The process was also significant for me because it showed that it was possible to spread wealth from a highly centralized location (the corporation) to a more widespread and evenly distributed location (my financially struggling high school). Tell us about a personal quality, talent, accomplishment, contribution or experience that is important to you. What about this quality or accomplishment makes you proud, and how does it relate to the person you are?

I believe that my greatest quality is perseverance. History is often told to us as the chronicle of great people doing great things, and while these stories are important, the majority of us experience life through smaller moments. It is the small choices and the small decisions that add up over time to create our life as a patchwork of these choices. Our choices and decisions define who we become, and ultimately it is the sum of all of these seemingly small decisions that determines whether or not we can be proud of ourselves at the end of the day. Thus far in my life I am proud of who I have become and what I have accomplished, but I see a long road ahead of me of upward battles if I am to meet all of my goals. Yet I am aware that life rarely turns out in the way that we plan. Unexpected things happen all the time, and we never know what challenges we will face tomorrow, next week or next year. I believe that how we meet these challenges makes a large difference in whether or not we are happy and proud of ourselves at the end of the day. I like to meet each new challenge with a sense of optimism...

I see challenge as opportunity, and without challenges and unexpected twists and turns, we would likely miss out on many of life's exciting surprises and possibilities.
In addition to meeting challenges with optimism, I also believe that there is importance in how an individual meets failure. No one can be successful in everything that they do, and no one can be successful all of the time. But mistakes do not have to set us back, and they do not have to stop us in our path. Mistakes, challenges and problems are part of the life process, and how we deal with each of these life elements gives us the chance to grow into a better person. The process of life is intended to bring us down at times, so that we may build ourselves back up and find the right path. Sometimes we fail, only to find out that we were trying the wrong thing, and our failure opens up a new door to find success in a completely new area that had we succeeded in the first area, we may never have discovered. Thus, I believe that perseverance is a quality that can lead to success, and I believe that it is a quality that I possess. In life it is necessary to step up and try again, even if we are at the very bottom and it seems easy to give up, we must learn from our failures and try, try again. I look forward to the many challenges that I will face as a college student and am very confident that I will be able to meet them with the greatest amount of effort and optimism possible, and that through my perseverance I will meet with success.