Emily Moua

9/20/18

Personal Statements

#1: Describe an example of your leadership experience in which you have positively
influenced others, help resolve disputes or contributed to groups efforts over time.

An example of my leadership experience that has positively influenced the people in my

community, was the time my older sister invited me to join her in an event called “Run for the
Fallen.” At that time I was an incoming freshman with no community service experience. When I
arrived at the event, I was greeted by the president of Leadership, Experience, and Opportunities
club also known as LEO club. At this event, I was given the opportunity to work with multiple
students from different high schools. Our responsibilities were to set up the refreshment tables
and maintain the tables for those who were participating in “Run for the Fallen.” Participants in
“Run for the Fallen” were running for those who served in the arm forces and died for our
country. Another responsibility the club members and I were given was to help venders set up
their merchandises in their booth at the event. After helping vendors set up their booths, we
supported the runners by cheering them on and giving them a ribbon as they approach the
finishing line. I had such a great time working with all the volunteers that day. This event spark
my motivation to join LEO during my freshman year because I was able to help my community
in a way I never thought I could. Joining my sister in this event made me realize that leadership
experiences can be gained through having different responsibilities such as the one I gain from
this event. Three years later and I continue to contribute my time and efforts to LEO club.
Throughout the three years with LEO, I have learned that leadership experiences are not always
led by an individual, but rather by a collective group effort. As an active member of LEO, I have
also contribute to encourage others to join LEO to gain leadership and teamwork experiences.

#3: What would you say is your greatest skill or talent? How have you developed and
demonstrated that talent over time?

One common talent or skill that I consider is dancing. I’m not taking any dance classes right now
but I would love to in the future. My passion for dancing is out of this world. I love dancing
when I’m at home, whenever I’m free, and at school. My type of genre to dance is ballet, hip
hop, popping, and improv. Those are the ones I focus more on because I feel that I’m most
confident when dancing to those types of genres without feeling embarrassed. I may not be the
best but if I keep on trying I will eventually get better. If I feel inspired by a certain song I will
dance to it right off the bat because it’s exciting and entertaining. As I mentioned before, not only
do I dance at home, but I also dance at school. Dancing at school is more enjoyable because I
am not dancing alone, I have other people to dance with. When I entered middle school, in the
beginning of my seventh grade year I joined colorguard. Colorguard is also known as performing
arts. In a brief description of what colorguard is, it’s a class where you can join to dance with
flags, rifle, sabors, and letters. A colorguard instructor will make up a routine to dance alongside
the band. In colorguard, not only do you dance, but also improv some dance moves. I continued
doing colorguard up to my sophomore year in high school. During, my sophomore year I also
joined a different dance club called K-Pop. K-Pop stands for Korean Pop, where you dance to
korean songs. I wanted to explore different types of dancing culture. I also got to experience
dancing in our school’s rallies and parades. To me I feel that dancing is another part of me. I still
continue dancing and will never stop. I want to pursue dancing in college and maybe even join a
dance club.

#4: Describe how you have taken advantage of a significant educational opportunity or
worked to overcome an educational barrier you have faced.

Honestly, when I entered High School I thought it was going to be a tough. On the first day of
High School I felt a little lost and nervous, but as time flew by everything got easier. I knew
where I was going and gained more confidence. Not to mention my grades were A’s and B’s.
Bam! Freshman year ended then, came along Sophomore year. I got to admit Sophomore year
was one of the easiest year. Sophomore year ended, then came Junior year. When I was going to
be an upcoming Junior many people told me that “Junior year is going to the hardest year,” and I
thought to myself “how hard is Junior year going to be people are exaggerating!” As the four
seasons passed by quickly I notice a huge change in school. I started to doubt myself that the
rumors I heard about Junior year was becoming a reality. Each time I took a look at my grades I
would think “what did I do to my grades?“ Why are my grades lowering?” Instead of going from
a B to an A it went from a B to a C. It took me a while to realized that the rumors I heard were
becoming true. I struggled getting my grades up and I felt like giving up. I tried over and over to
bring up my grades but there was still no progress. I felt ashamed telling my parents about my
grades. Of course they were really upset but they couldn’t do anything but to encourage me to
keep striving harder and do better in school. I told myself that I needed to change or else I won’t
be able to graduate. It was getting closer to the end of Junior year and I finally gained more
confidence in myself. I made sure that all my assignments were turned in on time and studied
harder for a test or quiz By the end of Junior year I was finally satisfied with my grades. It felt as
if I lifted up a huge rock of my chest.

When I entered High School I thought it was going to be tough. On the first day of High School
I felt a little lost and nervous, but as time flew by everything got easier. I knew where I went and
gained more confidence. Not to mention, my grades were A’s and B’s. Two years went by and I
was going to be an upcoming Junior. Many people said to me “Junior year is going to the hardest
year,” and I thought to myself “how difficult is Junior year going to be? People must be
exaggerating!” Junior year came and I started to doubt myself that the rumors I heard about
junior year was becoming a reality. Each time I took a look at my grades I would think “what did
I do to my grades?“ why are my grades lowering?” Instead of going from a B to an A it went
from a B to a C. It took me a while to realized that the rumors I heard were becoming true. I
struggled getting my grades up and I felt like giving up. I tried over and over to bring up my
grades but there was still no progress. I felt ashamed telling my parents about my grades. Of
course they were really upset but they couldn’t do anything but to encourage me to keep striving
harder and do better in school. I told myself that I needed to change or else I won’t be able to
graduate. It was getting closer to the end of Junior year and I finally gained more confidence in
myself. I made sure that all my assignments were turned in on time and studied harder for a test
or quiz. By the end of junior year I was able to improve my grades. It felt as if I have lifted up a
huge rock of my chest. I learned that I need to prioritize my assignments and manage my time.
This has helped me keep my grades up and stay on track.

#6: Think about an academic subject that inspires you. Describe how you have furthered in
this interest inside and/ or outside of the classroom.

One academic subject that inspires me is history. I used to think that history was the boringest
subject ever. I discover my fascination for history in high school. Each year that I took a history,
all my teachers made this subject enjoyable and entertaining. I like it when the teachers add role
play, actions, partner work, and projects into each topics. Learning history this type of way is
better than just listening and looking at the board the whole time. It helps keep me active in class.
As my teachers explain each event in history, I started to fall in love. I learn something new in
each and every class. It’s a thrill to know more and more. I like knowing about the wars, the
battles, and every leaders. In a history class what I enjoy most about are the partner work and
class projects. I enjoyed researching and looking up an event that has happened in the past. Ever
since I entered high school, history was that only subject that I looked forward to. I would not
change it for another subject because I enjoy studying it and it’s easy. Throughout the years in
high school I had always done well in all my history classes. When I went out to places and saw
something that reminded me of a certain event in history I will talk about it to my family. Not
only that, but when someone talks about history I would join in on the conversation because it’s
something that I’m interested in and actually like talking about. Last year I attended a Hmong
history gallery and learned more about my culture. I was astound to learn so much about my
culture that I have never known. To me, history is not only a subject that I want to learn in
school, but I want to explore out of school just like how I explore the Hmong history gallery.