Fun Fact about Aleena: She dressed just like Edgar Allan Poe on the last day of 10th grade and made a morbid "graduation speech"
A Summer at College... While Still in High School
September 16, 2005
This summer, I attended the Georgetown University International Relations Program for High School students. My main reason for attending was to offer a boost to my chances of acceptance at Georgetown. I figured that this ought to show how interested I am in the school and in my desired major. Plus, this program made me like Georgetown even more (though I will say that the cafeteria seriously needs some more variety). In fact, I am now working on my early application to Georgetown.
The IR (International Relations) program that I participated in was really fun. Who would have thought that one week would have been so educational? And yet it was. I learned about things ranging from the North Korean nuclear issue to how to live in an actual dorm and actually share not only your room with a roommate but a bathroom and shower with 15 other people. International Relations is a big part of Government and Politics, so it very much piqued my interest in the subject. They set up a lot of activities for us including debates, crisis simulations (where we took the North Korea issue and pretended to act as advisers to the president on how to handle all the different countries and such), briefings by a senator on Capitol Hill, and a visit to the Israeli Embassy. It was really amazing because I was able to gain a whole new level of understanding of politics, positions of many countries, and finally, how hard it really is to be a politician involved in not only domestic issues but in world politics.
I also got a chance to learn more about the school and college life while I was there. Like I said, I shared rooms that are normally and exclusively mine in home life with other people who I did not know at all. Amazingly, I adapted well and I felt like I was already at home by the third day of the program. After all, we were all interested in the same things, we all bunched together to tell each other about our lives in general, and now we stay in contact with each other even though we only spent a week together. Honestly, the college dorm atmosphere is so much of a community one that even if you don't know a person, when you walk past them in the hallway or go to the bathroom, you say "Hi" to each other all the time. It is just so wonderful and helped relieve the homesickness that I felt. The greatest part about it was the independence. I have never really been on my own in that way without my parents or some other strict adult to watch over me, and it was the first time that I took care of myself. And surprisingly, I took care of myself very well! I am surprised because I thought I was such a dependent person.
I did do something interesting while I was at Georgetown for this program. I never thought I would be able to do this, but I asked one of the counselors of the program (who was an alumni of the school) for a recommendation! The counselor was nice enough to accept my request, and wow, what a big break for me. Georgetown considers alumni relations in their review of your application. Now, it's true that this person does not know me extremely well like my teachers would, but maybe she might tip things in my favor.
This was definitely a worthwhile summer experience.