I like chickens. Actually, I like all animals, but for me, chickens represent accomplishment. In order to convince my parents to get chickens as pets in our suburban neighborhood, I decided to build a chicken coop. Not just a little shoddy shanty, but a quality, insulated coop with windows, doors, nest boxes, roosts, decorative wood trim, and a brilliant red and white paint job to give it a classic “barn” look. A small but important detail that should be mentioned is that before the coop, I had never built anything before. I had never taken a drafting class or even a technical class like masonry; all I had was access to the Internet as a teacher and an end goal. Overall, teaching myself how to design, construct, and paint my chicken coop was a huge learning experience, and I think that it represents what I am capable of. I could write an entire paper on the process, but to condense my experience, it was difficult challenge that I am glad I was able to complete. However, I believe that my academic path throughout high school has been even more challenging. High school is a learning experience for all students. However, unlike many Virginian high schoolers, I feel that I am academically prepared for college as a student within the Commonwealth Governor’s School, an extremely vigorous program for some of the top students in…show more content… I have strong moral convictions and I will stand up for what I believe in, such as animal welfare and some political issues. I also take pride in being open to look at arguments from multiple perspectives. Perhaps most importantly, I am a thinker, occasionally to a fault. I spent longer than I would like to admit deciding if I was bold enough to start an essay with the attention grabber, “I like chickens,” at the risk of sounding uneducated. Like anyone else, my personality contains both flaws and strengths, but I continue to strive to better myself every
