Personal Essay for Common Application

Prompt: Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others.

In Swahili Nayila means the one who does great things, and a consistent struggle of mine was trying to live up to my name. However, during my time at the El Segundo Museum of Art (ESMoA), my outlook on myself changed. Rather than just being great, I learned how to make mistakes, recover from them, and focus on being a better version of myself. An important moment in my personal progression occurred while I organized and hosted a poetry slam at ESMoA.

On the day of the poetry slam, also known as Nobel the Remix, I felt the sun rays press upon my skin through the skylight in ESMoA’s main gallery. Despite the beautiful weather and partly sunny skies, my anxiety levels were high. That Saturday morning was the opening of Nobel the Remix and it was my first time hosting an event at the gallery. I felt like my three months of preparation were not enough. After the stage and materials were set up for the poetry slam, all I had to do was wait. Once people started to arrive, all I could think was “Is that it?” and “Why are my palms so sweaty?” While planning for the event I had a vision of the event consisting of a crowd of artists and poets eager to share their work. During the process I never considered only three people would show up.

Once I started explaining the activity and goal for the poetry slam to the audience, two people realized the program was for high school students and they left. Leaving only one guest at the event. My nerves got the best of me and all I could think was that I was not living up to my name. As my attitude changed my excitement for hosting the event plummeted. Holly, my mentor, proceeded to explain the task to our audience of one. After the guest began working, Holly illuminated to me the beauty of progress. She noted how important it was not only to host a poetry slam, but organize the event by myself and meet my deadlines and production dates despite the adversity I faced during the process. It was through Holly’s wisdom that I was able to fight to achieve the poetry slam I envisioned, despite my self doubt and fear. Within the next five minutes, I sent out messages via social media reminding people of the poetry slam and networked with my friends, inviting more people to the event. Over the course of an hour, fifteen high school artist from the community joined the event eager to participate and express their inner poetic thoughts. It was through this experience that I discovered the strength of my persistence and intrinsic motivation when it came to achieving my goals.

From this experience, I learned how to make mistakes and be a “Comeback Queen”. It was that day, I discovered the mistakes and obstacles I face are part of my progression. Likewise, although my developmental journey will consist of mishaps, I must learn to prevent myself from being discouraged by the fear of repeating my mistakes or not being great. Instead, I must convert my fear into an awareness of my mistakes and formulate it into courage, acting as a source of motivation to better myself. I realized that doing great things is not obtainable without progression, and progress comes from the lessons I learn along the way. As a result, every day I wake up not worrying about living up to my name, rather focusing on being a better version of myself. This experience has helped me be aware of the progress I have made towards fulfilling my aspirations.