The Page Program was super fun and a thrilling experience. I made new friends, and got to get an insight into so many government departments, specifically departments in the state government as I think we often tend to focus more on the federal government. The whole experience is inexplicable in words and I am so grateful for getting to do this; meeting with state government officials and touring different buildings and doing a policy proposal was such a niche experience, and truly gave an insight into the operation of state government.

After receiving approval from the Page Coordinator, I began making substantive preparations over the course of several days. April 28th was the primary planning date, as that was when we scrapped the library as the venue. Instead, we decided to make use of a Publix public seating area. On the 28th I also mass messaged juniors inviting them to attend! On the 29th, I held the first session, followed by subsequent sessions on the 29th at school and virtually (in abbreviated length at participants’ request and for scheduling reasons). While the image included herein is sent to roughly 14 juniors I know, another batch also received subsequent messages.

While I put April 30 as the day we did the project, in reality the project was completed over the course of 2 days (4/29-4/30). The initial goal envisaged in the proposal was to work with 10-12 students (high school juniors), and having had 5 students in Session 1, 3 students in Session 2, and 2 students in Session 3, I achieved the goals initially set out! During the sessions, students were presented with 2-3 essays written by students in the graduating class of 2025 (authors were kept anonymous and are friends of mine that do not reside in North Carolina). As the facilitator/instructor I worked with current juniors by asking them to discuss, both with me and amongst themselves, their thoughts and opinions on each portion of the essay, and guided them through the essays to allow for exploration of theme. I also worked with students by encouraging them to share stories about their lives that they ordinarily wouldn’t discuss, but would feel comfortable sharing for the sake of a college essay, as that is where I believe the gold lies. Notwithstanding the same, students were encouraged to share ideas that may or may not fit the aforesaid description. While some sessions had students with more ideas than others, the aim of these sessions was not to lecture or instruct, but rather guide students from personal experience and miscellaneous knowledge to set a baseline to better understand the Common Application essay and start getting some ideas rather than oversee their writing itself. While the original proposal did include the step of students starting their own drafts, for time constraints or other miscellaneous reasons that step ultimately was cut out from the picture. Nevertheless, the overarching objective, which was to help students grow familiar with the Common Application essay and start pondering essay ideas was met, and with consistent and confident discourse from all participants, I am hopeful that each person learned not only from me, but from their peers.

It felt incredibly rewarding to be able to help friends, friends of friends, and acquaintances as they start their college application process. Indeed, college is such a life-changing decision that carries with it tremendous meaning and purpose and often shapes a person’s career. Moreover, to receive thanks from participants whether verbally or otherwise made me realize that I was of genuine assistance. One person told me she had little to no understanding of what Common App and other such features involved and many appreciated the opportunity to dissect essays and discuss them at length. In sum, while many of the people I helped included friends, friends of friends, and acquaintances, had I not been encouraged to do something like this and had I not transmuted it into a service project, some of these people may have found themselves lost or confused till later on. While I am confident each of these people will achieve their dreams, to know that I could be of assistance along the way meant a lot. I have already sent all 10 participants a message thanking them for participating and expressing hope that these sessions were worthwhile for them!