from a university application

"What life experience has been most significant to you?"

My carefree childhood, full of adventures, becomes more significant to me with every passing year. When I was only four years old, I discovered the joy of climbing the massive pine trees behind my family's house. My parents were fully aware of my (slightly dangerous) new habit, but my mother's only reaction was to tell me, "Just don't fall, okay?" I clearly recall sitting young and gleeful, perched on a treebranch and waving to my Mom who, on her upstairs balcony, was exactly at eye level. Our neighbors would call us, informing my parents that their daughter was up in a tree, and were they going to get her down? They never did. All through my childhood, my adventures were unmonitored and unspoiled.

Although this was not a turning point in my life, it was the first moment that I was conscious of the way that I would be raised; the motto of my family has always been "If it won't kill you, go ahead and try it." Never spoken was the equally important rule, the mindset that my upbringing taught me to hold dear: never live in fear of anything. Not broken bones, not tree sap on your new clothes. Not people, not storms, not spiders, not your college applications. Nothing.