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Addicted to Baking – My Favorite Essay on Baking as a Hobby

If you’re like me, you are probably obsessed with baking, to the point that it’s your every-day hobby.

Below is an essay example about “Baking as my hobby” written by Lauren Bradshaw from CustomWritings – personalized essay writing service established in 2008. You can learn from this sample and write perfect college essays.

As the only boy with five sisters, it wasn’t common that I was attracted to the kitchen. I didn’t particularly enjoy cooking except for when I am doing the steaks with my dad. However, there is just one part of cooking that I am attracted to, baking .

Growing up, I used to love cakes. I would cry for hours unending until my parents got me a piece. I was so addicted to chocolate cake, and my mum used it against me. She would tell me to do the dishes, fold my laundry, or even water the garden for a piece of chocolate cake.

I would gladly do all that and more to get my piece, and my mum is great at baking. Her cake is always near perfect, and she knows how to spice them up with fruits and other sweet additives. Watching her bake in the kitchen at special occasions like Christmas, birthdays and Thanksgiving brought me so much happiness. While some of my sisters didn’t like the idea of baking, I was glued to my mum whenever she baked and asked her many questions about the process then, although some of them were annoying.

As a little boy of seven, I could attempt to bake a simple carrot cake. My love for the chocolate was, and carrot cake became my new cool. On my 10th year, I baked my first cheesecake for the family and got plenty of positive feedback from my mum, sisters, and my dad too.

As I grew, my interest in cake decorations intensified. I would go to parties and carefully observe the decorations on the cakes. Then, I would come home and ask my mum what she thought about it. I got my first camera and took tons of cake pictures I found interesting. As my curiosity grew, my family adopted the idea that I was the chief baker. I took up that position with so much joy as I looked forward to pleasing them. I baked all kinds of easy cakes for deserts. I bought cookbooks and learned new ways to make a great cake without fuss.

From cakes to pies and delicious bread, my love for baking grew with me to my teens until I had to get to college. My mum was crying because since I took over the baking responsibility, she has been free and had not baked for years. My family was sad, but I was devastated because I may have to focus on my studies and lose my passion for baking.

Dad didn’t want me to go into the confectionary business without at least getting a professional certificate, and I correctly understood his plight. I got to college, and my first year was hectic, so I had no time for my hobbies, especially baking. I made new friends and found some that lived around. Made a few visits and found out one of my close friends lives with his family and they were open to my visits.

One day we were all having dinner, and I talked about my baking expertise and how I missed doing what I love most. The family suggested I come around and bake for an upcoming birthday. I was so excited to get another opportunity to display my talent. I showed up very early on the day before the celebration and got down to work with the help of my friend’s family. They were skeptical at first because I was a boy, but when we were halfway into the process, they were amazed at my knowledge and skills on baking.

The cake turned out better than they expected, to my amazement. I did a unique decoration, and the celebrant never stopped thanking me. I got a few recommendations and did other side baking gigs while in college, and I was happy with the chance I got.

Baking was my way of relaxing. I loved the smile and people’s faces when they taste my cake or pie, and it gave me a strong push to come up with something better. I loved the compliments I get from mum and dad anytime I bake something extraordinary. They were proud I found something I love and could keep to it.

Each time I bake, I feel a spark of joy in my soul. It felt like I was born to mix flour and make magic from it. I have other hobbies, no doubt, but none can compare to my love for baking.

At the end of college, I took to another profession but will always bake whenever I got the chance. Baking will always be special to me, and I hope to pass down my skills to my children.

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Follow YES! For Teachers

Six brilliant student essays on the power of food to spark social change.

Read winning essays from our fall 2018 “Feeding Ourselves, Feeding Our Revolutions,” student writing contest.

For the Fall 2018 student writing competition, “Feeding Ourselves, Feeding Our Revolutions,” we invited students to read the YES! Magazine article, “Cooking Stirs the Pot for Social Change,” by Korsha Wilson and respond to this writing prompt: If you were to host a potluck or dinner to discuss a challenge facing your community or country, what food would you cook? Whom would you invite? On what issue would you deliberate?

The Winners

From the hundreds of essays written, these six—on anti-Semitism, cultural identity, death row prisoners, coming out as transgender, climate change, and addiction—were chosen as essay winners. Be sure to read the literary gems and catchy titles that caught our eye.

Middle School Winner: India Brown High School Winner: Grace Williams University Winner: Lillia Borodkin Powerful Voice Winner: Paisley Regester Powerful Voice Winner: Emma Lingo Powerful Voice Winner: Hayden Wilson

Literary Gems Clever Titles

Middle School Winner: India Brown

A Feast for the Future

Close your eyes and imagine the not too distant future: The Statue of Liberty is up to her knees in water, the streets of lower Manhattan resemble the canals of Venice, and hurricanes arrive in the fall and stay until summer. Now, open your eyes and see the beautiful planet that we will destroy if we do not do something. Now is the time for change. Our future is in our control if we take actions, ranging from small steps, such as not using plastic straws, to large ones, such as reducing fossil fuel consumption and electing leaders who take the problem seriously.

Hosting a dinner party is an extraordinary way to publicize what is at stake. At my potluck, I would serve linguini with clams. The clams would be sautéed in white wine sauce. The pasta tossed with a light coat of butter and topped with freshly shredded parmesan. I choose this meal because it cannot be made if global warming’s patterns persist. Soon enough, the ocean will be too warm to cultivate clams, vineyards will be too sweltering to grow grapes, and wheat fields will dry out, leaving us without pasta.

I think that giving my guests a delicious meal and then breaking the news to them that its ingredients would be unattainable if Earth continues to get hotter is a creative strategy to initiate action. Plus, on the off chance the conversation gets drastically tense, pasta is a relatively difficult food to throw.

In YES! Magazine’s article, “Cooking Stirs the Pot for Social Change,” Korsha Wilson says “…beyond the narrow definition of what cooking is, you can see that cooking is and has always been an act of resistance.” I hope that my dish inspires people to be aware of what’s at stake with increasing greenhouse gas emissions and work toward creating a clean energy future.

My guest list for the potluck would include two groups of people: local farmers, who are directly and personally affected by rising temperatures, increased carbon dioxide, drought, and flooding, and people who either do not believe in human-caused climate change or don’t think it affects anyone. I would invite the farmers or farm owners because their jobs and crops are dependent on the weather. I hope that after hearing a farmer’s perspective, climate-deniers would be awakened by the truth and more receptive to the effort to reverse these catastrophic trends.

Earth is a beautiful planet that provides everything we’ll ever need, but because of our pattern of living—wasteful consumption, fossil fuel burning, and greenhouse gas emissions— our habitat is rapidly deteriorating. Whether you are a farmer, a long-shower-taking teenager, a worker in a pollution-producing factory, or a climate-denier, the future of humankind is in our hands. The choices we make and the actions we take will forever affect planet Earth.

India Brown is an eighth grader who lives in New York City with her parents and older brother. She enjoys spending time with her friends, walking her dog, Morty, playing volleyball and lacrosse, and swimming.

High School Winner: Grace Williams

Apple Pie Embrace

It’s 1:47 a.m. Thanksgiving smells fill the kitchen. The sweet aroma of sugar-covered apples and buttery dough swirls into my nostrils. Fragrant orange and rosemary permeate the room and every corner smells like a stroll past the open door of a French bakery. My eleven-year-old eyes water, red with drowsiness, and refocus on the oven timer counting down. Behind me, my mom and aunt chat to no end, fueled by the seemingly self-replenishable coffee pot stashed in the corner. Their hands work fast, mashing potatoes, crumbling cornbread, and covering finished dishes in a thin layer of plastic wrap. The most my tired body can do is sit slouched on the backless wooden footstool. I bask in the heat escaping under the oven door.

As a child, I enjoyed Thanksgiving and the preparations that came with it, but it seemed like more of a bridge between my birthday and Christmas than an actual holiday. Now, it’s a time of year I look forward to, dedicated to family, memories, and, most importantly, food. What I realized as I grew older was that my homemade Thanksgiving apple pie was more than its flaky crust and soft-fruit center. This American food symbolized a rite of passage, my Iraqi family’s ticket to assimilation.

Some argue that by adopting American customs like the apple pie, we lose our culture. I would argue that while American culture influences what my family eats and celebrates, it doesn’t define our character. In my family, we eat Iraqi dishes like mesta and tahini, but we also eat Cinnamon Toast Crunch for breakfast. This doesn’t mean we favor one culture over the other; instead, we create a beautiful blend of the two, adapting traditions to make them our own.

That said, my family has always been more than the “mashed potatoes and turkey” type.

My mom’s family immigrated to the United States in 1976. Upon their arrival, they encountered a deeply divided America. Racism thrived, even after the significant freedoms gained from the Civil Rights Movement a few years before. Here, my family was thrust into a completely unknown world: they didn’t speak the language, they didn’t dress normally, and dinners like riza maraka seemed strange in comparison to the Pop Tarts and Oreos lining grocery store shelves.

If I were to host a dinner party, it would be like Thanksgiving with my Chaldean family. The guests, my extended family, are a diverse people, distinct ingredients in a sweet potato casserole, coming together to create a delicious dish.

In her article “Cooking Stirs the Pot for Social Change,” Korsha Wilson writes, “each ingredient that we use, every technique, every spice tells a story about our access, our privilege, our heritage, and our culture.” Voices around the room will echo off the walls into the late hours of the night while the hot apple pie steams at the table’s center.

We will play concan on the blanketed floor and I’ll try to understand my Toto, who, after forty years, still speaks broken English. I’ll listen to my elders as they tell stories about growing up in Unionville, Michigan, a predominately white town where they always felt like outsiders, stories of racism that I have the privilege not to experience. While snacking on sunflower seeds and salted pistachios, we’ll talk about the news- how thousands of people across the country are protesting for justice among immigrants. No one protested to give my family a voice.

Our Thanksgiving food is more than just sustenance, it is a physical representation of my family ’s blended and ever-changing culture, even after 40 years in the United States. No matter how the food on our plates changes, it will always symbolize our sense of family—immediate and extended—and our unbreakable bond.

Grace Williams, a student at Kirkwood High School in Kirkwood, Missouri, enjoys playing tennis, baking, and spending time with her family. Grace also enjoys her time as a writing editor for her school’s yearbook, the Pioneer. In the future, Grace hopes to continue her travels abroad, as well as live near extended family along the sunny beaches of La Jolla, California.

University Winner: Lillia Borodkin

Nourishing Change After Tragedy Strikes

In the Jewish community, food is paramount. We often spend our holidays gathered around a table, sharing a meal and reveling in our people’s story. On other sacred days, we fast, focusing instead on reflection, atonement, and forgiveness.

As a child, I delighted in the comfort of matzo ball soup, the sweetness of hamantaschen, and the beauty of braided challah. But as I grew older and more knowledgeable about my faith, I learned that the origins of these foods are not rooted in joy, but in sacrifice.

The matzo of matzo balls was a necessity as the Jewish people did not have time for their bread to rise as they fled slavery in Egypt. The hamantaschen was an homage to the hat of Haman, the villain of the Purim story who plotted the Jewish people’s destruction. The unbaked portion of braided challah was tithed by commandment to the kohen or priests. Our food is an expression of our history, commemorating both our struggles and our triumphs.

As I write this, only days have passed since eleven Jews were killed at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh. These people, intending only to pray and celebrate the Sabbath with their community, were murdered simply for being Jewish. This brutal event, in a temple and city much like my own, is a reminder that anti-Semitism still exists in this country. A reminder that hatred of Jews, of me, my family, and my community, is alive and flourishing in America today. The thought that a difference in religion would make some believe that others do not have the right to exist is frightening and sickening.

This is why, if given the chance, I would sit down the entire Jewish American community at one giant Shabbat table. I’d serve matzo ball soup, pass around loaves of challah, and do my best to offer comfort. We would take time to remember the beautiful souls lost to anti-Semitism this October and the countless others who have been victims of such hatred in the past. I would then ask that we channel all we are feeling—all the fear, confusion, and anger —into the fight.

As suggested in Korsha Wilson’s “Cooking Stirs the Pot for Social Change,” I would urge my guests to direct our passion for justice and the comfort and care provided by the food we are eating into resisting anti-Semitism and hatred of all kinds.

We must use the courage this sustenance provides to create change and honor our people’s suffering and strength. We must remind our neighbors, both Jewish and non-Jewish, that anti-Semitism is alive and well today. We must shout and scream and vote until our elected leaders take this threat to our community seriously. And, we must stand with, support, and listen to other communities that are subjected to vengeful hate today in the same way that many of these groups have supported us in the wake of this tragedy.

This terrible shooting is not the first of its kind, and if conflict and loathing are permitted to grow, I fear it will not be the last. While political change may help, the best way to target this hate is through smaller-scale actions in our own communities.

It is critical that we as a Jewish people take time to congregate and heal together, but it is equally necessary to include those outside the Jewish community to build a powerful crusade against hatred and bigotry. While convening with these individuals, we will work to end the dangerous “otherizing” that plagues our society and seek to understand that we share far more in common than we thought. As disagreements arise during our discussions, we will learn to respect and treat each other with the fairness we each desire. Together, we shall share the comfort, strength, and courage that traditional Jewish foods provide and use them to fuel our revolution.

We are not alone in the fight despite what extremists and anti-semites might like us to believe. So, like any Jew would do, I invite you to join me at the Shabbat table. First, we will eat. Then, we will get to work.

Lillia Borodkin is a senior at Kent State University majoring in Psychology with a concentration in Child Psychology. She plans to attend graduate school and become a school psychologist while continuing to pursue her passion for reading and writing. Outside of class, Lillia is involved in research in the psychology department and volunteers at the Women’s Center on campus.

Powerful Voice Winner: Paisley Regester

As a kid, I remember asking my friends jokingly, ”If you were stuck on a deserted island, what single item of food would you bring?” Some of my friends answered practically and said they’d bring water. Others answered comically and said they’d bring snacks like Flamin’ Hot Cheetos or a banana. However, most of my friends answered sentimentally and listed the foods that made them happy. This seems like fun and games, but what happens if the hypothetical changes? Imagine being asked, on the eve of your death, to choose the final meal you will ever eat. What food would you pick? Something practical? Comical? Sentimental?

This situation is the reality for the 2,747 American prisoners who are currently awaiting execution on death row. The grim ritual of “last meals,” when prisoners choose their final meal before execution, can reveal a lot about these individuals and what they valued throughout their lives.

It is difficult for us to imagine someone eating steak, lobster tail, apple pie, and vanilla ice cream one moment and being killed by state-approved lethal injection the next. The prisoner can only hope that the apple pie he requested tastes as good as his mom’s. Surprisingly, many people in prison decline the option to request a special last meal. We often think of food as something that keeps us alive, so is there really any point to eating if someone knows they are going to die?

“Controlling food is a means of controlling power,” said chef Sean Sherman in the YES! Magazine article “Cooking Stirs the Pot for Social Change,” by Korsha Wilson. There are deeper stories that lie behind the final meals of individuals on death row.

I want to bring awareness to the complex and often controversial conditions of this country’s criminal justice system and change the common perception of prisoners as inhuman. To accomplish this, I would host a potluck where I would recreate the last meals of prisoners sentenced to death.

In front of each plate, there would be a place card with the prisoner’s full name, the date of execution, and the method of execution. These meals could range from a plate of fried chicken, peas with butter, apple pie, and a Dr. Pepper, reminiscent of a Sunday dinner at Grandma’s, to a single olive.

Seeing these meals up close, meals that many may eat at their own table or feed to their own kids, would force attendees to face the reality of the death penalty. It will urge my guests to look at these individuals not just as prisoners, assigned a number and a death date, but as people, capable of love and rehabilitation.

This potluck is not only about realizing a prisoner’s humanity, but it is also about recognizing a flawed criminal justice system. Over the years, I have become skeptical of the American judicial system, especially when only seven states have judges who ethnically represent the people they serve. I was shocked when I found out that the officers who killed Michael Brown and Anthony Lamar Smith were exonerated for their actions. How could that be possible when so many teens and adults of color have spent years in prison, some even executed, for crimes they never committed?

Lawmakers, police officers, city officials, and young constituents, along with former prisoners and their families, would be invited to my potluck to start an honest conversation about the role and application of inequality, dehumanization, and racism in the death penalty. Food served at the potluck would represent the humanity of prisoners and push people to acknowledge that many inmates are victims of a racist and corrupt judicial system.

Recognizing these injustices is only the first step towards a more equitable society. The second step would be acting on these injustices to ensure that every voice is heard, even ones separated from us by prison walls. Let’s leave that for the next potluck, where I plan to serve humble pie.

Paisley Regester is a high school senior and devotes her life to activism, the arts, and adventure. Inspired by her experiences traveling abroad to Nicaragua, Mexico, and Scotland, Paisley hopes to someday write about the diverse people and places she has encountered and share her stories with the rest of the world.

Powerful Voice Winner: Emma Lingo

The Empty Seat

“If you aren’t sober, then I don’t want to see you on Christmas.”

Harsh words for my father to hear from his daughter but words he needed to hear. Words I needed him to understand and words he seemed to consider as he fiddled with his wine glass at the head of the table. Our guests, my grandma, and her neighbors remained resolutely silent. They were not about to defend my drunken father–or Charles as I call him–from my anger or my ultimatum.

This was the first dinner we had had together in a year. The last meal we shared ended with Charles slopping his drink all over my birthday presents and my mother explaining heroin addiction to me. So, I wasn’t surprised when Charles threw down some liquid valor before dinner in anticipation of my anger. If he wanted to be welcomed on Christmas, he needed to be sober—or he needed to be gone.

Countless dinners, holidays, and birthdays taught me that my demands for sobriety would fall on deaf ears. But not this time. Charles gave me a gift—a one of a kind, limited edition, absolutely awkward treat. One that I didn’t know how to deal with at all. Charles went home that night, smacked a bright red bow on my father, and hand-delivered him to me on Christmas morning.

He arrived for breakfast freshly showered and looking flustered. He would remember this day for once only because his daughter had scolded him into sobriety. Dad teetered between happiness and shame. Grandma distracted us from Dad’s presence by bringing the piping hot bacon and biscuits from the kitchen to the table, theatrically announcing their arrival. Although these foods were the alleged focus of the meal, the real spotlight shined on the unopened liquor cabinet in my grandma’s kitchen—the cabinet I know Charles was begging Dad to open.

I’ve isolated myself from Charles. My family has too. It means we don’t see Dad, but it’s the best way to avoid confrontation and heartache. Sometimes I find myself wondering what it would be like if we talked with him more or if he still lived nearby. Would he be less inclined to use? If all families with an addict tried to hang on to a relationship with the user, would there be fewer addicts in the world? Christmas breakfast with Dad was followed by Charles whisking him away to Colorado where pot had just been legalized. I haven’t talked to Dad since that Christmas.

As Korsha Wilson stated in her YES! Magazine article, “Cooking Stirs the Pot for Social Change,” “Sometimes what we don’t cook says more than what we do cook.” When it comes to addiction, what isn’t served is more important than what is. In quiet moments, I like to imagine a meal with my family–including Dad. He’d have a spot at the table in my little fantasy. No alcohol would push him out of his chair, the cigarettes would remain seated in his back pocket, and the stench of weed wouldn’t invade the dining room. Fruit salad and gumbo would fill the table—foods that Dad likes. We’d talk about trivial matters in life, like how school is going and what we watched last night on TV.

Dad would feel loved. We would connect. He would feel less alone. At the end of the night, he’d walk me to the door and promise to see me again soon. And I would believe him.

Emma Lingo spends her time working as an editor for her school paper, reading, and being vocal about social justice issues. Emma is active with many clubs such as Youth and Government, KHS Cares, and Peer Helpers. She hopes to be a journalist one day and to be able to continue helping out people by volunteering at local nonprofits.

Powerful Voice Winner: Hayden Wilson

Bittersweet Reunion

I close my eyes and envision a dinner of my wildest dreams. I would invite all of my relatives. Not just my sister who doesn’t ask how I am anymore. Not just my nephews who I’m told are too young to understand me. No, I would gather all of my aunts, uncles, and cousins to introduce them to the me they haven’t met.

For almost two years, I’ve gone by a different name that most of my family refuses to acknowledge. My aunt, a nun of 40 years, told me at a recent birthday dinner that she’d heard of my “nickname.” I didn’t want to start a fight, so I decided not to correct her. Even the ones who’ve adjusted to my name have yet to recognize the bigger issue.

Last year on Facebook, I announced to my friends and family that I am transgender. No one in my family has talked to me about it, but they have plenty to say to my parents. I feel as if this is about my parents more than me—that they’ve made some big parenting mistake. Maybe if I invited everyone to dinner and opened up a discussion, they would voice their concerns to me instead of my parents.

I would serve two different meals of comfort food to remind my family of our good times. For my dad’s family, I would cook heavily salted breakfast food, the kind my grandpa used to enjoy. He took all of his kids to IHOP every Sunday and ordered the least healthy option he could find, usually some combination of an overcooked omelet and a loaded Classic Burger. For my mom’s family, I would buy shakes and burgers from Hardee’s. In my grandma’s final weeks, she let aluminum tins of sympathy meals pile up on her dining table while she made my uncle take her to Hardee’s every day.

In her article on cooking and activism, food writer Korsha Wilson writes, “Everyone puts down their guard over a good meal, and in that space, change is possible.” Hopefully the same will apply to my guests.

When I first thought of this idea, my mind rushed to the endless negative possibilities. My nun-aunt and my two non-nun aunts who live like nuns would whip out their Bibles before I even finished my first sentence. My very liberal, state representative cousin would say how proud she is of the guy I’m becoming, but this would trigger my aunts to accuse her of corrupting my mind. My sister, who has never spoken to me about my genderidentity, would cover her children’s ears and rush them out of the house. My Great-Depression-raised grandparents would roll over in their graves, mumbling about how kids have it easy nowadays.

After mentally mapping out every imaginable terrible outcome this dinner could have, I realized a conversation is unavoidable if I want my family to accept who I am. I long to restore the deep connection I used to have with them. Though I often think these former relationships are out of reach, I won’t know until I try to repair them. For a year and a half, I’ve relied on Facebook and my parents to relay messages about my identity, but I need to tell my own story.

At first, I thought Korsha Wilson’s idea of a cooked meal leading the way to social change was too optimistic, but now I understand that I need to think more like her. Maybe, just maybe, my family could all gather around a table, enjoy some overpriced shakes, and be as close as we were when I was a little girl.

Hayden Wilson is a 17-year-old high school junior from Missouri. He loves writing, making music, and painting. He’s a part of his school’s writing club, as well as the GSA and a few service clubs.

Literary Gems

We received many outstanding essays for the Fall 2018 Writing Competition. Though not every participant can win the contest, we’d like to share some excerpts that caught our eye.

Thinking of the main staple of the dish—potatoes, the starchy vegetable that provides sustenance for people around the globe. The onion, the layers of sorrow and joy—a base for this dish served during the holidays. The oil, symbolic of hope and perseverance. All of these elements come together to form this delicious oval pancake permeating with possibilities. I wonder about future possibilities as I flip the latkes.

—Nikki Markman, University of San Francisco, San Francisco, California

The egg is a treasure. It is a fragile heart of gold that once broken, flows over the blemishless surface of the egg white in dandelion colored streams, like ribbon unraveling from its spool.

—Kaylin Ku, West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South, Princeton Junction, New Jersey

If I were to bring one food to a potluck to create social change by addressing anti-Semitism, I would bring gefilte fish because it is different from other fish, just like the Jews are different from other people. It looks more like a matzo ball than fish, smells extraordinarily fishy, and tastes like sweet brine with the consistency of a crab cake.

—Noah Glassman, Ethical Culture Fieldston School, Bronx, New York

I would not only be serving them something to digest, I would serve them a one-of-a-kind taste of the past, a taste of fear that is felt in the souls of those whose home and land were taken away, a taste of ancestral power that still lives upon us, and a taste of the voices that want to be heard and that want the suffering of the Natives to end.

—Citlalic Anima Guevara, Wichita North High School, Wichita, Kansas

It’s the one thing that your parents make sure you have because they didn’t. Food is what your mother gives you as she lies, telling you she already ate. It’s something not everybody is fortunate to have and it’s also what we throw away without hesitation. Food is a blessing to me, but what is it to you?

—Mohamed Omar, Kirkwood High School, Kirkwood, Missouri

Filleted and fried humphead wrasse, mangrove crab with coconut milk, pounded taro, a whole roast pig, and caramelized nuts—cuisines that will not be simplified to just “food.” Because what we eat is the diligence and pride of our people—a culture that has survived and continues to thrive.

—Mayumi Remengesau, University of San Francisco, San Francisco, California

Some people automatically think I’m kosher or ask me to say prayers in Hebrew. However, guess what? I don’t know many prayers and I eat bacon.

—Hannah Reing, Ethical Culture Fieldston School, The Bronx, New York

Everything was placed before me. Rolling up my sleeves I started cracking eggs, mixing flour, and sampling some chocolate chips, because you can never be too sure. Three separate bowls. All different sizes. Carefully, I tipped the smallest, and the medium-sized bowls into the biggest. Next, I plugged in my hand-held mixer and flicked on the switch. The beaters whirl to life. I lowered it into the bowl and witnessed the creation of something magnificent. Cookie dough.

—Cassandra Amaya, Owen Goodnight Middle School, San Marcos, Texas

Biscuits and bisexuality are both things that are in my life…My grandmother’s biscuits are the best: the good old classic Southern biscuits, crunchy on the outside, fluffy on the inside. Except it is mostly Southern people who don’t accept me.

—Jaden Huckaby, Arbor Montessori, Decatur, Georgia

We zest the bright yellow lemons and the peels of flavor fall lightly into the batter. To make frosting, we keep adding more and more powdered sugar until it looks like fluffy clouds with raspberry seed rain.

—Jane Minus, Ethical Culture Fieldston School, Bronx, New York

Tamales for my grandma, I can still remember her skillfully spreading the perfect layer of masa on every corn husk, looking at me pitifully as my young hands fumbled with the corn wrapper, always too thick or too thin.

—Brenna Eliaz, San Marcos High School, San Marcos, Texas

Just like fry bread, MRE’s (Meals Ready to Eat) remind New Orleanians and others affected by disasters of the devastation throughout our city and the little amount of help we got afterward.

—Madeline Johnson, Spring Hill College, Mobile, Alabama

I would bring cream corn and buckeyes and have a big debate on whether marijuana should be illegal or not.

—Lillian Martinez, Miller Middle School, San Marcos, Texas

We would finish the meal off with a delicious apple strudel, topped with schlag, schlag, schlag, more schlag, and a cherry, and finally…more schlag (in case you were wondering, schlag is like whipped cream, but 10 times better because it is heavier and sweeter).

—Morgan Sheehan, Ethical Culture Fieldston School, Bronx, New York

Clever Titles

This year we decided to do something different. We were so impressed by the number of catchy titles that we decided to feature some of our favorites.

“Eat Like a Baby: Why Shame Has No Place at a Baby’s Dinner Plate”

—Tate Miller, Wichita North High School, Wichita, Kansas

“The Cheese in Between”

—Jedd Horowitz, Ethical Culture Fieldston School, Bronx, New York

“Harvey, Michael, Florence or Katrina? Invite Them All Because Now We Are Prepared”

—Molly Mendoza, Spring Hill College, Mobile, Alabama

“Neglecting Our Children: From Broccoli to Bullets”

—Kylie Rollings, Kirkwood High School, Kirkwood, Missouri

“The Lasagna of Life”

—Max Williams, Wichita North High School, Wichita, Kansas

“Yum, Yum, Carbon Dioxide In Our Lungs”

—Melanie Eickmeyer, Kirkwood High School, Kirkwood, Missouri

“My Potluck, My Choice”

—Francesca Grossberg, Ethical Culture Fieldston School, Bronx, New York

“Trumping with Tacos”

—Maya Goncalves, Lincoln Middle School, Ypsilanti, Michigan

“Quiche and Climate Change”

—Bernie Waldman, Ethical Culture Fieldston School, Bronx, New York

“Biscuits and Bisexuality”

“W(health)”

—Miles Oshan, San Marcos High School, San Marcos, Texas

“Bubula, Come Eat!”

—Jordan Fienberg, Ethical Culture Fieldston School, Bronx, New York

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How An Essay About Food Landed Me at My Top College

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May 1st is fast approaching, and the time for the high school class of 2019 to make their final college decisions is dwindling. Choosing which college to go to is overwhelming, but the dozens of essays one has to write to merely apply is even more daunting. It also doesn't help when you apply to way too many schools (13 to be exact), nearly all of which want you to outline what makes their school stand out. It was all too easy to get trapped in the cycle of repetitive phrases and "smart-sounding language."

However, when it came to writing my actual college essay which was to be sent to every school, it seemed to just flow onto the paper. Despite not choosing a specific Common App prompt, I knew exactly what I was going to write about—food.

Unlike fellow applicants, I did not have an incredible story to tell, nor an obstacle that I overcame worth a college admission officer's time. What I did have standing behind me was a passion for peanut butter and jelly , the best desserts in New Jersey , and outlandish food gadgets that probably no one needs .

I am a massive foodie. By definition, I am a person who really appreciates a good meal. It also makes me the person who makes dinner reservations for a vacation before the plane tickets and hotel rooms are booked, and one that celebrates a ten mile run with a slice of Cheesecake Factory’s Ultimate Red Velvet Cheesecake . Is it the most healthy hobby? Probably not. But fun? Of course.

I am not sure what drew me to food, but maybe it is the fact that my earliest memories are of grabbing every sample possible at Sam’s Club, eating holiday dinners of kugel and brisket, and standing on the countertop making a batch of Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies. I learned to read a nutrition label before I could read a book and I learned the basics of food before I could count to ten. From childhood until now, although my taste buds have changed, and I have grown a liking for broccoli and lasagna, my infatuation with food remains constant.

Or maybe it is because I love how food is a social event. My family makes a point to eat our dinners as a unit. You can even count on my dog joining us in the kitchen when dinner is served. Whether we are eating one of my mom’s extravagant home-cooked meals or scarfing down a delivery pizza before we have to run out of the house, my family congregates at the table to catch up with each other.

Fridays are our nights out to dinner to celebrate the fact that we made it through another week. The choice of restaurant depends on whoever’s turn it is. My brother, not at all a food fanatic, always says anywhere. My dad loves to joke that Anywhere is too far or too expensive or whatever excuse he could make to get a chuckle out of me. To this day, I can always count on Friday night plans, even if it means eating dinner out with my parents. After dinner, you might discover my sister and I binge-watching the latest documentary about the juice cleanse (we’ve seen all three) while munching on a bag of Chex Mix.

This communion continues with my friends. You can find me on any given Saturday night chatting about the latest gossip and sharing our opinions on last night’s Bachelor in Paradise episode. This conversation isn’t complete unless we are chowing down on a smorgasbord of chicken chow mein , mozzarella sticks, and Pringles. Our way of celebrating our gratefulness towards one another is by hosting a Friendsgiving. Our annual feast boasts piles of our favorite foods. Luckily, when you are with friends, calories do not count.

I adore food. Not in the way where I don’t have a limit, but in the way that food just so happens to be a vital part of so many happy moments. I’m not a glutton, I just really like to smile. I cannot remember a time when food did not in one way or another make me or someone else happy. Even during the saddest or most stressful of situations, spending some quality time with Ben and Jerry can make it all better. Food is one of the most basic human needs, but it has grown into an integral aspect of our society where people look to it for comfort. When you are surrounded by foods and people who care for you, you don’t need much more. Although, extra dessert never hurts.

Where the Essay Led Me

After a few rejections, long college road-trips, and some delicious college cookies as seen in the photo above, I have officially committed to Northeastern University. I am so excited to start the next journey of my education as a Husky. Although my time at Spoon High School comes to a close, Spoon Northeastern awaits.

So no one told you Thanksgiving was gonna be this way.

I'm lovin' it., adventurous, no time to wine. buff it out with your ro-say cheeks..

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Home — Application Essay — National Universities — The Art of Baking a Cake

The Art of Baking a Cake

University: Johns Hopkins University

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Updated: Nov 30, 2023

Words: 873 | Pages: 2 | 5 min read

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Not just a delicious cake, or an overly expensive looking cake – I'll make one you'll have to love because it will reflect you as an individual. It's a pretty rare talent, the skills for which took me years of playing with various sugary substances to acquire. A single cake can take more than ten hours work, spanned over a few days to finish. I know it's time well spent once the cake it eaten, completely gone – then it is visual art and edible art, all the more memorable for its ephemeral nature. I've made a wedding cake that combined whimsical humor with earthy beauty, a match for the bride I'd never met in person. Family, charity, friends, friends of friends – I've made cakes for them all.

The only person I've refused to make a cake for is myself. If the personality determines the design, then what cake could be easier than my own? It's not a lack self awareness that stops me, but an overwhelming amount of knowledge. A cake for myself would have to be ultimate, all-encompassing; anything less would leave me unsatisfied. Just to imagine it is a daunting task. So this is an essay about baking a special cake for me.

First off, flavors need to be chosen. This means, as always, hitting the recipe book shelf. Sitting on the floor surrounded by open books, it's hard to not get wrapped up in all the possibilities. Half an hour later I've decided – chocolate “cloud” cake layered with chocolate mousse and ganache for the outside. This flourless cake has one of the most impressive batters I've found; with carefully beaten eggs providing the structure. It's a recipe that's as mesmerizing scientifically as the taste is. With these choices, the chances of a large sculpted cake toppling over before it's even done are high, but that's alright. My cake will be risky and delicious.

As for design, the most important piece of information is the occasion. A graduation cake seems fitting – something to celebrate my experiences thus far and recognize the drastic change college years will bring. I mull over what could represent me in such a way, and the cliché “story of my life” comes to mind. The cake will be a vertical stack of books, each volume represented a different stage in my life. The subtle humor in this seems fitting, so very me.

I start stacking the cakes, reaching a foot high block, and then begin to roll out the fondant to cover the cake. It takes a few hours just to carve the ridges down the side of the stack that look like book bindings and then get a piece of fondant to stay over the whole thing. Even after years of practice, fondant can still require a few tries until it is just right.

Now the the cake is a blank series, waiting for me to fill in the book titles along the binding. I start at the bottom, where the books are large and very thin: “1995 – Ruining Brother's Chances of Being an Only Child”, “1998 – The Quiet Child Who Won't Stop Eating Onions”, “1999 – Learning French and Figure Drawing at a Really Weird Montessori School”. As I move up the stack, the books become smaller, but thicker: “20__ – First Family Death”, “2003 – Santa's Not Real!?”, “2004 – Ruling the School in Fifth Grade”, “2005 – The Awkward Stage Begins”, “2009 – The First Cake”, “2010 – How to be a Good Camp Counselor”, “2011 – AP Classes Eat Time”, “2012 – Applying for College”. The top book will be a kindle, the newest addition to my personal library. Innovation is admirable, but tradition has it's place in every cake. A graduation cap will be the topper.

The main cake is done, but there is still the hardest work ahead. I fashion some open books out of rice crispy treats and fondant, ready to reveal some of the more important aspects of my life. They're scattered haphazardly around the stack. With modeling chocolate, I begin sculpting figures to place on the open pages, to bring the books to life. There are two dogs, the loves of my life, pulling themselves out of one book towards a treat. There's a book with rudimentary figures of my family on top. One book is about home – a replica of my school on one page and my house on the other. And there's a book with a filled bookshelf on top, just in case my love of literature wasn't clear enough. With this, my cake is complete.

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When there is a cake that transcends into the field of art, I see beyond it's physical form to the person the cake is made for. This may seem like a stretch – who wouldn't be doubtful that a pastry could reveal so much? – but it's the infallible premise on which my cakes are made. Even this hypothetical cake portrays so much of who I am. The ironic part is that it may be as short-lived as any real cake. I expect the experiences of the next few years will leave me a wiser, changed person. So, I'll leave finally making my own cake to a day when it can be an even grander representation of who I am and will become.

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Pesonal Narrative Essay about Baking

Baking has always been something my momand I do together. Looking back, I can see how patient she always was with me in the kitchen. My small hands would take forever to mix the batter, and I always wanted to be held up so I could see the over the countertop. As I got older, my mom would teach me more and more about baking. I learned to separate eggs using the shell, how to make sure a cake was cooked through, and how to frost a perfect cupcake. Baking had become more than something my mother and I did together: it had become a part of me.

Eventually, I was able to do lots of the baking myself, and I was determined to show her that I had no need for her assistance anymore. The truth was, she had taught me so well, that I was and still am perfectly capable of baking on my own. In fact, I'm pretty good at it. However, I quickly learned just how much I really needed her.

Because of my love for baking and an upcoming school field trip to Washington DC, I decided that I would bake and sell treats to pay for the trip. Now, those who know me know that I am both extremely optimistic and even more forgetful. This unfortunate combination led to me completely panicking one morning when I received a call from a woman who had ordered cupcakes from me. The phone rang, and a voice asked, "You can still deliver the cupcakes today right? Three dozens carrot cake with cream cheese frosting by 11:30 like we discussed?" My heart sank. It was already 10:00 and cupcakes were the furthest thing from my mind. If not for the phone call, I would have forgotten them completely. Of course I was determined to fill the order though, so I replied with a cheery, "Of course! I'll have them decorated and ready!" I spent the next hour baking like a madwoman and begging my brother to fetch me ingredients from the store. I finally got the cupcakes into the oven, but I knew I couldn't possibly decorate them in time. Under stress and covered head to toe in flour, I sat on the floor of our kitchen and cried. Baking was supposed to be something that I loved, but now it was the last thing I wanted to do. As I sat there, I felt my mother's hand touch my shoulder and then lift me from the floor. My mom, whose help I had rejected in the past because I wanted to prove that I could bake by myself, stood there wearing her apron, ready to help me. Together, we were able to complete the order and get it delivered just a few minutes before the deadline.

The whole event, while it felt horrible at the moment, reminded me of why I fell in love with baking in the first place. I love it because it's something that I do with my mother. The little girl who was determined to prove that she was independent now cherishes her mother's presence. I may love frosting cupcakes and getting souffle to rise just perfectly, but more than that, I love spending time in the kitchen with my mom.

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History of Baking

Favorite Quote: "The more you learn the more you know, the more you know the more you forget, the more you forget the less you know, so why learn?"

In High school I learned all about the history of baking. My technology school teacher spent a long time teaching us this information. Baking has a very long history and it starts with bread. Bread has a history that dates back 8,000 years. The flour was created by crushing grains with stone tools. It came out very crude. It was mixed with water then shaped. It was cooked on a flat stone over a fire. The bread created was very hard. Bread was later improved by the Egyptians who discovered yeast. They figured out that the yeast fermented which caused it to rise and light textured bread was created. The Egyptians became experts in growing wheat which allowed them to export it in surplus to Greece. With the flux of wheat, the Greeks became the master bakers of their time. When the Romans conquered the Greeks they turned baking into a profession. In Second Century B.C., all Romans, except the wealthy started using professional bakers instead of making their own bread. Soon a college was organized to teach and refine the knowledge which had government rules and regulations which they were required to follow. The only reason we know this is because evidence of these colleges, shops and public ovens where found by the lava flows and ash that preserved Pompeii in 79 A.D. Baking progressed further with the invention of the first mechanical dough mixer. A man of Greek descent in Rome, named Virgilius Euryasaces created it. The mixer consisted of a stone bowl with wooden paddles that were pulled in circles by donkeys. The Romans graded their grain. Finer & white bread were for nobility, whole wheat was for the masses, and rough grain was for slaves, convicts and the navy. When they arrived in Britain they were so horrified by the poor quality of local bread that they had their own shipped over from Rome. After the Romans left Britain there was little progress in the production of bread, reflecting the other aspects of civilization during the dark ages. The Normans invade Britain and a renewed activity in baking occurs and in 1191 the first use of a windmill for flour is found. Early Norman bread tended to be large, round and flat. They used the bread for two purposed; a plate and food. They called their bread “trenchers” because it soaked up the fats and juices from the various meats that were eaten. The expression “To be a good trencherman” was first used to describe a man who could eat his dinner and his trencher or plate as well. Britain bakeries steadily increased in numbers and the first of guilds known as “The Fraternity of St. Clement of the Mystery of Bakers” is founded. St. Clement is the patron saint of bakers which is where the name came from. The guild took on apprentices. They would go through seven years of apprenticeship and journeyman status until one could be a “master” baker. As the guild grew in size they also grew in importance. They applied for a charter form King Henry VII in 1486. To protect their reputation and payment to the King for the charter, they agreed to bake an extra “makeweight” loaf for every dozen. This is where we get the expression “A baker’s dozen.” In the 16th century, Catherine de Medici of Italy marries King Hery II of France and brings with her a brigade of bakers to Paris. These bakers bring with them formulas and skills for the baking of cream puffs, cream custards, éclairs, tarts and macaroons. This introduced France to the world of pastry arts. In 1780 a school was opened in Paris and pastry baking became a specialized art, setting itself apart from the art of bread making. Following this school in 1895, the famous Le Cordon Bleu is founded. This is the start of modern baking. As the world expanded and people started to settle in the New World they found out that Indians had cultivated a wild grass which was gradually developed into a valuable crop called Indian corn or maize. The first settlers found out how valuable this crop was when they found out wheat was not easy to grow throughout the eastern coastal region. The Colonists also shared recipes. This is where a Johnny Cake comes from. It is a corruption of the Journey Cake that originated from the provisions of cornmeal carried by the Indians. These Johnny Cakes were the start of American Baking. The History of Baking starts with European and is brought over to the Colonies. The colonists didn’t really know how to bake as efficiently as some of the other countries in the world, but they figured out their own style from what they knew of the baking of breads from the European’s history of baking. The history of baking is very long and a big part of the world.

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April 7, 2011

College Essay Mistakes

There is a funny article in “The Daily Beast” by Kristina Dell that shares the anecdotes of college admissions counselors from this year’s record batch of applications. Many of the anecdotes revolve around silly or even comical things students do during the course of the college admissions process. The majority of these anecdotes are drawn from ridiculous mistakes college applicants make in their college essays. Let’s take a look at some of them.

Said Jim Miller, Dean of Admissions at Brown University, “There was a really strong candidate we didn’t admit because he used an enormous amount of profanity in his personal essay. He had a string of F-bombs that was pretty remarkable. I am not opposed to profanity and sometimes it can work. But, every third word doesn’t work. Otherwise, he would have gotten in.” If cursing didn’t take the cake, another Ivy League admissions counselor said this about an essay: “We had one great line. A young woman wrote that she took a summer course and she meant to say in ’organismic biology’ but she wrote ’orgasmic biology’ and went on to say it was the best course she’d ever taken. We didn’t reject her for that outright, but it makes you look twice.”

As we discuss so often with our students, it’s essential to select teachers who will write excellent letters of recommendation for you. It’s important to know how these teachers feel about you as a student and as a person. It’s also important to know that they are capable of writing great letters of recommendation — and that’s something a student’s guidance counselor will often know in advance from their past experiences with letters of recommendation from that teacher. Said an Ivy League admissions counselor, “Pick teachers who know you. Sometimes teachers will damn you with faint praise. One teacher wrote about a student: ’He is not just an athlete. There is so much less here than meets the eye.’ Another teacher wrote about a different student: ’Over time, he has developed a set of friends who have learned to tolerate and even accept him.’ Both of these students didn’t get in.”

And yet sometimes, students can write such powerful, moving essays that they inspire college admissions counselors to contact the applicants. For instance, Richard Nesbitt of Williams College describes one student’s essay: “One applicant talked about how she loves to bake bread. The person who was reading her essay happened to have focaccia bread baking in the oven at the time of reading the application. The reader was on the same wavelength and even emailed the student to say, ’I really liked your essay and here’s my recipe for focaccia bread.’ It’s a funny coincidence, but even the second reader who wasn’t a bread baker was similarly impressed by the application.” Timing sometimes matters!

But let’s get back to the mistakes! Aside from mistakes on the essays, college admissions counselors discuss in “The Daily Beast” how one student sent pies, claiming she wasn’t a good athlete but she was a good baker. The admissions counselors thought the pies were quite tasty but this did not lead to an acceptance. Another student sent a life-size blowup of herself attached to balloons. It was supposed to fly…but alas the balloons didn’t work. And yet another student staged a sit-in in an admissions office lobby, refusing to leave until she was able to speak to a few admissions people. Needless to say, this tactic proved as ineffective as the pies and the blow-up person attached to balloons.

Check out “The Daily Beast” article here .

And read about other grave mistakes like plagiarizing your college essay .

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I've written my common app essay about baking, is it okay that I've mentioned my eating disorder? Answered

My essay is about how my love of/relationship with baking has changed over time. Part of my essay describes the way it changed once I developed an eating disorder. I don't mean to make it the focus of my essay and I know writing about these kinds of topics can be tricky/taboo. Any advice?

Earn karma by helping others:

So don’t be all dark and gloomy but mentioning a ED is perfectly acceptable but don’t for lack of a better term seek sympathy. An essay is about yourself so if you talk about what makes you you you should be fine. Typically I’d say to not write about ED directly but as you talk about your relationship with baking an ED will definitely fit/okay to mention.

Hope this helps and please comment if you need clarification as I’d be happy to help clarify!

@DebaterMAX gave really good advice here and I just wanted to add my point of view. How you talk about the eating disorder (how long you spend discussing it, the tone you use, word choice, etc) will definitely affect how it is received by an admissions officer. It's similar to other "taboo" subjects for an admissions essay like religion or politics. These topics aren't really "off-limits" to talk about, just like writing your essay about a sports injury isn't "off-limits," it's just that most people advise against writing on those topics because it can be difficult to pull off correctly. In terms of an essay which includes religion or politics it's often difficult to not come off as preachy and in terms of a sports injury essay it's difficult to stand out as unique.

In your case, it sounds like your essay focuses much more on baking which I think already puts you in a good position. That's an interesting topic and I bet whoever reads your essay hasn't read too many before which focus on baking. Since you're focusing on your relationship with baking I think talking about the eating disorder will be an important part. First, because it no doubt had an impact on your relationship with baking and second, if you've overcome the disorder I would bet your relationship with baking improved and that makes for a good story. Similar to what @DebaterMAX said, as long as the eating disorder isn't the sole focus of your essay it's OK to mention.

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How to Write the Carleton College Essays 2023-2024

Carleton College is a small liberal arts college in Minnesota that ranks among the highest of its kind, meaning that writing strong essays will be essential to standing out as an applicant.

Carleton’s supplemental essay prompts generally revolve around the school’s sense of community and inclusion, and your responses should reflect your desire to be a part of that community. While there may not be a standard “ Why This College? ” supplement, each essay choice will in some shape or form ask you to envision yourself as a Carleton student, and admissions representatives are looking for students who want to continue the school’s mission of serving the community and one another.

Want to know your chances at Carleton? Calculate your chances for free right now.

Carleton College Supplemental Essay Prompts

Prompt 1 : Please share your thoughts on one (1) of the following prompts, in no more than 300 words.

Option A : Carleton’s community plan for inclusion, diversity, and equity aims to nurture and develop an even stronger community where students, faculty, and staff belong and thrive. How might you contribute to a sense of belonging at Carleton?
Option B : Before graduation, every Carleton student completes a senior project, known as “comps.” Comps projects take many different forms: a few recent examples are formal research papers, public presentations, and even a live staging of theater production. Based on your current academic interests, what type of comps project or topic would you explore, and why? (No pressure, we won’t hold you to this!)
Option C : Traditions at Carleton center around building and appreciating community. Some examples include the new student frisbee toss, Friday flowers, and baking cookies at Dacie Moses House. If you were tasked with creating a new Carleton tradition, what would you propose and how would you emphasize community within your idea?

Prompt 2 : Anything missing? Do you want to share more with us? If so, use this space to fill any gaps you think would assist us in reviewing your application. (Optional, no more than 250 words.)

Carleton admission staff provide helpful essay tips on their admissions website. This is great advice for writing college essays overall. They encourage students to see the essay as an opportunity to share information that won’t be found elsewhere in your application and to show who you are beyond test scores and GPAs.

Be genuine. Write what you want to say, not what you think they want to hear.
Answer the question.
It is an essay, so remember to come up with a thesis, an introduction, body, and ending.
Don’t set out to write the perfect admission essay. Write the best essay for you.
Proofread. Errors and misspellings are distracting. Take the time to create a clean, error-free essay.

Residential liberal arts colleges like Carleton know that students have a better experience and greater success when they feel that they belong at their school. This is especially true for smaller colleges where students and faculty know each other by name. These prompts give admission staff an opportunity to get to know you as a person and how the Carleton community might be a good fit for you.

All of these options will require some introspection on your part. You may even surprise yourself as you consider these prompts.

Prompt 1, Option A

Carleton’s community plan for inclusion, diversity, and equity aims to nurture and develop an even stronger community where students, faculty, and staff belong and thrive. how might you contribute to a sense of belonging at carleton (300 words).

This prompt references Carleton’s EDI Action Plan, which emphasizes Carleton’s commitment to fostering a community that stresses equity, diversity, and inclusion. The first thing you should do when preparing to answer this prompt is to brush up and read about that action plan, which can be found in full and in a more-concise brochure format .

Essentially, Carleton hopes to create an environment in which everyone has equal access to educational resources regardless of race, gender, financial status, sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity, and so on. As a result, this is a great prompt to answer if you feel your personal identity aligns with this mission statement or if you wish to share how your perspective could continue the progress Carleton is hoping to achieve.

We recommend that you write about your background or identity that you feel has given you a unique perspective on this prompt. Even if you feel as though you don’t have something new to add to the conversation, that may prove to be untrue as you begin fleshing out your response. Everyone, regardless of their community and identity, has a unique set of experiences and thus a unique perspective, so as long as you can lean into that in your response, your answer will certainly be your own.

First, describe your chosen background and how it has shaped your identity. You can write about family members, traditions, friends, holidays, cultural practices, and even things as simple as food. Just make sure that they are genuine experiences that you’ve had and avoid sweeping generalizations about a people or a culture that may sound unauthentic. And don’t worry about spending too much time writing about this, this is primarily helpful to provide context to the admissions representative who may be less familiar with your background.

The primary goal of this response is not just to describe your background and identity, but to show the admissions representative how you plan to continue a sense of inclusion and belonging within the wider Carleton community. That can be for both students who identify similarly to you as well as those who wish to engage further.

Perhaps you plan to put together a multicultural group on campus for South Asian students. Or maybe you’d love to spotlight international films that you grew up with from your immigrant parents. Maybe you’re a first-generation college student who wants to connect with fellow first-generation students on campus to help new first-generation students transition into the campus community. Whatever your idea may be, the admissions representative wants to see that you’re passionate about your background, ambitious, and committed to their EDI cause.

Remember to keep it unique and authentic to your experiences. This will have the most impact on your application. You want your final response to feel as though only you could’ve written it, so reflect on what you want your college experience to be in relation to your background and identity, and write about how you can help determine that for others.

Prompt 1, Option B

Before graduation, every carleton student completes a senior project, known as “comps.” comps projects take many different forms: a few recent examples are formal research papers, public presentations, and even a live staging of theater production. based on your current academic interests, what type of comps project or topic would you explore, and why (no pressure, we won’t hold you to this) (300 words).

This question allows you the opportunity to speak candidly about your interests and your goals – they can extend beyond what you may already have experienced in high school and can be as ambitious as you want them to be. In fact, we recommend shooting for the stars. It’s that sense of ambition that the admissions representative is hoping to see in your response.

Regardless of what field or area of study you are interested in, there will most likely be something that can serve as a capstone, or in this case a “comps”. Think of the comps as a final project that serves as a comprehensive example of all you have learned, compounding the skills and knowledge you have garnered over four years of college into one final swan song.

As they state in the prompt, you’re not tied to whatever you choose, so think of a project you would create if any of your high school teachers gave you full autonomy. While you shouldn’t write about trying any hyperbole like finding a cure for cancer or solving world hunger, you can certainly write about crafting a research paper about cancer or working in the public health department to develop strategies to combat global famine.

Remember, you’re not pitching a project to them, but rather explaining why you would want to complete your chosen comps. If you want your final project to be a staged reading of an original play, describe how you want to elevate your narrative writing in college and want to be able to complete a full-fledged work with a performance component that can represent how your understanding of theatre has grown.

The admissions representatives are looking for driven and ambitious admits who have hopes, dreams, and intentions to use a college experience to help achieve them. This is your chance to show off what you hope to do with your college experience, and leave your mark not only on your future but also on Carleton’s campus and community.

The more specific you are in your response the better – having a clear goal in mind, even if you’re not completely sure of what you want your project to be, will leave a lasting impression on your admissions reader. Write about what you want your process to look like, how you want your project to engage with the community, and basically anything else that can paint a vivid picture of your aspirations.

Prompt 1, Option C

Traditions at carleton center around building and appreciating community. some examples include the new student frisbee toss, friday flowers, and baking cookies at dacie moses house. if you were tasked with creating a new carleton tradition, what would you propose and how would you emphasize community within your idea (300 words).

This can be a tougher question to answer, as it requires you to assess a community that you are not yet familiar with. However, admissions readers are not looking for the next big Carleton tradition to snatch up, rather they want to see your commitment to engaging with the Carleton community and the traditions that come with it. They want to see how you hope to build and add to the community at the school, as well as how you can use creativity to engage a wider student body.

This will require some critical thinking and inventiveness, so the first thing you’ll want to do is conduct a brainstorming session. Take a couple of minutes, whether you type it or handwrite it, and jot out any idea that comes to mind. It’s likely that the idea that you will choose for your essay will come from this list.

Also make sure to look more into Carleton’s current traditions, as you don’t want to accidentally suggest something that already exists! It can also help you get a feel for the kind of tradition that might fit best at Carleton.

Think back on your high school experiences. Are there any community events from your high school you want to carry forward to college? Are there any events you wish your high school had had? What about personal events during your life? Are there any that could be applied to the campus at large? Think about Carleton as a Midwestern school. Are there any Midwestern traditions you hope to bring to Carleton?

Remember that these essays are ultimately meant to tell Carleton something more about you as an applicant, so don’t be afraid to suggest something related to your interests.

For example, maybe you plan to play in the orchestra and want more students to experience orchestral music in a casual setting. You might suggest a spring festival that takes place at the Carleton Arboretum. There could be live music by campus music groups, games planned by each dorm in a bracket-style tournament, and international foods catered by the culture clubs. This event would expose students to the diverse range of music at Carleton and have students from all kinds of groups working together to make the festival a success.

Your tradition is meant to inspire that sense of community, so aim to create one that brings all students together and makes them feel present on the Carleton campus.

Remember to keep in mind that Carleton is a small liberal arts college that doesn’t come with the same mass of athletic spirit as larger public universities might, so try not to write about something like tailgating or rallying the student body for a game.

Additionally, you’ll want to avoid general community events such as game days as well as anything that may just be a national-wide college tradition like leaving your dorm room door open on the first day to meet your hall. Feel free to do research on other schools’ traditions, but be careful not to directly copy or paraphrase the traditions of any other. Look into Carleton’s culture and think about what kind of community-building activities would find a good home there.

Anything missing? Do you want to share more with us? If so, use this space to fill any gaps you think would assist us in reviewing your application. (Optional, no more than 250 words.)

However, if you feel as though there is something about your identity or about why you want to go to Carleton that is important to your application, don’t hesitate to include it here. Here are some examples of details you may wish to write about here:

Unusual circumstances or hardships (financial hardships, first-generation status, illness, tragedy, etc.)
Family responsibilities that may have prevented students from taking traditional extracurriculars
Unique extracurricular that wasn’t written about in another part of the application outside of the Activities section
Describing your identity in the context of race, gender, or LGBTQ+

This prompt is going to be on an extremely case-by-case basis, so do what feels right for you and remember that you don’t have to embellish anything about yourself or your life in an attempt to make it sound more interesting to an admissions reader. They really just want to get to know you as your authentic self, so if you do choose to answer this prompt, make sure that you’re doing it in a manner that is genuine and honest.

Also, even though this prompt has a 250-word limit, feel free to only write a few short sentences if that feels more appropriate to you.

How to Get Your Carleton College Essays Edited for Free

Do you want feedback on your Carleton College essays? After rereading your essays countless times, it can be difficult to evaluate your writing objectively. That’s why we created our free Peer Essay Review tool , where you can get a free review of your essay from another student. You can also improve your own writing skills by reviewing other students’ essays.

If you want a college admissions expert to review your essay, advisors on CollegeVine have helped students refine their writing and submit successful applications to top schools. Find the right advisor for you to improve your chances of getting into your dream school!

Choose Your Test

Sat / act prep online guides and tips, getting college essay help: important do's and don’ts.

College Essays

If you grow up to be a professional writer, everything you write will first go through an editor before being published. This is because the process of writing is really a process of re-writing —of rethinking and reexamining your work, usually with the help of someone else. So what does this mean for your student writing? And in particular, what does it mean for very important, but nonprofessional writing like your college essay? Should you ask your parents to look at your essay? Pay for an essay service?

If you are wondering what kind of help you can, and should, get with your personal statement, you've come to the right place! In this article, I'll talk about what kind of writing help is useful, ethical, and even expected for your college admission essay . I'll also point out who would make a good editor, what the differences between editing and proofreading are, what to expect from a good editor, and how to spot and stay away from a bad one.

What Kind of Help for Your Essay Can You Get?

What's Good Editing?

What should an editor do for you, what kind of editing should you avoid, proofreading, what's good proofreading, what kind of proofreading should you avoid.

What Do Colleges Think Of You Getting Help With Your Essay?

Who Can/Should Help You?

Advice for editors.

Should You Pay Money For Essay Editing?

The Bottom Line

What's next, what kind of help with your essay can you get.

Rather than talking in general terms about "help," let's first clarify the two different ways that someone else can improve your writing . There is editing, which is the more intensive kind of assistance that you can use throughout the whole process. And then there's proofreading, which is the last step of really polishing your final product.

Let me go into some more detail about editing and proofreading, and then explain how good editors and proofreaders can help you."

Editing is helping the author (in this case, you) go from a rough draft to a finished work . Editing is the process of asking questions about what you're saying, how you're saying it, and how you're organizing your ideas. But not all editing is good editing . In fact, it's very easy for an editor to cross the line from supportive to overbearing and over-involved.

Ability to clarify assignments. A good editor is usually a good writer, and certainly has to be a good reader. For example, in this case, a good editor should make sure you understand the actual essay prompt you're supposed to be answering.

Open-endedness. Good editing is all about asking questions about your ideas and work, but without providing answers. It's about letting you stick to your story and message, and doesn't alter your point of view.

Think of an editor as a great travel guide. It can show you the many different places your trip could take you. It should explain any parts of the trip that could derail your trip or confuse the traveler. But it never dictates your path, never forces you to go somewhere you don't want to go, and never ignores your interests so that the trip no longer seems like it's your own. So what should good editors do?

Help Brainstorm Topics

Sometimes it's easier to bounce thoughts off of someone else. This doesn't mean that your editor gets to come up with ideas, but they can certainly respond to the various topic options you've come up with. This way, you're less likely to write about the most boring of your ideas, or to write about something that isn't actually important to you.

If you're wondering how to come up with options for your editor to consider, check out our guide to brainstorming topics for your college essay .

Help Revise Your Drafts

Here, your editor can't upset the delicate balance of not intervening too much or too little. It's tricky, but a great way to think about it is to remember: editing is about asking questions, not giving answers .

Revision questions should point out:

Places where more detail or more description would help the reader connect with your essay
Places where structure and logic don't flow, losing the reader's attention
Places where there aren't transitions between paragraphs, confusing the reader
Moments where your narrative or the arguments you're making are unclear

But pointing to potential problems is not the same as actually rewriting—editors let authors fix the problems themselves.

Want to write the perfect college application essay? We can help. Your dedicated PrepScholar Admissions counselor will help you craft your perfect college essay, from the ground up. We learn your background and interests, brainstorm essay topics, and walk you through the essay drafting process, step-by-step. At the end, you'll have a unique essay to proudly submit to colleges. Don't leave your college application to chance. Find out more about PrepScholar Admissions now:

Bad editing is usually very heavy-handed editing. Instead of helping you find your best voice and ideas, a bad editor changes your writing into their own vision.

You may be dealing with a bad editor if they:

Add material (examples, descriptions) that doesn't come from you
Use a thesaurus to make your college essay sound "more mature"
Add meaning or insight to the essay that doesn't come from you
Tell you what to say and how to say it
Write sentences, phrases, and paragraphs for you
Change your voice in the essay so it no longer sounds like it was written by a teenager

Colleges can tell the difference between a 17-year-old's writing and a 50-year-old's writing. Not only that, they have access to your SAT or ACT Writing section, so they can compare your essay to something else you wrote. Writing that's a little more polished is great and expected. But a totally different voice and style will raise questions.

Where's the Line Between Helpful Editing and Unethical Over-Editing?

Sometimes it's hard to tell whether your college essay editor is doing the right thing. Here are some guidelines for staying on the ethical side of the line.

An editor should say that the opening paragraph is kind of boring, and explain what exactly is making it drag. But it's overstepping for an editor to tell you exactly how to change it.
An editor should point out where your prose is unclear or vague. But it's completely inappropriate for the editor to rewrite that section of your essay.
An editor should let you know that a section is light on detail or description. But giving you similes and metaphors to beef up that description is a no-go.

Proofreading (also called copy-editing) is checking for errors in the last draft of a written work. It happens at the end of the process and is meant as the final polishing touch. Proofreading is meticulous and detail-oriented, focusing on small corrections. It sands off all the surface rough spots that could alienate the reader.

Because proofreading is usually concerned with making fixes on the word or sentence level, this is the only process where someone else can actually add to or take away things from your essay . This is because what they are adding or taking away tends to be one or two misplaced letters.

Laser focus. Proofreading is all about the tiny details, so the ability to really concentrate on finding small slip-ups is a must.

Excellent grammar and spelling skills. Proofreaders need to dot every "i" and cross every "t." Good proofreaders should correct spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and grammar. They should put foreign words in italics and surround quotations with quotation marks. They should check that you used the correct college's name, and that you adhered to any formatting requirements (name and date at the top of the page, uniform font and size, uniform spacing).

Limited interference. A proofreader needs to make sure that you followed any word limits. But if cuts need to be made to shorten the essay, that's your job and not the proofreader's.

A bad proofreader either tries to turn into an editor, or just lacks the skills and knowledge necessary to do the job.

Some signs that you're working with a bad proofreader are:

If they suggest making major changes to the final draft of your essay. Proofreading happens when editing is already finished.
If they aren't particularly good at spelling, or don't know grammar, or aren't detail-oriented enough to find someone else's small mistakes.
If they start swapping out your words for fancier-sounding synonyms, or changing the voice and sound of your essay in other ways. A proofreader is there to check for errors, not to take the 17-year-old out of your writing.

What Do Colleges Think of Your Getting Help With Your Essay?

Admissions officers agree: light editing and proofreading are good—even required ! But they also want to make sure you're the one doing the work on your essay. They want essays with stories, voice, and themes that come from you. They want to see work that reflects your actual writing ability, and that focuses on what you find important.

On the Importance of Editing

Get feedback. Have a fresh pair of eyes give you some feedback. Don't allow someone else to rewrite your essay, but do take advantage of others' edits and opinions when they seem helpful. ( Bates College )

Read your essay aloud to someone. Reading the essay out loud offers a chance to hear how your essay sounds outside your head. This exercise reveals flaws in the essay's flow, highlights grammatical errors and helps you ensure that you are communicating the exact message you intended. ( Dickinson College )

On the Value of Proofreading

Share your essays with at least one or two people who know you well—such as a parent, teacher, counselor, or friend—and ask for feedback. Remember that you ultimately have control over your essays, and your essays should retain your own voice, but others may be able to catch mistakes that you missed and help suggest areas to cut if you are over the word limit. ( Yale University )

Proofread and then ask someone else to proofread for you. Although we want substance, we also want to be able to see that you can write a paper for our professors and avoid careless mistakes that would drive them crazy. ( Oberlin College )

On Watching Out for Too Much Outside Influence

Limit the number of people who review your essay. Too much input usually means your voice is lost in the writing style. ( Carleton College )

Ask for input (but not too much). Your parents, friends, guidance counselors, coaches, and teachers are great people to bounce ideas off of for your essay. They know how unique and spectacular you are, and they can help you decide how to articulate it. Keep in mind, however, that a 45-year-old lawyer writes quite differently from an 18-year-old student, so if your dad ends up writing the bulk of your essay, we're probably going to notice. ( Vanderbilt University )

Now let's talk about some potential people to approach for your college essay editing and proofreading needs. It's best to start close to home and slowly expand outward. Not only are your family and friends more invested in your success than strangers, but they also have a better handle on your interests and personality. This knowledge is key for judging whether your essay is expressing your true self.

Parents or Close Relatives

Your family may be full of potentially excellent editors! Parents are deeply committed to your well-being, and family members know you and your life well enough to offer details or incidents that can be included in your essay. On the other hand, the rewriting process necessarily involves criticism, which is sometimes hard to hear from someone very close to you.

A parent or close family member is a great choice for an editor if you can answer "yes" to the following questions. Is your parent or close relative a good writer or reader? Do you have a relationship where editing your essay won't create conflict? Are you able to constructively listen to criticism and suggestion from the parent?

One suggestion for defusing face-to-face discussions is to try working on the essay over email. Send your parent a draft, have them write you back some comments, and then you can pick which of their suggestions you want to use and which to discard.

Teachers or Tutors

A humanities teacher that you have a good relationship with is a great choice. I am purposefully saying humanities, and not just English, because teachers of Philosophy, History, Anthropology, and any other classes where you do a lot of writing, are all used to reviewing student work.

Moreover, any teacher or tutor that has been working with you for some time, knows you very well and can vet the essay to make sure it "sounds like you."

If your teacher or tutor has some experience with what college essays are supposed to be like, ask them to be your editor. If not, then ask whether they have time to proofread your final draft.

Guidance or College Counselor at Your School

The best thing about asking your counselor to edit your work is that this is their job. This means that they have a very good sense of what colleges are looking for in an application essay.

At the same time, school counselors tend to have relationships with admissions officers in many colleges, which again gives them insight into what works and which college is focused on what aspect of the application.

Unfortunately, in many schools the guidance counselor tends to be way overextended. If your ratio is 300 students to 1 college counselor, you're unlikely to get that person's undivided attention and focus. It is still useful to ask them for general advice about your potential topics, but don't expect them to be able to stay with your essay from first draft to final version.

Friends, Siblings, or Classmates

Although they most likely don't have much experience with what colleges are hoping to see, your peers are excellent sources for checking that your essay is you .

Friends and siblings are perfect for the read-aloud edit. Read your essay to them so they can listen for words and phrases that are stilted, pompous, or phrases that just don't sound like you.

You can even trade essays and give helpful advice on each other's work.

If your editor hasn't worked with college admissions essays very much, no worries! Any astute and attentive reader can still greatly help with your process. But, as in all things, beginners do better with some preparation.

First, your editor should read our advice about how to write a college essay introduction , how to spot and fix a bad college essay , and get a sense of what other students have written by going through some admissions essays that worked .

Then, as they read your essay, they can work through the following series of questions that will help them to guide you.

Introduction Questions

Is the first sentence a killer opening line? Why or why not?
Does the introduction hook the reader? Does it have a colorful, detailed, and interesting narrative? Or does it propose a compelling or surprising idea?
Can you feel the author's voice in the introduction, or is the tone dry, dull, or overly formal? Show the places where the voice comes through.

Essay Body Questions

Does the essay have a through-line? Is it built around a central argument, thought, idea, or focus? Can you put this idea into your own words?
How is the essay organized? By logical progression? Chronologically? Do you feel order when you read it, or are there moments where you are confused or lose the thread of the essay?
Does the essay have both narratives about the author's life and explanations and insight into what these stories reveal about the author's character, personality, goals, or dreams? If not, which is missing?
Does the essay flow? Are there smooth transitions/clever links between paragraphs? Between the narrative and moments of insight?

Reader Response Questions

Does the writer's personality come through? Do we know what the speaker cares about? Do we get a sense of "who he or she is"?
Where did you feel most connected to the essay? Which parts of the essay gave you a "you are there" sensation by invoking your senses? What moments could you picture in your head well?
Where are the details and examples vague and not specific enough?
Did you get an "a-ha!" feeling anywhere in the essay? Is there a moment of insight that connected all the dots for you? Is there a good reveal or "twist" anywhere in the essay?
What are the strengths of this essay? What needs the most improvement?

Should You Pay Money for Essay Editing?

One alternative to asking someone you know to help you with your college essay is the paid editor route. There are two different ways to pay for essay help: a private essay coach or a less personal editing service , like the many proliferating on the internet.

My advice is to think of these options as a last resort rather than your go-to first choice. I'll first go through the reasons why. Then, if you do decide to go with a paid editor, I'll help you decide between a coach and a service.

When to Consider a Paid Editor

In general, I think hiring someone to work on your essay makes a lot of sense if none of the people I discussed above are a possibility for you.

If you can't ask your parents. For example, if your parents aren't good writers, or if English isn't their first language. Or if you think getting your parents to help is going create unnecessary extra conflict in your relationship with them (applying to college is stressful as it is!)

If you can't ask your teacher or tutor. Maybe you don't have a trusted teacher or tutor that has time to look over your essay with focus. Or, for instance, your favorite humanities teacher has very limited experience with college essays and so won't know what admissions officers want to see.

If you can't ask your guidance counselor. This could be because your guidance counselor is way overwhelmed with other students.

If you can't share your essay with those who know you. It might be that your essay is on a very personal topic that you're unwilling to share with parents, teachers, or peers. Just make sure it doesn't fall into one of the bad-idea topics in our article on bad college essays .

If the cost isn't a consideration. Many of these services are quite expensive, and private coaches even more so. If you have finite resources, I'd say that hiring an SAT or ACT tutor (whether it's PrepScholar or someone else) is better way to spend your money . This is because there's no guarantee that a slightly better essay will sufficiently elevate the rest of your application, but a significantly higher SAT score will definitely raise your applicant profile much more.

Should You Hire an Essay Coach?

On the plus side, essay coaches have read dozens or even hundreds of college essays, so they have experience with the format. Also, because you'll be working closely with a specific person, it's more personal than sending your essay to a service, which will know even less about you.

But, on the minus side, you'll still be bouncing ideas off of someone who doesn't know that much about you . In general, if you can adequately get the help from someone you know, there is no advantage to paying someone to help you.

If you do decide to hire a coach, ask your school counselor, or older students that have used the service for recommendations. If you can't afford the coach's fees, ask whether they can work on a sliding scale —many do. And finally, beware those who guarantee admission to your school of choice—essay coaches don't have any special magic that can back up those promises.

Should You Send Your Essay to a Service?

On the plus side, essay editing services provide a similar product to essay coaches, and they cost significantly less . If you have some assurance that you'll be working with a good editor, the lack of face-to-face interaction won't prevent great results.

On the minus side, however, it can be difficult to gauge the quality of the service before working with them . If they are churning through many application essays without getting to know the students they are helping, you could end up with an over-edited essay that sounds just like everyone else's. In the worst case scenario, an unscrupulous service could send you back a plagiarized essay.

Getting recommendations from friends or a school counselor for reputable services is key to avoiding heavy-handed editing that writes essays for you or does too much to change your essay. Including a badly-edited essay like this in your application could cause problems if there are inconsistencies. For example, in interviews it might be clear you didn't write the essay, or the skill of the essay might not be reflected in your schoolwork and test scores.

Should You Buy an Essay Written by Someone Else?

Let me elaborate. There are super sketchy places on the internet where you can simply buy a pre-written essay. Don't do this!

For one thing, you'll be lying on an official, signed document. All college applications make you sign a statement saying something like this:

I certify that all information submitted in the admission process—including the application, the personal essay, any supplements, and any other supporting materials—is my own work, factually true, and honestly presented... I understand that I may be subject to a range of possible disciplinary actions, including admission revocation, expulsion, or revocation of course credit, grades, and degree, should the information I have certified be false. (From the Common Application )

For another thing, if your academic record doesn't match the essay's quality, the admissions officer will start thinking your whole application is riddled with lies.

Admission officers have full access to your writing portion of the SAT or ACT so that they can compare work that was done in proctored conditions with that done at home. They can tell if these were written by different people. Not only that, but there are now a number of search engines that faculty and admission officers can use to see if an essay contains strings of words that have appeared in other essays—you have no guarantee that the essay you bought wasn't also bought by 50 other students.

You should get college essay help with both editing and proofreading
A good editor will ask questions about your idea, logic, and structure, and will point out places where clarity is needed
A good editor will absolutely not answer these questions, give you their own ideas, or write the essay or parts of the essay for you
A good proofreader will find typos and check your formatting
All of them agree that getting light editing and proofreading is necessary
Parents, teachers, guidance or college counselor, and peers or siblings
If you can't ask any of those, you can pay for college essay help, but watch out for services or coaches who over-edit you work
Don't buy a pre-written essay! Colleges can tell, and it'll make your whole application sound false.

Ready to start working on your essay? Check out our explanation of the point of the personal essay and the role it plays on your applications and then explore our step-by-step guide to writing a great college essay .

Using the Common Application for your college applications? We have an excellent guide to the Common App essay prompts and useful advice on how to pick the Common App prompt that's right for you . Wondering how other people tackled these prompts? Then work through our roundup of over 130 real college essay examples published by colleges .

Stressed about whether to take the SAT again before submitting your application? Let us help you decide how many times to take this test . If you choose to go for it, we have the ultimate guide to studying for the SAT to give you the ins and outs of the best ways to study.

Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points? We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download them for free now:

Anna scored in the 99th percentile on her SATs in high school, and went on to major in English at Princeton and to get her doctorate in English Literature at Columbia. She is passionate about improving student access to higher education.

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Penn College students to help feed fans at Kentucky Derby

Published 04.22.2024

As the famed Kentucky Derby celebrates its 150th running on May 4, Pennsylvania College of Technology students and employees will be in action, providing gourmet dining to VIP spectators.

Twenty-six Penn College students were selected for Derby Week internships following on-campus interviews by staff of Levy Restaurants, which operates dining services at Churchill Downs (the Kentucky Derby’s home).

“The student Derby internship experience cannot be duplicated at Penn College,” said Chef Charles R. Niedermyer, an instructor of baking and pastry arts/culinary arts who has been escorting Penn College students to the Kentucky Derby for 15 years. Overall, the college has been participating since 1993. “All of our students will be challenged and grow significantly as professionals at Churchill Downs. The excitement, surprise and satisfaction from a job well done keeps me going back each year!”

Most of the students are in baking and culinary arts majors and will work in the “back of the house” – in kitchens – while four students majoring in business administration will serve the “front of the house,” interfacing with guests.

“The Kentucky Derby is one of the biggest events we have the opportunity to participate in on campus,” said Penn College baking & pastry arts student Autumn B. Stanley, of Lincoln University, who will return for her second Derby Week internship. “It provides us with connections and experiences that we can’t get anywhere else. I mean, who can say that they’ve been to the Kentucky Derby?”

Baking and culinary students will help to prepare food for Churchill Downs’ premium venues and staff the Main Kitchen, where literal tons of ingredients will pass through their hands as the Derby draws more than 150,000 guests each year. (That’s more than double the number who attend the Super Bowl.) They’ll also cook for guests throughout the week of events that lead up to the grand finale race.

And Churchill Downs is making the iconic occasion even grander for 2024 as the venue celebrates the 150th “Run for the Roses.” The longest continually held sporting event in the United States – and one of the most prestigious horse races in the world – the Kentucky Derby has run since 1875, the year after Col. Merriwether Lewis Clark Jr. formed the Louisville Jockey Club and acquired land for a track from his uncles John and Henry Churchill.

To celebrate, the Downs will debut a reimagined “paddock.” Among the new venues are the Woodford Reserve Paddock Club, which offers access to the paddock and views directly into the stalls; Sport’s Illustrated’s “Club SI,” which provides a luxurious dining experience and a celebrity “ambassador”; and the Spires Terrace & Suites, which touts the opportunity to “see and be seen” and an all-inclusive luxury food and beverage menu.

It provides us with connections and experiences that we can’t get anywhere else. I mean, who can say that they’ve been to the Kentucky Derby?

Autumn B. Stanley

Penn College baking & pastry arts student

Students will be accompanied by Niedermyer; Chef Mike S. Dinan, executive chef for Le Jeune Chef Restaurant, a live-learning lab for the college’s baking and culinary students; and Brian D. Walton, assistant dean of business and hospitality.

Students completing Derby Week internships, listed by their major:

Baking & pastry arts: Lily J. Clickner, of Petersburg; Emma E. Del Campo, of West Chester; Madisen H. Donlin, of Branchdale; Felicia D. Donnie, of Shippensburg; Alexis N. Durn, of Spring Mills; Kendal L. Johnson, of Scranton; Sarah M. Kline, of Montoursville; Emily E. Myers, of Catawissa; Amanda E. Pennington, of Wernersville; Jeanita J. Pierre, of McConnellsburg; Samielya R. Robertson, of York; Abigail G. Sollenberger, of Newville; Autumn B. Stanley, of Lincoln University; Luke C. Whipple, of Shamokin Dam; and Kasandria B. Williams, of Cressona.

Durn, Johnson, Kline, Pennington, Pierre and Sollenberger are also pursuing bachelor’s degrees in applied management. Whipple is double-majoring in baking & pastry arts and culinary arts technology.

Business administration: Kylee P. Albert, of Boyertown; Lauren A. Hergert, of Brookville; Anna R. Lundin, of Kersey; and Jajuan J. Ramirez, of Kennett Square.

Culinary arts technology: Nathan A. Fleagle, of State College; Maggy R. Langendoerfer, of Waymart; Hannah K. Lingle, of Lock Haven; Nicholas P. Matz, of Schuylkill Haven; Jared D. Schwenk, of New Ringgold; Maddison H. Smith, of York; and Kayla M. Wilson, of Williamsport.

Smith and Wilson are also pursuing bachelor’s degrees in applied management.

To learn more about Penn College’s business and hospitality majors, call 570-327-4505.

For information about Penn College , a national leader in applied technology education, email the Admissions Office or call toll-free 800-367-9222.

Get Penn College News in your inbox each morning.

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If you put more into today, could you get more out of tomorrow? If you create your future at Pennsylvania College of Technology, the answer is yes.

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Columbia protests are 'writing on the wall' about antisemitism on campuses, student organization founder says

College and university campuses are facing a lack of leadership: students supporting israel founder.

Students Supporting Israel founder on Columbia University protests: 'This is the writing on the wall'

Students Supporting Israel founder Ilan Sinelnikov discuss antisemitism on U.S. college and university campuses.

The founder of a pro-Israel international campus movement is warning against history repeating itself as antisemitism continues to rage on university and college campuses across the country.

Ilan Sinelnikov, the President and Founder of Students Supporting Israel (SSI), a pro-Israel student movement , told Fox News Digital that history is repeating itself — pointing to the recent anti-Israel protests on Columbia University's campus in New York City.

History at the end of the day repeats itself. — Ilan Sinelnikov, the President and Founder of Students Supporting Israel

"History at the end of the day repeats itself," he said. "What we have seen back in the 30s with the harassment and intimidation of Jewish people across Europe, back when Jewish students were not allowed to universities and people were creating human chains in order to block Jewish students from entry."

"Jewish students are being intimidated and harassed on college campuses. I was on a call with a Jewish student and that goes to Columbia University, and she said, 'I can't wait to pack my bags and get on the first flight home. I don't want to be on this campus anymore.'"

IVY LEAGUE ANTI-ISRAEL AGITATORS' PROTESTS SPIRAL INTO 'ACTUAL TERROR ORGANIZATION,' PROFESSOR WARNS

Anti-Israel agitators construct an encampment on Columbia University’s campus in New York City on Monday. (Peter Gerber)

Sinelnikov said that Jewish students no longer feel safe at one of the nation's "most prestigious universities."

"When you get to the point, when in our most prestigious universities, Jewish students don't feel safe to walk on those campuses because they're afraid of being harassed or afraid of being physically assaulted," he said. "When you see all of that, the similarities are frightening."

Sinelnikov reminded people that the Holocaust "didn't happen overnight," but slowly seeped into society.

"People need to be aware that this is what's happening in the highest educational institutions," he said.

What happened in the Holocaust, it didn't happen overnight — Ilan Sinelnikov, the President and Founder of Students Supporting Israel

DEMOCRATIC REP GOTTHEIMER SAYS HE WOULD BE WORRIED TO SEND CHILDREN TO COLUMBIA AFTER VISITING PROTESTS

"What happened in the Holocaust, it didn't happen overnight," he added. "There were years and years of indoctrination and the hatred that was spread, especially towards youth, especially in the educational systems against the Jewish people."

New York City police officers grab an American flag from Elisha "Lishi" Baker, 21, center, after it was lit on fire by someone during an anti-Israel demonstration outside The New York Stock Exchange, April 15. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)

The SSI Movement founder said that Jewish people are portrayed as "subhuman" on college campuses.

"And this is what you see today on our campuses, you know, so they try to portray Jewish people as subhuman," he said. "People chant, ‘kick out all the Zionists.’"

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY ANTI-ISRAEL PROTESTERS: 5 DRAMATIC MOMENTS FROM A WEEK OF CHAOS

Sinelnikov said that while watching the footage of antisemitism on campus, it's hard not to observe the striking similarities between the Holocaust and modern-day antisemitism .

"You cannot just ignore the similarities between that and what has happened now," he said. "Some people might think that we are overexaggerating, but the fact is, when a bad thing happens in our history and when people also think that it will never happen, it will happen."

"This is the writing on the wall that we have on our college campuses and our higher education system," Sinelnikov said.

Anti-Israel agitators gather on Columbia University’s campus in New York City. (Peter Gerber)

Sinelnikov said that the worst thing that could happen is for Jewish students to leave universities.

"At the end of the day, people might feel intimidated or unsafe or afraid. But, the worst thing we can do is to leave those spaces," he said. "The worst thing that could possibly happen is for Columbia University to become a Jew-free university,"

"They want to harass, intimidate, terrorize students until those students are not going to show their face anymore. And we just cannot let it happen," he said.

Columbia University President Nemat Shafik testifies before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce hearing on "Columbia in Crisis: Columbia University's Response to Antisemitism" on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., April 17. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

He said that the biggest problem universities are facing is lack of campus leadership.

"I think the biggest challenge that we're facing right now and across the country, it's lack of leadership by the academic institutions and by the universities, because at the end of the day, if you really think about it, a lot of these problems can be solved quickly," he said.

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY MOVES TO HYBRID LEARNING ON MAIN CAMPUS AMID ANTISEMITIC PROTESTS

"A lot of people might argue here for the sake of freedom of speech or freedom of assembly, but at the same time, we need to remember that we're not talking about student's freedom, we're talking about harassment, intimidation," Sinelnikov said. "We're talking about open calls for violence against Jewish students."

Pro-Palestine protesters demonstrate along NYPD police lines outside of Columbia University’s campus

Anti-Israel protesters demonstrate in front of police outside Columbia University in New York City on Thursday. (Peter Gerber)

Sinelnikov said that Columbia University's president "lacks the will to take the right actions."

"At Columbia University, the president called in the police to remove the protesters, but all the students were released from the police station at 10 p.m. and the protesters were back out on a different side of the lawn a few hours later, and it's still there today," he said.

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"And what happens now is that students who pay $60,000 a year for tuition have their whole semester to be moved online, because the university cannot take control of 300-400 students on their campus," Sinelnikov said.

Sarah Rumpf-Whitten is a breaking news writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business.

She is a native of Massachusetts and is based in Orlando, Florida.

Story tips and ideas can be sent to [email protected] and on X: @s_rumpfwhitten .

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Guest Essay

Why Biden Has a Narrower Path to the Presidency Than Trump, in 11 Maps

Illustration by Akshita Chandra/The New York Times; Images by PhotoObjects.net, Yuji Sakai, and THEPALMER/Getty Images

By Doug Sosnik Graphics by Quoctrung Bui

Mr. Sosnik was a senior adviser to President Bill Clinton from 1994 to 2000 and has advised over 50 governors and U.S. senators.

While polls show the race for president is tightening, Joe Biden still has a narrower and more challenging path to winning the election than Donald Trump. The reason is the Electoral College: My analysis of voter history and polling shows a map that currently favors Mr. Trump, even though recent developments in Arizona improve Mr. Biden’s chances. The Biden campaign will need to decide this summer which states to contest hardest. Our Electoral College maps below lay out the best scenarios for him and Mr. Trump.

Seven states with close results determined who won both the 2020 and the 2016 presidential elections, and those same seven states will most likely play the same battleground role this fall: three industrial states – Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin – and four Sun Belt states – Arizona, Georgia, Nevada and North Carolina.

The seven states that will most likely decide the 2024 presidential election

Mr. Biden’s declining popularity in the Sun Belt states is the main reason Mr. Trump has an edge right now. He is especially struggling with young and nonwhite voters there. Let’s take a closer look:

According to 2020 exit polls , Mr. Biden won 65 percent of Latino voters, who comprised roughly a fifth of voters in Arizona and Nevada. And Mr. Biden won 87 percent of Black voters, who made up 29 percent of the Georgia vote and 23 percent of the North Carolina vote. He also won 60 percent of voters aged 18 to 29. Now look at this year: A New York Times/Siena College poll released last weekend showed support for Mr. Biden had dropped 18 points with Black voters, 15 points with Latinos and 14 points with younger voters nationally.

Abortion could be a decisive issue in Mr. Biden stemming this erosion of support in Arizona and Nevada. The Arizona Supreme Court’s ruling last week that largely bans abortions raises the stakes of a likely ballot initiative on the issue there in November. It also appears likely that there will be a similar ballot measure in Nevada.

Nevertheless, the key to Mr. Biden’s victory is to perform well in the three industrial states. If Mr. Trump is able to win one or more of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, Mr. Biden’s path to 270 electoral votes becomes even narrower.

If Mr. Biden and Mr. Trump remain ahead in the states where they are currently running strongest, the outcome of the election could come down to who wins Michigan and the two Sun Belt states where abortion will very likely be on the ballot, Arizona and Nevada.

Based on past voting, Mr. Trump will start out the general election with 219 electoral votes, compared to 226 votes for Mr. Biden, with 93 votes up for grabs.

Voter history and recent polling suggest that Mr. Trump is in a strong position to win North Carolina . Republicans have carried the state in every presidential election since 1976 except in 2008. In a Wall Street Journal battleground poll taken in March, Mr. Biden had only 37 percent job approval in the state. By winning North Carolina , Mr. Trump would have 235 electoral votes and two strong paths to 270.

The first path involves carrying Georgia , a state he lost by fewer than 12,000 votes in 2020. Before then, Republicans won Georgia in every election since 1992. If Mr. Trump carries North Carolina and Georgia , he would have a base of 251 electoral votes with four scenarios that get him to 270.

Scenario 1 Then all Mr. Trump needs is Pennsylvania …

Scenario 2 … or Michigan and Nevada …

Scenario 3 … or Michigan and Arizona …

Scenario 4 … or Arizona and Wisconsin.

The second and harder path for Mr. Trump would be if he carried only one Southern swing state – most likely North Carolina . He would have only 235 electoral votes and would need to win three of the six remaining battleground states.

Scenario 5 Then he would need to win Arizona , Michigan and Wisconsin …

Scenario 6 … or Arizona , Nevada and Pennsylvania .

How Biden Can Win

It is difficult to see how Mr. Biden gets re-elected without doing well in the industrial battleground states – the so-called “ Blue Wall ” for Democrats. This is particularly true of Pennsylvania, given the state’s 19 electoral votes and Mr. Biden’s ties there and appeal to middle-class and blue-collar voters. That’s why he’s spending three days in Pennsylvania this week.

Mr. Biden will most likely need to win at least one other industrial battleground – with Wisconsin the most probable, since his polling numbers there are stronger than in the other battleground states.

A combination of factors have made winning Michigan much more challenging for Mr. Biden. Hamas’s attack on Israel and the war in Gaza have ripped apart the coalitions that enabled Democrats to do so well in the state since 2018. There are over 300,000 Arab Americans there, as well as a large Jewish population. Both groups were crucial to Mr. Biden’s success there in 2020.

In addition, Michigan voters’ perception of the economy is more negative compared with the other battleground states. In the Journal battleground poll , two-thirds of Michigan voters described the national economy negatively; more than half had a negative opinion of the state’s economy.

Now let’s look at Mr. Biden’s map.

Mr. Biden’s best strategy is based on winning Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, which would give him 255 electoral votes (assuming that he carries the 2nd Congressional District in Nebraska). By carrying these states, Mr. Biden has several paths to 270, but the first three scenarios are his most viable.

Scenario 1 He just needs to win Michigan …

Scenario 2 … or Arizona and Nevada …

Scenario 3 ... or Georgia .

There are two other scenarios where Mr. Biden loses Wisconsin and keeps Pennsylvania . But that would mean winning states where Mr. Biden is polling much worse.

Scenario 4 They involve Mr. Biden winning Georgia and Arizona …

Scenario 5 … or Michigan and Georgia .

A Look Ahead

With over six months to go until Election Day, given the volatility in the world and the weaknesses of Mr. Biden and Mr. Trump, it would be foolish to make firm predictions about specific results. And other electoral map scenarios are possible: Recent polling shows Mr. Biden with a narrow lead in Minnesota, a state that usually votes for Democrats for president. While it is mathematically possible for Mr. Biden to win without carrying Minnesota, it is unlikely he will be elected if he cannot carry this traditionally Democratic state.

For the third election cycle in a row, a small number of voters in a handful of states could determine the next president of the United States.

If the election remains close but Mr. Biden is unable to regain support from the core group of voters who propelled him to victory in 2020 — young and nonwhite voters — then we could be headed to a repeat of the 2016 election. The outcome of that election was decided by fewer than 80,000 votes in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

Last week’s abortion ruling in Arizona, and the likely abortion ballot initiatives in that state and Nevada, give Mr. Biden the possibility of being re-elected even if he loses Michigan. That’s why, if we have another close presidential election, I think Arizona, Michigan and Nevada will likely determine the outcome for Mr. Biden or Mr. Trump.

Based on my experience as Bill Clinton’s White House political director in his 1996 re-election campaign, I would take immediate advantage of Mr. Biden’s significant fund-raising advantage over Mr. Trump to focus on shoring up the president’s chances in Michigan and the must-win states of Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, while at the same time trying to keep Georgia and North Carolina in play. Mr. Biden does not need to win either of those Sun Belt states to get re-elected, but draining Mr. Trump’s resources there could help him in other battleground states.

More on the 2024 presidential election

Democrats Need to Stop Playing Nice

Too often, Democrats litigate; Republicans fight.

By Joe Klein

One Purple State Is ‘Testing the Outer Limits of MAGAism’

North Carolina Republicans are “in the running for the most MAGA party in the nation.”

By Thomas B. Edsall

2024, Meet 1892, Your Doppelgänger

Great political change can unfold when the political system seems woefully stalled.

By Jon Grinspan

Doug Sosnik was a senior adviser to President Bill Clinton from 1994 to 2000 and has advised over 50 governors and U.S. senators.

The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We’d like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips . And here’s our email: [email protected] .

Follow the New York Times Opinion section on Facebook , Instagram , TikTok , WhatsApp , X and Threads .

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Below is an essay example about "Baking as my hobby" written by Lauren Bradshaw from CustomWritings - personalized essay writing service established in 2008. You can learn from this sample and write perfect college essays. As the only boy with five sisters, it wasn't common that I was attracted to the kitchen.
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Grace Williams, a student at Kirkwood High School in Kirkwood, Missouri, enjoys playing tennis, baking, and spending time with her family. Grace also enjoys her time as a writing editor for her school's yearbook, the Pioneer. In the future, Grace hopes to continue her travels abroad, as well as live near extended family along the sunny ...
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A cake for myself would have to be ultimate, all-encompassing; anything less would leave me unsatisfied. Just to imagine it is a daunting task. So this is an essay about baking a special cake for me. First off, flavors need to be chosen. This means, as always, hitting the recipe book shelf.
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1004 Words. 4 Pages. Open Document. Essay Sample Check Writing Quality. Show More. This love for baking started when I came to live in college dorms with a kitchen because at home I was not able to bake any time for myself or family. I was not able to all the time because my mom did not allow us to bake. She thought we would burn ourselves.
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If baking is something you like, you should definitely write about it. But show how deeply it motivates or inspires you. Or talk about your first time baking something and how excited you were and why. The more personal your essay is the better. one of my friends wrote an essay about baking when she applied to college. she got accepted for bio ...
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US College Essay Tips for International Students. Published on September 21, 2021 by Kirsten Courault.Revised on December 8, 2023. Beyond your test scores and grades, the college essay is your opportunity to express your academic and personal character, writing skills, and ability to self-reflect.. You should use your unique culture and individual perspective to write a compelling essay with ...
How to Write the Carleton College Essays 2023-2024
Carleton College Supplemental Essay Prompts. Prompt 1: Please share your thoughts on one (1) of the following prompts, in no more than 300 words. Option A: Carleton's community plan for inclusion, diversity, and equity aims to nurture and develop an even stronger community where students, faculty, and staff belong and thrive.
Getting College Essay Help: Important Do's and Don'ts
Have a fresh pair of eyes give you some feedback. Don't allow someone else to rewrite your essay, but do take advantage of others' edits and opinions when they seem helpful. ( Bates College) Read your essay aloud to someone. Reading the essay out loud offers a chance to hear how your essay sounds outside your head.
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Penn College students to help feed fans at Kentucky Derby
Smith and Wilson are also pursuing bachelor's degrees in applied management. To learn more about Penn College's business and hospitality majors, call 570-327-4505. For information about Penn College, a national leader in applied technology education, email the Admissions Office or call toll-free 800-367-9222.
The culinary climb of University of Kentucky Iron Chef contestants
Welcome to the Iron Chef competition. Photo by Jordan Strickler. Iron Chef is the annual culmination of weeks of cooking instruction by University of Kentucky Chef-in-Residence Bob Perry and lecturer Emily DeWitt. The lab is part of the Department of Dietetics and Human Nutrition, a division of the UK Martin-Gatton College of Agriculture, Food ...
Columbia protests are 'writing on the wall' about antisemitism on
Anti-Israel protesters demonstrate in front of police outside Columbia University in New York City on Thursday. (Peter Gerber) Sinelnikov said that Columbia University's president "lacks the will ...
Why Biden Has a Narrower Path to the Presidency Than Trump, in 11 Maps
The reason is the Electoral College: My analysis of voter history and polling shows a map that currently favors Mr. Trump, even though recent developments in Arizona improve Mr. Biden's chances ...