight why you are a good match for the Duke community. You’ll also see this prompt in other community essay examples. To write a successful response to this prompt, you’ll need to reference offerings specific to Duke (or whichever college requires this essay). In order to know what to reference, you’ll need to do your research before you start writing.
On the other hand, the Michigan essay prompt asks you to describe a community that you belong to as well as your place within that community. This is another variation of the prompt for community essay examples.
To write a successful response to this prompt, you’ll need to identify a community that you belong to. Then, you’ll need to think critically about how you interact with that community.
Now, in the next few sections, we’ll dive into the Georgetown supplemental essay examples, the Rice university essay examples, and the Williams supplemental essays examples. After each diversity essay sample, we’ll include a breakdown of why these are considered college essays that worked.
As a reminder, the Georgetown essay examples respond to this prompt:
Here is the excerpt of the diversity essay sample from our Georgetown essay examples:
The best thing I ever did was skip eight days of school in a row. Despite the protests of teachers over missed class time, I told them that the world is my classroom. The lessons I remember most are those that took place during my annual family vacation to coastal Maine. That rural world is the most authentic and incredible classroom where learning simply happens and becomes exponential.
Years ago, as I hunted through the rocks and seaweed for seaglass and mussels, I befriended a Maine local hauling her battered kayak on the shore. Though I didn’t realize it at the time, I had found a kindred spirit in Jeanne. Jeanne is a year-round resident who is more than the hard working, rugged Mainer that meets the eye; reserved and humble in nature, she is a wealth of knowledge and is self-taught through necessity. With thoughtful attention to detail, I engineered a primitive ramp made of driftwood and a pulley system to haul her kayak up the cliff. We diligently figured out complex problems and developed solutions through trial and error.
After running out of conventional materials, I recycled and reimagined items that had washed ashore. We expected to succeed, but were not afraid to fail. Working with Jeanne has been the best classroom in the world; without textbooks or technology, she has made a difference in my life. Whether building a basic irrigation system for her organic garden or installing solar panels to harness the sun’s energy, every project has shown me the value of taking action and making an impact. Each year brings a different project with new excitement and unique challenges. My resourcefulness, problem solving ability, and innovative thinking have advanced under her tutelage.
While exploring the rocky coast of Maine, I embrace every experience as an unparalleled educational opportunity that transcends any classroom environment. I discovered that firsthand experience and real-world application of science are my best teachers. In school, applications of complex calculations and abstract theories are sometimes obscured by grades and structure. In Maine, I expand my love of science and renourish my curious spirit. I am a highly independent, frugal, resilient Mainer living as a southern girl in NC.
This is one of the Georgetown supplemental essay examples that works, and here’s why. The author starts the essay with an interesting hook, which makes the reader want to learn more about this person and their perspective.
Throughout the essay, the author illustrates their intellectual curiosity. From befriending Jeanne and creating a pulley system to engineering other projects on the rocky coast of Maine, the author demonstrates how they welcome challenges and work to solve problems.
Further, the author mentions values that matter to them—taking action and making an impact. Both facets are also part of Georgetown’s core values . By making these connections in their essay, the author shows the admissions committee exactly how they would be a great fit for the Georgetown community.
Finally, the author uses their experience in Maine to showcase their love of science, which is likely the field they will study at Georgetown. Like this writer, you should try to include most important parts of your identity into your essay. This includes things like life experiences, passions, majors, extracurricular activities for college, and more.
The Rice University essay examples are from this prompt:
Rice university essay example.
Like every applicant, I also have a story to share. A story that makes me who I am and consists of chapters about my life experiences and adventures. Having been born in a different country, my journey to America was one of the most difficult things I had ever experienced. Everything felt different. The atmosphere, the places, the food, and especially the people. Everywhere I looked, I saw something new. Although it was a bit overwhelming, one thing had not changed.
The caring nature of the people was still prevalent in everyday interactions. I was overwhelmed by how supportive and understanding people were of one another. Whether it is race, religion, or culture, everyone was accepted and appreciated. I knew that I could be whoever I wanted to be and that the only limitation was my imagination. Through hard work and persistence I put my all in everything that I did. I get this work ethic from my father since he is living proof that anything can be accomplished with continued determination. Listening to the childhood stories he told me, my dad would reminisce about how he was born in an impoverished area in a third world country during a turbulent and unpredictable time.
Even with a passion for learning, he had to work a laborious job in an attempt to help his parents make ends meet. He talked about how he would study under the street lights when the power went out at home. His parents wanted something better for him, as did he. Not living in America changed nothing about their work ethic. His parents continued to work hard daily, in an attempt to provide for their son. My dad worked and studied countless hours, paying his way through school with jobs and scholarships. His efforts paid off when he finally moved to America and opened his own business. None of it would have been possible without tremendous effort and dedication needed for a better life, values that are instilled within me as well, and this is the perspective that I wish to bring to Rice.
This diversity essay sample references the author’s unique life experiences and personal perspective, which makes it one example of college essays that worked. The author begins the essay by alluding to their unique story—they were born in a different country and then came to America. Instead of facing this change as a challenge, the author shows how this new experience helped them to feel comfortable with all kinds of people. They also highlight how their diversity was accepted and appreciated.
Additionally, the author incorporates information about their father’s story, which helps to frame their own values and where those values came from. The values that they chose to highlight also fall in line with the values of the Rice community.
Let’s read the prompt that inspired so many strong Williams supplemental essays examples again:
Williams college essay example.
Through the flow in my head
See you clad in red
But not just the clothes
It’s your whole being
Covering in this sickening blanket
Of heat and pain
Are you in agony, I wonder?
Is this the hell they told me about?
Have we been condemned?
Reduced to nothing but pain
At least we have each other
In our envelopes of crimson
I try in vain
“Take my hands” I shriek
“Let’s protect each other,
You and me, through this hell”
My body contorts
And deforms into nothingness
You remain the same
Clad in red
With faraway eyes
You, like a statue
Your eyes fixed somewhere else
You never see me
Just the red briefcase in your heart
We aren’t together
It’s always been me alone
While you stand there, aloof, with the briefcase in your heart.
I wrote this poem the day my prayer request for the Uighur Muslims got denied at school. At the time, I was stunned. I was taught to have empathy for those around me. Yet, that empathy disappears when told to extend it to someone different. I can’t comprehend this contradiction and I refuse to.
At Williams, I hope to become a Community Engagement Fellow at the Davis Center. I hope to use Williams’ support for social justice and advocacy to educate my fellow classmates on social issues around the world. Williams students are not just scholars but also leaders and changemakers. Together, we can strive to better the world through advocacy.
Human’s capability for love is endless. We just need to open our hearts to everyone.
It’s time to let the briefcase go and look at those around us with our real human eyes.
We see you now. Please forgive us.
As we mentioned above, the Williams acceptance rate is incredibly low. This makes the supplemental essay that much more important.
This diversity essay sample works because it is personal and memorable. The author chooses to start the essay off with a poem. Which, if done right, will immediately grab the reader’s attention.
Further, the author contextualizes the poem by explaining the circumstances surrounding it—they wrote it in response to a prayer request that was denied at school. In doing so, they also highlight their own values of empathy and embracing diversity.
Finally, the author ends their cultural diversity essay by describing what excites them about Williams. They also discuss how they see themselves interacting within the Williams community. This is a key piece of the essay, as it helps the reader understand how the author would be a good fit for Williams.
The examples provided within this essay also touch on issues that are important to the author, which provides a glimpse into the type of student the author would be on campus. Additionally, this response shows what potential extracurricular activities for college the author might be interested in pursuing while at Williams.
You want your diversity essay to stand out from any other diversity essay sample. But how do you write a successful cultural diversity essay?
First, consider what pieces of your identity you want to highlight in your essay. Of course, race and ethnicity are important facets of diversity. However, there are plenty of other factors to consider.
As you brainstorm, think outside the box to figure out what aspects of your identity help make up who you are. Because identity and diversity fall on a spectrum, there is no right or wrong answer here.
Once you’ve decided on what you want to represent in your cultural diversity essay, think about how that fits into the college of your choice. Use your cultural diversity essay to make connections to the school. If your college has specific values or programs that align with your identity, then include them in your cultural diversity essay!
Above all, you should write about something that is important to you. Your cultural diversity essay, gender diversity essay, or community essay will succeed if you are passionate about your topic and willing to get personal.
1. start early.
In order to create the strongest diversity essay possible, you’ll want to start early. Filling out college applications is already a time-consuming process. So, you can cut back on additional stress and anxiety by writing your cultural diversity essay as early as possible.
Writing a cultural diversity essay or community essay is a personal process. To set yourself up for success, take time to brainstorm and reflect on your topic. Overall, you want your cultural diversity essay to be a good indication of who you are and what makes you a unique applicant.
We can’t stress this final tip enough. Be sure to proofread your cultural diversity essay before you hit the submit button. Additionally, you can read your essay aloud to hear how it flows. You can also can ask someone you trust, like your college advisor or a teacher, to help proofread your essay as well.
Looking for additional resources on supplemental essays for the colleges we mentioned above? Do you need help with incorporating extracurricular activities for college into your essays or crafting a strong diversity essay sample? We’ve got you covered.
Our how to get into Georgetown guide covers additional tips on how to approach the supplemental diversity essay. If you’re wondering how to write about community in your essay, check out our campus community article for an insider’s perspective on Williams College.
Want to learn strategies for writing compelling cultural diversity essays? Check out this Q&A webinar, featuring a former Georgetown admissions officer. And, if you’re still unsure of what to highlight in your community essay, try getting inspiration from a virtual college tour .
Your supplemental essays are an important piece of the college application puzzle. With colleges becoming more competitive than ever, you’ll want to do everything you can to create a strong candidate profile. This includes writing well-crafted responses for a cultural diversity essay, gender diversity essay, or community essay.
We hope our cultural diversity essay guide helped you learn more about this common type of supplemental essay. As you are writing your own cultural diversity essay or community essay, use the essay examples from Georgetown, Rice, and Williams above as your guide.
Getting into top schools takes a lot more than a strong resume. Writing specific, thoughtful, and personal responses for a cultural diversity essay, gender diversity essay, or community essay will put you one step closer to maximizing your chances of admission. Good luck!
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Community: essay on community (737 words) | sociology.
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Here is your essay on Community (737 Words)!
Community is another fundamental concept used in sociology. Because human civilization grows and develop in the lap of community. It is a well known fact that an individual rarely exists alone. He always lives with his fellows in a group. It is also equally true that one can’t be a member of all groups existing in the world. Hence an individual lives and establishes relations with those people who reside in a close proximity with him i.e. within definite territory.
Image Courtesy : theartrium.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/community.jpg
It is also obvious and natural that people residing in a definite area develop likeness, co-operation and fellow-feeling among themselves. As a result they share common customs, traditions, culture and develop common social ideas among themselves. This fact of common social living within a limited or definite geographical area gives birth to community.
But the origin and growth of community goes back to the origin of human civilization. Man has been living in community of some sort since his arrival. Community is the original and first abode of human civilization. The human civilization itself reared up in community. During pre-historic era man was leading a nomadic or barbarian life and was wandering here and there for food and could not settle up anywhere.
But when his mental horizon increased he learns the skill to collect food and other needs from a particular place mainly on river banks or fertile areas and permanently settled there. When a group of people or families lived together in a particular area which led them to share each other’s joys and sorrows, as a result a pattern of common living is created which marked the origin of community life. Gradually community life expands with the creation of different socio-economic, cultural and political relations among the people of a particular area. This lead to the emergence of different social, political, economic and cultural institutions. As a result a full- fledged community was created.
However, the term community has been derived from two Latin words ‘Com’ and ‘Munis’ which means ‘together’ and ‘servicing’ respectively. It consists of a group of people with common and shared interests. But in common discourses the term community very often wrongly used such as racial community, caste community, religious community etc.
Here the meaning of the term community differs from the one which is used in sociology. The term is also used both in a narrower and broader sense. In a narrow sense community refers to Hindu or Muslim community but in a broader sense community may refers to a nation or world community. It also refers to a village, a town or a tribal community.
When a group of individual or members of any group small or large live together and share a common life and have developed a strong sense of awe feeling among them they form a community. They enter into definite social, economic and cultural relations and have developed a sense of community consciousness which distinguishes them from others. A group of individuals or group of families living in Physical Proximity with each other in a definite geographical boundary constitutes a community.
But to understand the meaning of the term community we must have to give a look towards the definitions given by sociologists. But sociologists differ among themselves in their approach to the meaning of community. Some puts emphasis on area or ecological aspects where as others puts emphasis on psychological aspects.
(1) According to Maclver, “Community is an area of social living marked by some degree of social coherence”.
(2) According to Kingsley Davis, “Community is the smallest territorial group that can embrace all aspects of social life”.
(3) According to Ogburn and Nimkoff, “Community is the total organisation of social life within a limited area”.
(4) According to Arnold Green, “A Community is cluster of people, living within a contiguous small area, who share a common way of life”.
(5) According to E.S. Bogardus, “Community is a social group with some degree of’we-feeling’ and living in a given area.”
(6) According to G.A. Lundberg, “Community is a human population living within a limited geographic area and carrying on a common inter-dependent life”.
Thus, community refers to a group either small or large whose members live together in such a way that they share a common life and have developed a strong sense of community sentiment or consciousness among them which distinguishes them from others.
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Exploring the impact of community service – a comprehensive essay sample.
Community service plays a vital role in shaping individuals and communities. Engaging in service activities not only helps those in need but also has a profound impact on the volunteers themselves. By giving back to the community, individuals can develop empathy, leadership skills, and a sense of responsibility towards society.
In this essay sample, we will explore inspiring examples of community service projects and provide tips on how you can get involved in making a difference. From volunteering at local shelters to organizing charity events, there are countless ways to contribute to your community and create a positive impact on the world around you. Let’s delve into the world of community service and discover the power of giving back!
Community service is a valuable activity that allows individuals to give back to their communities. It provides an opportunity to make a positive impact on the lives of others while also developing important skills and values. Here is a sample essay that highlights the benefits of community service and reflects on personal experiences.
Introduction: Community service is an essential part of being an active and engaged member of society. It not only benefits the community but also helps individuals grow and learn. Through my involvement in various community service projects, I have seen firsthand the power of giving back and the joy it brings to both the recipient and the volunteer.
Body: One example of the impact of community service is the work I did at a local soup kitchen. By volunteering at the soup kitchen, I was able to help provide meals to those in need and offer a listening ear to those who were struggling. This experience taught me the importance of empathy and compassion, and showed me how even small acts of kindness can make a big difference in someone’s life.
Another example of the benefits of community service is the time I spent tutoring children at a local elementary school. Through this experience, I was able to help students improve their academic skills and build their confidence. I also gained a greater appreciation for the value of education and the impact it can have on a child’s future.
Conclusion: In conclusion, community service is a valuable and rewarding activity that allows individuals to make a positive impact on their communities. Through my experiences with community service, I have learned important lessons about empathy, compassion, and the power of giving back. I am grateful for the opportunities I have had to volunteer and look forward to continuing to serve my community in the future.
When it comes to community service, there are countless inspiring examples that can motivate you to get involved. Whether it’s volunteering at a local shelter, organizing a charity event, or tutoring underprivileged children, these acts of service can make a real impact on the community.
Here are a few tips to help you get started on your community service journey:
1. Find a Cause You’re Passionate About: Choose a cause that resonates with you personally. When you care deeply about the issue you’re working on, your efforts will be more meaningful and impactful.
2. Start Small: You don’t have to take on huge projects right away. Start small by volunteering for a few hours a week or helping out at a local event. Every little bit helps.
3. Collaborate with Others: Community service is often more effective when done as a team. Reach out to friends, family, or colleagues to join you in your efforts.
4. Stay Consistent: Make a commitment to regularly engage in community service. Consistency is key to making a lasting impact.
5. Reflect on Your Impact: Take the time to reflect on how your service is making a difference. Celebrate your achievements and learn from your challenges.
By following these tips and drawing inspiration from others, you can make a meaningful contribution to your community through service. Get started today and see the positive impact you can have!
Community service is an essential component of a well-rounded individual. It provides an opportunity to give back to society, make a positive impact on the community, and develop valuable skills and experiences. Engaging in community service helps individuals cultivate empathy, compassion, and a sense of civic responsibility. By volunteering and helping others, individuals can learn to appreciate the needs of others and work towards creating a more inclusive and supportive society.
Furthermore, community service allows individuals to build connections with others and foster a sense of community. Through collaboration and teamwork, volunteers can develop important social and communication skills that are valuable in all aspects of life. Community service also provides a way to explore new interests, gain new perspectives, and expand one’s horizons.
Moreover, community service is a way to address pressing social issues and contribute to positive change. By participating in community service projects, individuals can make a tangible difference in the lives of others and work towards creating a more just and equitable world. Community service is a powerful tool for promoting social justice, equality, and human rights.
In conclusion, community service matters because it helps individuals grow personally, develop important skills, build meaningful relationships, and contribute to a better society. Engaging in community service is a fulfilling and impactful way to make a difference in the world and leave a lasting legacy of service and compassion.
Engaging in community service offers a wide range of benefits both for the individual and the community as a whole.
1. Personal Growth: Community service allows individuals to step out of their comfort zones, develop new skills, and gain valuable life experiences. It helps enhance empathy, compassion, and understanding of diverse perspectives.
2. Social Connections: By participating in community service activities, individuals can build strong relationships with like-minded individuals and expand their social network. It provides opportunities to collaborate with others and work towards common goals.
3. Skill Development: Community service offers a platform for individuals to develop and hone various skills such as leadership, communication, problem-solving, and teamwork. These skills are transferable to other aspects of life.
4. Civic Engagement: Engaging in community service promotes active citizenship and a sense of responsibility towards one’s community. It allows individuals to contribute to positive change and make a meaningful impact on society.
5. Personal Fulfillment: Giving back to the community and helping those in need can bring a sense of fulfillment and purpose to individuals. It provides a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction knowing that one has made a positive difference in the lives of others.
Overall, engaging in community service not only benefits the community by addressing various social issues but also contributes to personal growth, social connections, skill development, civic engagement, and personal fulfillment.
When deciding on a community service project, it is important to consider your interests, skills, and the needs of your community. Here are some tips to help you choose the right project:
By following these tips and considering your interests, skills, and community needs, you can choose the right community service project that aligns with your values and makes a positive difference in your community.
If you are tasked with writing a community service essay, follow these steps to ensure it is impactful and engaging:
When writing a community service essay, it is important to follow a structured approach to ensure that your message is clear and impactful. Here is a recommended structure to help you organize your thoughts and create a compelling essay:
By following this structure, you can effectively communicate the value of community service and inspire others to make a difference in their communities. Remember to be sincere, reflective, and passionate in your writing to convey the true essence of your volunteer experience.
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A good college essay format, with the right topic, goes beyond describing your academic accomplishments and extracurriculars. Learn how to make your college essay stand out with these tips.
You want to stand out in a crowd, particularly when you’re applying to the college of your choice. As part of the application process, many schools ask for an essay to accompany the standard academic and personal information they require.
At its core, your college application essay tells a story that offers admissions officers a glimpse into who you are, beyond your grades, extracurricular activities, and test scores. Your college essay, often called a "personal statement," is your opportunity to reveal your personality and give an idea about the kind of student you'll be in college.
So how should a college essay be formatted? This article covers formatting best practices, how to choose a compelling topic for your essay, and tips to help you craft an essay that captures your reader's attention, clearly communicates its message, and is free from errors.
Your personal statement should tell a compelling story that effectively demonstrates your unique values and personality. While the format of your college essay is largely up to you, consequently, it can be helpful to have a sense of how you might format your essay before composing it.
Consider the following college essay format to organize your writing and craft the most compelling story possible.
A title for your college essay isn't necessary. But, including one could make your essay intriguing to readers. That said, if you're low on word count, skip a title altogether and just jump into your narrative. You can also wait until after you write your essay to decide. It's often easier to come up with a fitting, compelling title after you've told your story.
Your opening sentence is one of the most important parts of your essay. It's what you'll use to capture the attention of the reader and compel them to continue reading. The start of your essay is your opportunity to make an impactful first impression, so make your opening a good one.
Here are two examples of how you might craft an interesting hook for your essay:
Start in the middle of your story: Call out the most interesting point of your story, and then backtrack from there. For example, "And there I found myself, surrounded by baby sea turtles on the hazy shores of Virginia Beach."
Make a specific generalization: This is a sentence that makes a general statement on what your essay will be about but gives a specific description. An example: "Each year on our family vacation out of the city, I contemplate the meaning of life as we cross the Golden Gate Bridge."
While your hook will spark the reader's curiosity, the rest of your introduction should give them an idea of where you're going with your essay. Set your story up in four to five sentences, making sure to only include information that is absolutely necessary to understand your story.
The Common Application has a 650 word limit for personal statements. That means, if both your introduction and conclusion are roughly 100 words each, your body will most likely end up being about 450 words. Think of that as three to five paragraphs, with each paragraph having its own main idea or point.
Write in a narrative style—closer to how you might write a short story than an instruction manual. Tell your story in a way that’s logical, clear, and makes sense for what you're trying to convey about yourself.
While you should pay strict attention to using proper grammar and sentence structure, you have the freedom to make your essay a reflection of your personality. If you're a humorous person, use humor. If you're an eternal optimist or love getting into the minute details of life, let that shine through. But, keep in mind that your essay is fundamentally about highlighting the qualities that you'd bring to a college community, so keep your anecdotes focused and on point.
Finish your story with a conclusion paragraph, where you clarify the value or idea you're trying to convey. What is the main thing you want the college to know about you through this story? Is it what you've learned, a value that's important to you, or what you want to contribute to society? Finally, use the last line of your personal statement to reinforce this central idea, so that your reader leaves with a clear impression about who you are. After the "hook" of your personal statement, the concluding line is the most important of your essay.
Now that you know how to format your college essay, we'll explore how to develop the story you'll tell in it. Here are some steps to get started:
Over 900 colleges use Common App essay prompts, which means you may be able to write one essay for several college applications. Some past Common App college essay prompts—which are announced publicly each year—include the following topics:
Share a story about your background, interest, identity, or talent that makes you complete as a person.
Describe a time when you faced a setback, failure, or challenge and what you learned from it.
Tell about a topic, concept, or idea that is so captivating to you that you lose all track of time.
Write about something that someone has done for you that you are grateful for, and how gratitude has motivated or affected you.
These are broad topics that give you the freedom to tell all kinds of different things about yourself. Explore these questions to start brainstorming ideas of stories you may be able to tell about yourself.
There are a lot of potential prompts out there. Some of the other college essay prompts you might encounter include:
Describe a person you admire and how that person has influenced your behavior and thinking.
Why do you want to attend this school?
Describe your creative side.
Name an extracurricular activity that is meaningful to you and how it has impacted your life.
Tell about what you have done to make your community or school a better place.
Choose a topic that allows you to best highlight what you want the college to know about you. A good start is to list three positive adjectives that describe you. Then, see if you can write two or three real-life examples of each trait that demonstrates that you possess that characteristic.
If you're having trouble coming up with ideas, think about the stories other people tell about you or the positive words they use to describe you. Consider asking people who know you well the following questions:
What do you think sets me apart from others?
What are my strengths?
How would you describe my personality?
What are my quirks?
These ideas can become the inspiration to develop material for a good college essay. You don't have to write about a major life-changing event. It can be a mundane or ordinary situation—like a dinner table conversation, a day at school, or a conversation with a friend. Often, slightly unusual topics are better than typical ones because they hold a reader's attention.
Regardless of the topic you choose, remember that the true topic of your college essay is you, and the purpose of it is to show how you are unique. It highlights an important piece of who you are and where you want to head in life.
Consult your college application instructions to see how long your essay should be. Typically, personal statements are between 500 and 650 words long, while supplemental essays are often around 250 to 300 words. Use the required essay length to help you determine what you will share. You won't be able to tell your life story within these few paragraphs, so choose the most impactful examples as your content.
An outline helps you plan your essay's key points, including its beginning, middle, and end. Use your outline to stay on topic and get the most out of your word count.
The most effective outlines are usually the simplest. For instance, a good story has a beginning, middle, and end. Likewise, your essay will have an introduction, body, and conclusion. Unless the college requests a specific admission essay format, use the format you've been using to write essays in high school that you're likely to be the most comfortable with.
If you're stuck on how to open your essay, write the middle of your story first. Then, go back and write a compelling introduction and a concise conclusion.
Your college essay format and writing should be both compelling in clear. So, as you're writing your college essay, keep these tips in mind:
One of the most essential parts of how to format a college application essay is to be authentic. The college wants to know who you are, and they will be reading dozens of essays a day. The best way to make yours stand out is to just be yourself instead of focusing on what you think they want to hear.
Imagine you’re speaking to an actual person as you write. Be honest and accurate, using words you normally use. Your essay is a personal statement, so it should sound natural to the reader—and to you too.
While the most important part of your personal statement is showcasing who you are, you'll also be judged on your writing ability. That's because knowing the fundamental principles of writing is important to college success. Show that you understand the structure of an essay and proper use of the English language.
If you're using a specific question as your writing prompt, answer the question directly in the opening paragraph. Then, use the rest of the essay to elaborate on your answer. Make good use of your word count limit by being concise and coherent. Stay on topic and refrain from adding any information that doesn't add to the main idea of your essay.
Your essay should describe a real-life event that you've experienced. And, to make that experience as vivid as possible for your reader, you'll want to lean into concrete details that effectively convey it through the written word. This adds color and validity to your personal statement. Personal examples will show you embody the characteristics or values you claim to, rather than merely saying you do.
Read and understand the specific instructions set by the college for your essay. Then, review them again before you submit your essay to make sure you've met all of the requirements. Only once you're confident that you've followed them correctly and that your essay is free from any errors should you submit your essay.
Once you've written your essay, you'll want to edit it until you’re satisfied it conveys your message and is free of errors. Let your first draft be as messy or pristine as it comes out. Then, go back later—several times if needed—to clean it up. Ask yourself these questions as you edit your essay:
Is my essay free of grammar, spelling, capitalization, and punctuation errors?
Is it the proper word length assigned by the college?
Have I answered the question in the prompt?
Does the introduction make me want to read more?
Are there any vague statements I can replace with more specific details?
Do any parts drone on or feel boring?
Does it feel too formal?
Are any parts or words repetitive?
Have I misused any words (such as there, their, and they're)?
Are my sentences varied in length?
Have I shared with the college what I most want them to know about me?
It can also be helpful to ask someone you trust to read your essay and give you constructive feedback. This might be a trusted teacher, parent, school counselor, or college student. It's best to choose someone who is familiar with the purpose of a college essay.
Ask them to give feedback about your essay using the same questions as above. But they should never try to rewrite your essay. And never let others edit out your voice. Ask them to focus on grammar and mechanics and to give suggestions on items to add in or leave out.
Above all, ask your guest editor what point they think you were trying to make with your essay. If they get it right, you know you've crafted a college essay that reflects you and your intended message.
PSA: Save your essay drafts!
Instead of writing your essay directly in the online application, draft and save your essay in a document like Google Docs or Word—or start out on paper and pen if that's what you're most comfortable with. That way you can make edits and use helpful online spelling and grammar checkers. And, you won't risk losing your essay if the application times out or you navigate away from it by mistake.
When you copy and paste your essay into the application, make sure your formatting, such as line spacing and bolding for headings, remains intact.
Bring out your best in your college essay with a course in Writing a Personal Essay from Wesleyan University. Learn how to find your voice, structure your essay, choose relevant details, and write in a way that pulls in your readers.
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This article was written based on the information and opinions presented by Vinay Bhaskara and Aja Altenhof in a CollegeVine livestream. You can watch the full livestream for more info.
Writing about diversity, consider unconventional identities and perspectives, navigating the word count.
The University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) requires applicants to submit supplemental essays in addition to the main Common App essay . For the second supplemental essay, UPenn asks students to respond to the following prompt:
How will you explore community at Penn? Consider Penn will shape your perspective and identity, and how your identity and perspective will help shape Penn. (150-200 words)
This article provides some tips to help you craft your response to this essay prompt, including strategies to avoid common topics, as well as tips to navigate the short word limit.
When approaching this prompt, many students first think to write about diversity, equity, and inclusion. While this topic can work in some cases, it is important to note that this prompt is not inherently about diversity. It is first and foremost a space to showcase the best parts of yourself outside of the classroom that will positively impact, and thrive within, the UPenn community.
Students who have a unique or interesting approach to answering this question typically tend to be the most successful when it comes to writing about diversity for this prompt. If you are interested in writing about diversity, equity, and inclusion, but your topic is not nuanced or particularly strong, you can consider other strategies and topics for this essay.
One strategic way to choose a topic for this prompt is by being unconventional in how you define your perspective or identity, especially when you consider your mindset and elements of your personality.
As you consider your perspective, it can be helpful to explore how that perspective has been defined through your experiences. For example, depending on your background, you could consider what it is like to go through life as an athlete, as a journalist, or as a debater.
Keep in mind that you will ultimately have to consider how that perspective impacts your engagement with the community around you, and the personality and values that you bring to the table.
In truth, this supplemental essay may be the trickiest of the three UPenn essays to write. This is because you have to address both parts of the prompt, how UPenn is going to shape your perspective or identity, and how your identity and perspective will shape UPenn, all within just 200 words. There are a few useful tactics that you can employ to help navigate this essay’s short word count.
One trick you can use to help you navigate this essay is by using a “call and response structure.” In this structure, you describe a trait that you have and then, within the same sentence, articulate a behavior or an outcome that this trait will cause on campus. You can also use this structure in the opposite way, to highlight an aspect of Penn’s campus experience and the way in which it will impact your own identity or perspective.
Furthermore, because this essay is on the shorter side, it can be difficult to tell a full story within it. That said, you certainly can hint at an anecdote or an experience that relates to the value, unique perspective, and opportunities and experiences that you will bring with you to UPenn.
For more information on writing UPenn’s supplemental essays, check out our post on How to Write the UPenn Supplemental Essays 2022-2023 .
San Antonians have a fresh incentive to put pen to paper—or fingers to keys—about the places they call home. As part of a move to diversify local storytelling, the San Antonio Report is now offering a $250 "Where I Live" stipend for residents willing to shine a spotlight on their neighborhoods. Funded through a partnership with the Know Your Neighbor initiative of the H. E. Butt Foundation, the series emphasizes local narratives, as if painting a literary mosaic of city life.
Submitting an essay to the San Antonio Report has typically been a labor of love for proud locals, volunteering their time to articulate their community's character and dreams for posterity. Dedicated authors who sought to capture the essence of their environment did so without financial compensation until now. According to the San Antonio Report , the essays "share what they love about their neighborhood—and what they envision for its future."
With this new stipend, the publication hopes to eliminate a key barrier that might have prevented some voices from joining the conversation: the cost of time. The aim, as stated by the San Antonio Report, is to "allow new voices to emerge by reducing the barriers to participation in this popular series." And for those who might not need the money, there's an option to "pay it forward" to future storytellers.
The initiative appears to be more than just compensation for words; it's an investment in community engagement. The "Where I Live" series has been influential in constructing an interactive map where readers can click through and learn about different neighborhoods. Recognizing that every person's perspective is a piece of the city's puzzle, the stipend is a clear message: every story holds value, every narrative deserves a platform.
For all the aspiring writers or community members who've been on the fence about sharing their experiences, this might be the push they need. The San Antonio Report is actively seeking submissions, encouraging participation by asking, "Which neighborhood on our map is missing? Which voices haven’t we heard from yet?" As this initiative unfolds, it stands to reason that the 'Where I Live' feature will become an even richer tapestry of San Antonio's diversity and identity, woven through the words of those who know it best.
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The explosion of growth in Florida since World War II has continually vexed planners, business leaders, environmentalists and elected officials in a state that’s more susceptible to the elements than just about anywhere else in the U.S.
Mix in the rising seas and temperatures brought on by climate change, and the Sunshine State’s days of growth appear limited.
And yet, new residents keep arriving.
Hillsborough County’s top high school seniors weighed in on the following question, which will be sure to play out in their lifetime:
In 2022, Florida was the fastest-growing state in the nation. The state remains on track to experience significant population growth. How should Florida protect its natural resources, such as wilderness and other open spaces, as it welcomes newcomers?
Only those at the top 3% of their class were asked to write a 250-word essay in response to the question as part of the annual R.F. “Red” Pittman Tribune Scholars program, named for a publisher of the former Tampa Tribune newspaper and now sponsored by the Tampa Bay Times .
The judges this year were Stephen Lambert, English professor and quality enhancement plan director at Hillsborough Community College; Yuly Restrepo, assistant professor of English at the University of Tampa; and Jim Verhulst, deputy editor of editorials for the Tampa Bay Times.
They chose from 152 entries.
Each winner received a scholarship for $1,500. They are Reagan Miller, Academy of the Holy Names; Olivia Rivadulla, Sickles High School; and Adam Tahiri, Alonso High School.
Reagan plans to attend the University of Notre Dame to pursue a degree in finance, with a minor in music.
Honeymoon Island State Park is quiet and serene in the early morning; a few families are sprinkled across the beach, and the osprey and seagulls are my only company.
But by midday, flocks of people fill Honeymoon’s beaches, setting up camp in the sand, while even more are waiting in cars backed up along the Dunedin Causeway.
The daily throngs of visitors — who come in at risk of dragging noise pollution or leaving behind their trash — could easily cause sustained damage to this beautiful beach.
Thankfully, Honeymoon Island’s status as a state park is its superpower, providing balance and protection so that its visitors recreate while respecting the vulnerable ecosystem on its shores.
Honeymoon Island has a long and storied history, from its beginnings as a quaint vacation spot to an amphibious vehicle testing site for the Department of Defense in World War II. Its graduation to a state park happened only because a developer’s renovation plans in the 1960s fell through.
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Today, additional resources like natural trails, a nature museum, and bird observation decks educate visitors on Honeymoon Island’s unique ecosystem and the importance of conservation efforts.
As our Florida economy continues to see unprecedented population growth and increased residential and commercial development, it is imperative that our state government plans deliberately to invest in recreation-focused conservation lands.
Florida’s Division of State Lands is responsible for this type of development; their role in creating ecotourism opportunities among these lands will be the answer to balancing state conservation and Florida’s booming economy in a mutually beneficial way.
With more people filling up Florida’s beaches, we must make it a priority to encourage state government to invest in conservation land and protect our vulnerable ecosystem by creating more ecotourism gems as engaging as my favorite shell-filled beaches on Honeymoon Island.
Olivia plans to attend the University of Florida to pursue a degree in industrial and systems engineering.
As the population grows in Florida, it becomes essential to adopt sustainable land use practices that will ensure environmental preservation while accommodating a growing population.
One approach to help protect natural resources could be to financially incentivize homeowners to utilize native plant and grass species in their landscape by raising the Homestead exemption by $25,000. This would significantly benefit water management and native wildlife conservation, fostering a more ecologically balanced environment.
This Homestead exemption adjustment would enhance Florida’s water management initiatives. Native plants demand less water than non-native species because they are adapted to Florida’s climate. This would reduce long-term irrigation requirements, mitigating water-related challenges in Florida.
By promoting the use of native plants through financial incentives, Florida can take a step toward sustainable water management practices.
Furthermore, native plant species offer benefits by supporting local wildlife populations. Native plants are a crucial source of food, shelter, and habitat connectivity for various native species.
By creating a network of native vegetation, Florida can increase biodiversity and combat the negative effects of urbanization on native wildlife. As urban areas expand, natural habitats diminish, posing significant threats to the survival of many species.
However, incorporating native plants into urban landscapes provides vital refuges for some wildlife, enabling them to coexist with a growing population.
In conclusion, incentivizing homeowners to adopt native plant species represents a proactive and effective approach to promoting sustainable land use practices by contributing to water and biodiversity conservation.
As Florida continues to confront the challenges posed by population growth and urbanization, initiatives like these are crucial for ensuring a sustainable future for the state’s environment and its inhabitants.
Adam plans to attend the University of Florida to pursue a degree in finance.
As Florida blossoms into America’s front-runner in population growth, the balance between embracing its burgeoning populace and safeguarding its rich tapestry of natural wonders becomes paramount.
Imagine Florida as a grand tapestry, each thread representing the delicate interplay between human advancement and the preservation of its natural sanctuaries. To protect this masterpiece, Florida must adopt a multifaceted approach.
First, envision urban planning not as a constraint but as an opportunity to weave green spaces into the urban fabric, promoting biodiversity even within city limits. Florida can pioneer the development of eco-cities, where green roofs, urban gardens, and verdant parks become as iconic as its beaches and theme parks.
Next, the state should champion innovative conservation financing mechanisms. Why not introduce a “Nature Bond”? Similar to war bonds, these could mobilize public investment in conservation projects, turning every Floridian into a steward of their state’s natural beauty. The funds raised could restore wetlands, conserve endangered habitats, and maintain public lands.
Education plays a crucial role, too. Florida’s schools can integrate environmental stewardship into their curricula, cultivating a generation that values sustainability as much as innovation. Imagine school projects that partner with local conservation efforts, turning theoretical knowledge into tangible action. Lastly, Florida should leverage technology to monitor and manage its natural resources efficiently. Drones and AI can track environmental changes, predict impacts of urban expansion, and guide policy decisions, ensuring that growth and conservation go hand in hand.
As Florida stands at this crossroads, the path it chooses can serve as a blueprint for harmonizing human and natural coexistence. By intertwining innovation with tradition, and development with conservation, Florida can ensure that its growth enriches both its people and the planet.
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Step 1: Decide What Community to Write About. Step 2: The BEABIES Exercise. Step 3: Pick a Structure (Narrative or Montage) Community Essay Example: East Meets West. Community Essay Example: Storytellers. The Uncommon Connections Exercise.
Kaylen is an experienced writer/translator whose work has been featured in Los Angeles Review, Hybrid, San Francisco Bay Guardian, France Today, and Honolulu Weekly, among others. How to write the community essay for college applications in 2023-24. Our experts present community essay examples and analysis.
"Describe a Community You Belong to" Essay Example East Meets West. I look around my room, dimly lit by an orange light. On my desk, a framed picture of an Asian family beaming their smiles, buried among US history textbooks and The Great Gatsby. A Korean ballad streams from two tiny computer speakers. Pamphlets of American colleges were ...
Step 2: Brainstorm communities you're involved in. If you're writing a Community essay that asks you to discuss a community you belong to, then your next step will be brainstorming all of your options. As you brainstorm, keep a running list. Your list can include all kinds of communities you're involved in.
Take 15 minutes to write down a list of ALL the communities you belong to that you can think of. While you're writing, don't worry about judging which ones will be useful for an essay. Just write down every community that comes to mind — even if some of them feel like a stretch. When you're done, survey your list of communities.
The Purpose Behind Your Essay. In this essay, focus primarily on your contributions to the community you're involved in instead of just describing the community itself. This is important because the purpose behind this prompt is to convey who you are and the values or interests you hold. Writing about your community is how admissions officers ...
Example #1: Tutoring a Friend. Example #2: Managing Food Waste. How to Write the MIT Community Essay. Watch on. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is consistently ranked as one of the top five universities in the nation, according to US News and World Report. Based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, MIT is known for its rigorous STEM ...
Many college applications require supplemental essays. A common supplementary question asks you to consider and write about a community to which you belong. The definition of community is open to interpretation and can be difficult to pin down. We each belong to a wide variety of communities ranging from our family and friend groups to being ...
Maybe you belong to a group whose mission is to provide clean water to people around the world. Duke's prompt this year provides a great example of how a community essay might be worded: "Duke University seeks a talented, engaged student body that embodies the wide range of human experience; we believe that the diversity of our students ...
A community essay refers to a college application essay that answers a question similar to "Tell us about a community you're a part of.". Length can vary but may be dictated by the college you're applying to. The topic of your piece, however, should be about a community you're a part of, how you're a part of it, and/or how it has ...
Here are some tips to help you craft a memorable essay: 1. Reflect on your personal experiences: Think about the communities you belong to, whether they're based on a physical location, a shared interest, or a certain background. Consider how your involvement in these communities has shaped the person you are today, and how you've contributed ...
A community refers to a group of people with more or less common cultural beliefs, who live closely together in a defined area. These people practice similar economic activities, use similar methods, and mostly share the same views about various issues. Anciently it was meant to denote a group of people living preferably nearby and at a ...
A community service essay is an essay that describes the volunteer work you did and the impact it had on you and your community. Community service essays can vary widely depending on specific requirements listed in the application, but, in general, they describe the work you did, why you found the work important, and how it benefited people ...
Here are some tips to help you craft a powerful and compelling essay: Start by brainstorming ideas and reflecting on your community service experiences. Clearly define the purpose of your essay and what you hope to convey to your readers. Organize your essay with a clear introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion.
Choose one of the communities to which you belong, and describe that community and your place within it. Example: Common Application prompt #1. Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it.
Defining "Community". Demonstrating Your Values. The University of California system requires you to answer four out of eight essay prompts. The seventh University of California prompt asks, "What have you done to make your school or your community a better place?". For a lot of people, a key to unlocking this essay is to think about ...
What do we mean by understanding and describing the community? Understanding the community entails understanding it in a number of ways. Whether or not the community is defined geographically, it still has a geographic context -- a setting that it exists in. Getting a clear sense of this setting may be key to a full understanding of it. ...
There are many different types of communities to which people can belong. Some examples include religious communities, political communities, online communities, neighbourhoods, sports teams and clubs. It is important to find a community that fits with an individual's beliefs and values in order to get the most out of the experience.
The cultural diversity essay also lets you describe what type of " diversity " you would bring to campus. We'll also highlight a diversity essay sample for three college applications. These include the Georgetown application essay, Rice application essay, and Williams application essay. We'll provide examples of diversity essays for ...
Here is your essay on Community (737 Words)! Community is another fundamental concept used in sociology. Because human civilization grows and develop in the lap of community. It is a well known fact that an individual rarely exists alone. He always lives with his fellows in a group. It is also equally true that one can't be a member of all ...
Organization of the essay Although all community service essays ultimately have the same purpose of having you describe your local service activities, they can come with different types of prompts. Below are three sample prompts. Note the differences in topic specificity, length requirements, and breadth of the prompt.
When writing a community service essay, it is important to follow a structured approach to ensure that your message is clear and impactful. Here is a recommended structure to help you organize your thoughts and create a compelling essay: ... Personal Experience: Share specific examples of your community service activities. Describe the impact ...
The Online Writing Lab (the Purdue OWL) at Purdue University houses writing resources and instructional material, and we provide these as a free service at Purdue. Students, members of the community, and users worldwide will find information to assist with many writing projects.
Tell about what you have done to make your community or school a better place. 2. Pick a topic. Choose a topic that allows you to best highlight what you want the college to know about you. ... Your essay should describe a real-life event that you've experienced. And, to make that experience as vivid as possible for your reader, you'll want to ...
In truth, this supplemental essay may be the trickiest of the three UPenn essays to write. This is because you have to address both parts of the prompt, how UPenn is going to shape your perspective or identity, and how your identity and perspective will shape UPenn, all within just 200 words. There are a few useful tactics that you can employ ...
The San Antonio Report offers a $250 stipend for essays capturing the essence of local neighborhoods, encouraging diverse community storytelling.
Read the three winning entries in the 2024 R.F. "Red" Pittman Tribune Scholars essay contest. From left: Reagan Miller, Olivia Rivadulla and Adam Tahiri were the winners of the 2024 R.F ...