Vcu Application Essay

“Hello, my name is Maya Parson and I would like to represent the city of Vance in the Virginia Girls’ State General Assembly.” The sound of my foot nervously tapping on the marble floor marked the silence that lay under my wavering voice. I had the concentrated attention of 50 of the most accomplished female rising seniors who where invited to spend a week at the American Legion Auxiliary’s Virginia Girl’s State program. I could feel the nervous sweat gathering on my palms. I was forced to place my paper on the podium after failing to read it in my unstable hands. It had been a turbulent past few days getting accustomed to the hectic routine and becoming best friends with 612 other brilliant females and here I was completely leaping from the bounds of comfort and campaigning for a representative office. What made me decide to stand up with eight other girls who had resumes that, although were lengthy, ultimately were superficial? I was not the type of person to put herself in a position to be judged publicly on merit. Putting myself out to be judged was exactly what I had avoided all of my life. I looked through the glass door into the courtyard of the Longwood Campus and saw a single flower on its own in a flower garden. Suddenly, the words of my junior year English teacher on transcendentalism had bombarded my thought process. I realized in this moment that going to other countries or being the head of a club did not give someone value as a political leader as candidates before me had argued. The worth of a human being comes from their contributions as a member of society and their ability to not just learn but to do. This can only be achieved by the recognition of the individual. I explained the transcendentalist movement to my peers and made a case for why this understanding can be useful in representing a group of people. I spoke of the importance of speaking deliberately and of not being afraid to challenge popular ideologies and thoughts. I