Aaron used the following essay in his applications to Bard,Harvard,Stanford,and Yale.
Evaluate a significant experience,achievement,risk you have taken,or ethical dilemma you have faced and its impact on you.
I didn’t launch my first business,an origami store,when I was in second grade because I craved wealth;customera paid with worthless rayon money. I launched my origami store because I loved to play and discover.
At summer camp before second grade,a Japanese woman taught me how to transform delicate red papers into cranes. Later, Ilearned to create origami stars,pinwheels,balloons,and boats by following instructions in manuals. When I showed my classmates these creations their eyes beamed with wonder. So I sold origami to my classmates with dazzling success. Operating my store influenced me more than any other learning experience in second-grade. As I grew I was haunted by an aspiration to become an entrepreneur.
This aspiration was intensified when I discovered the internet. The power of the internet is as obvious as the power of raw roaring waves in the Pacific Ocean. Like ocean waves that toss driftwood, fishes,and seaweed,information flows define reality; they incessantly resculpt parts of communities. Mainstream media reports,however, neglect to consider what I considered in ninth grade:that the internet might be useful in bays and coves. I thought the internet,like plazas,restaurants and city streets could be used as a gathering place in small communities like my home, Humboldt County.
An imaginative second-grade shop-keeper played with with possibilities: a directory of Humboldt County websites,a trading place---free classified advertisements, a community calendar,and a restaurant guide with diner reviews.I dreamed Humscape.com(the name of my vision)would be polished and professional,dynamic and database-driven,like Yahoo.This dream seemed unattainable until I discovered and was astonished by the webapplication software product ColdFusion.Before I understood ColdFusion code I signed away almost all the money in my bank account to buy ColdFusion-enabled webhost service.
My racing courage had won against reluctance to invest hard-earned money. I became an entrepreneur. For six months I plunged deeply into creating Humscape.com. I taught myself ColdFusion from online manuals.
When I launched Humscape.com I felt like an author who had published a book. I invited a television news team into my home. Newspaper headlines and T.V.blurbs incited hundreds of eMail requests for website hyperlinks to be included in the Humscape.com directory.
During my telephone and eMail correspondence with the operators of the local website CouponsOn Web, I never told them I was fifteen until immediately before we met at the Humboldt Bay Coffee Company. The CouponsOn Web team listened carefully to every word I spoke. When I strode out of the coffee shop’s incandescent light and warm coffee aroma I felt like a self-confident adult.
Humscape.com was fabulously successful. This success cannot be documented on a ledgersheet--- I did not earn the monetary pofits I once aspired to earn. I earn experience and self-confidence,profits more difficult to earn, and more valuable than money.
