The date was December 15th, about halfway through the performance season. Act I of the ballet was like any other; Fritz broke Marie’s nutcracker at the family Christmas party, after which the Nutcracker came to life during an epic battle against the Mouse King. Then came Act II. The other angels and I waited restlessly in the wings to take our places on stage. The air hummed with anticipation for the moment when the thick, red, velvet curtain that...

When I was three years old, I lived in my little pink tutu and ballet shoes for days at a time. At that point, I had no idea how much of an influence ballet would eventually have on my life; I just blithely danced around the house. Throughout the years, I grew to love ballet more and more. I found everything about the art infinitely elegant. From the long, frothy tutus to the grace of pointe shoes, ballet had a...

I have chosen to study engineering because it requires finding practical solutions to real-life problems. Princeton University offers an environment of academic freedom and intellectual exploration where I can expand my expertise to solve these problems. As an imaginative person, I have always enjoyed solving brain teasers and puzzles, and to a certain extent, the problems that arise in engineering are very similar to these: they both require systematic experimentation and analytical thinking to find solutions. I first realized in...

As a kid, I doodled on the sides of my papers, drawing random geometric shapes and shading them with different values. It was only during my sophomore year that my true passion for creating tangible art really manifested itself. Throughout the past few years, I have produced pencil, pen, charcoal, and oil paint pieces, several of which have been featured in school and district-wide exhibits. Not only did I learn how to use correct perspective and proportions, but also how...