College Questions

Tell me about yourself.

Well its difficult to know where to begin. I suppose the best place to start is the fact that i refuse to ever be bored. For me boredom is always replaced with curiosity. Curiosity for what new hobbies i should pickup, what new book i should read or just what i can learn from my surroundings. Because of this curiosity Ive not only stepped out of my box by learning the most that i possibly can, but Ive learned how to understand other people better and what it is like to walk in their shoes. Through curiosity Ive learned that my true passion is acting and that i am going to pursue my passion as a career (no matter how hard it gets). The fact that i get to play make-believe as a profession truly amazes me. Not only do i get to experience the kind of imagination that adults forget they once had, but i also can experience the lives of others whenever i want to. Learning to understand what makes a person tick, i personally believe, is life's greatest lesson. My acting has not only fed my curiosity and enhanced my imagination, but it has helped with my highschool education as well, I am excellent at critical thinking and due to this i believe i am a great student. By auditioning in front of total strangers, Ive learned how to be outgoing and completely confident in who i am. Ive learned from my rejections as well that no matter what people say, it is important to follow your dream. And last but not least by preforming in front of huge crowds, Ive found my courage. Although I realize how hard it is to pursue acting as a career, I know that acting truly defines me as a person and i plan to always play the role of who i truly am throughout my life. No matter what people believe or say. Thanks to my curiosity of living the lives of others, i have learned to live my own life to the best it can be.


Tell me about a challenge that you overcame.

Perhaps the biggest challenge i faced during my highschool years was change. I had came from a small private Waldorf school where each grade consisted of one class of twenty or less students and where each class had one teacher who guided the grade from first to eighth. The school had barely and homework and barely ever had tests. So coming from a small family like school to a big public school was my biggest challenge. I had to learn how to start over again, to make friends, develop relationships with teachers and last but most importantly learn how to take these new way of learning. Essays and critical thinking questions where never a problem for me, but I did not know how to play the game of multiple choice testing. I struggled at first and was often discouraged by all this change at once. Not only was my school life changing, but my family life as well. But I was determined to succeed in my new surroundings, I studied a lot and soon felt at home. By junior year i was talking almost all AP classes and felt at home once again. My mother often asked if i wanted to go to a private waldorf highschool, but even though times where tough i was determined not to run away from this challenge. I faced it and in the end I formed great relationships with teachers and friends. Although highschool still can be tough and scary, I am still learning and will continue to learn and progress. Thanks to the rough times in highschool, i will continue to succeed in no matter how stressful and scary of a situation

Filling in Circles

Since i am able to write about anything i really want to rant about and also since ive already wrote about my past, my family and last but not least some of my deepest thoughts. Ive decided to rant about an issue i feel strongly about. Which is multiple choice testing...
Although highschool has provided me with many educational opportunities and has taught me an incredible amount. I feel very strongly about the testing not only in my highschool, but the whole school system in America at whole! I personally believe, that critical thinking is often cast aside and that what is focused on now is how to fill in circles on a scantron. Our education should not be like a coloring book. I would like to draw outside the lines please and actually show teachers what i really know. Multiple-choice testing does not allow us to fully use our brain. It is easy to get multiple-choice questions correct without knowing much or doing any real thinking. Open-ended questions however force the student to remember information on their own, not only allowing them to have a better grasp on the material they are studying, but also enabling them to have a better chance at remembering that information in the future. They not only benefit the student, but the teacher as well. While while multiple-choice makes it difficult for a teacher to detect whether the student actually knows the material or just took a good guess, open-ended questions help the teacher pinpoint exactly where the student is struggling. Not to mention multiple choice tests are easy for students to cheat on. All they have to do is look over and see what order the dots are in, while open-ended test are basically impossible to cheat on. bllaaaahh! this rant doesn't really apply to AP Lit, but this is an issue that i see in almost all my other classes. Although I am fully for having an easier time getting good grades in highschool, Ive realized that if i am spending six hours, five days a week, at school; i might as well learn something that i will remember in the future and not just forget over the summer.

End of Rant

Two Roads Diverged In a Yellow Wood

For this blog assignment I was instantly reminded of the poem "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost. So I created my story of what would happen if I could take both roads.




The Road Not Taken

Part One

Part Two

The Road Often Taken

Part One

Part Two

Moon River

When I was much younger and before I saw the film Breakfast at Tiffanys, I remember coming across a poster of this shot of Audrey Hepburn. I was taken back by her beauty and how elegantly she seemed to carry herself. I didn't realize that it was a movie poster until a few years later, and after realizing that i could learn more of this glamorous lady i rented it. Although this movie may seem like just another romantic comedy to others. To me this movie relates not only to my own life, but the life of my parents before me and my true feelings towards my mother.
The film tells the story of a struggling writer, Paul,who moves into a New York apartment building and becomes intrigued by his pretty, quirky neighbor Holly Golightly. Holly's lifestyle confuses and fascinates him; in public she flits through parties with a sexy, sophisticated air, but when they're alone she changes into a sweetly vulnerable bundle of neuroses.
When watching Breakfast at Tiffany's I realized that Holly Golightly is in many ways similar to me. when let into a clean room i will destroy and make it look like a hurricane hit it within two seconds, I am an aspiring actress, I sometimes try to hide my background and how wealthy my parents are, and even though i am very social and have no problem walking into a room full of people perhaps the only one who knows me is or was my cat. However the greatest similarity between Holly Golightly and I is the fact that although we act like we are completely a social butterfly, In reality we would rather wear a mask to hide our true emotions and just deal with them on our own. Even though i realize that not being able to tell someone how i feel is a huge problem, it comforts me to know that the most elegant and perfect woman Ive ever seen is dealing with the same problems i am dealing with.
Another reason why I absolutely love Breakfast at Tiffanys is because it is very similar to my mother and fathers story of how they fell in love. Like Paul, my father is a writer who was working on a TV show The Great Space Coaster when he met my mother who was working on set and who was an aspiring actress during the time. My dad fell in love quickly with my mother and soon asked her out on a date. My mother was a social butterfly and was attending parties like Eddie Murphys 21 birthday during the time, so for my dad asking this woman out was a tremendous deal. My father remembers stopping by my mothers apartment for the first time and when opening the door, my mother screamed "IVE BEEN ROBBED!!" After a couple minutes of panic my mother calmed down and said "oh...actually i think i left it like this..." My father was shocked to see such a glamorous woman to live in such a s*** hole! Well after many more neurotic stories about my mom, my father lost contact with her because she wasnt ready to settle down and date only my father. Years later my mother randomly called my father and they eventually began to date. Later they soon became engaged, and my mother decided to escape to France because she was afraid of commitment. Luckily, she saw a sign on the side of the road say "Parker! its not Gamble!" So my mother did marry my dad after all.
I often find it hard to talk to my mother and it makes me very sad to know that we may never get along. But when my father tells me the stories of how my mom was in the city, I feel a stronger bond with her. Which is all i ever wanted. I realized that the love I have for Holly is truly just the love i have for my mother.

My Second Mother

As i said already in my previous post, I went to a private school with only one teacher from 1st to 8th grade. This teacher's name was Anne Stanmyer and she was not only my teacher but also another mother to me. She was there through every phase in my life. The good and the bad, the cooties to crushes. She has also traveled with me through the evolution of my interest in reading. Mrs. Stanmyer was a big reader herself, so everyone in my class always had a huge list of books that she would recommended to us. Everyday we had reading time and when we were little she would read out loud to us. She also would assign essays which always were on fun topics. So writing an essay for Mrs Stanmyer was never a hassle or a burden. Instead she made reading and writing fun like it should be. Not only did Mrs Stanmyer teach me what books are great and how to write an essay. She taught me what the alphabet is and how to read. Thanks to Mrs Stanmyer, I am not illiterate.

Ross is Da Boss

For as long as i can remember, Ross Parker, my father, has stayed up typing away on his laptop during the night. It has always comforted me to know that when i wake up in the night my father would be there to talk to me or tell me everything is all right. He played the role of the nightlight i never had. On those nights when i could not fall asleep, my father would read me his screenplays. I always loved when my father would ask me what i thought would be an interesting continuation on the plot. Although most of the time my answers of happy disneyish endings were not what my father was looking for in a thriller suspense movie. He always allowed me to state my ideas and let my imagination go wild. Because of this, I've always had an easy time being creative with my writing. Thanks to my father's encouragement. my brother, Izzy and I would spend most of our weekends creating elaborate story books and plays. My greatest works being "Beanie Baby Adventures," "Lamby," "Sally and Franka Pignose" and last but not least "Feathered;" a story of a young girl who runs away to live with the pigeons. A heartwarming tale that is guaranteed to bring tears to ones eyes.
Thanks to my father, I have not only learned how to become a better writer but how to love writing and letting my thoughts flow free for others to see. Thanks Ross you're da boss!

A Drastic Change

Before NP Highschool, i came from a small private school called Mt. Laurel. This school had barely any homework and no grades. Not to mention only twenty students were in my grade. I had known most of these kids since nursery and i had one teacher from first grade until i graduated. This class was like a family to me and i will treasure all the years i had spent with them. But the school only went up to eighth grade, so i came to NP highschool. I was terrified for this change because i felt like everything was changing at that time in my life. My brother was leaving home to go to college and my mother was coming back home from school to spend time with me and my sister. So i was practically shaking on my first day of school. The first two months were horrible. I was not used to the bell that rang all the students into the busy hallways ringing with the sound of teenagers screaming over each other to be heard. I was not used to having to meet new people and not knowing who anyone was. And last but not least, i was not used to the testing. In fact i had no idea what a scantron was when i first came. I couldn't see many of my friends because most of them lived about an hour away and were busy with their own change in life now. It really depressed me and i felt really alone for a good part of that year. I desperately wished I could have had close friends again. So as i had done multiple times before, I relied on my good friend literature. I spent countless weekends reading because i had no one else to hangout with. Yeah i had friends in school, but there is a difference between school friends and becoming friends out of school. I felt awkward hanging out with people out of school. Because I just felt like i didn't fit in and i hated how shy i was. Eventually my reading of books become all textbooks and my weekends became more busy with plans with my new friends Aubrey and Lucy. Although Freshman year had its ups and downs, I am really happy I read as much as i did. because without it I would have been much worse off and reading kept me entertained. Plus like many other times in my life, provided me with comfort in knowing something in my life has not changed.