A block of wood with a nail hammered in on a slight angle sits on my bookshelf. In black printed bold letters, it reads “Tough as nails.” My swim coach handcrafted and presented me this award four years ago. Every day before going to bed, I glance at it. It can’t be neglected. To me the nail represents perseverance and determination. It reminds me that failure can lead to success. For the past nine years, swimming has been a...

It’s a little mind boggling that some kids of my age already know exactly what they want to major in and what they want to do with their lives after college. Not me! I entered high school having no clue where my interests lay, but because my high school requires students to take a broad spectrum of classes from physics to economics to journalism, I now enter my senior year assured that my interests lie in biological science. However,...

I DO NOT LIKE Polly Pockets. They’re plastic dolls that sit in a toy convertible, wearing shimmery clothing and stilettos. In fact, the community I grew up in resembles the Polly Pocket world: sheltered and well educated. When I had a 40% in AP Chemistry, my parents and teachers offered help and encouragment. So I guess I shouldn't dislike Polly Pockets because in a way, I’m exactly like them: extremely fortunate. But, when I looked inside a Polly Pocket,...

eciR. It probably sounds like some foreign language or jibberish. Try again and look at it from a different perspective. eciR is “Rice” spelled backwards, which is an international learning community, fitting Rice’s mission statement of cultivating a diverse community of learning. Rice’s versatile population exemplifies this through its broad range of students from Hispanics to African-Americans, unlike the constricted diversity in Troy, mostly Asians and Caucasians. A well-mixed student body will bring innovative perspectives and allow me...

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