【essay内容】
In 2020, I founded an underwater robotics team in my garage. We invited friends from school and the math circle we ran. Some members had no experience with robotics and others had lots of experience, so I taught them by helping everyone build a land robot. In our second year, I reached out to more people in the community and grew our team from 10 to 22 members across 10 schools. We had seniors to middle schoolers on the team. I promoted returning members to lead the hardware, testing, and documentation teams. I led the software team where I taught Python, setting up Raspberry Pi computers, and streaming cameras. My mom knew someone whose nephew recently immigrated from Mexico and wanted to learn about robotics. I invited him to join the team and I walked him through setting up the robot. Now he teaches others how to set it up. When I give individual attention, people develop useful skills and pass those skills onto others.
On the competition day, we didn't tighten our electronics chamber and water shorted our entire electronics system! But we didn't mourn, we got straight to problem solving. The hardware leader unplugged and unscrewed the parts. I tested the computers and told members to grab working parts from last year's robot. My CoCEO calmed the team. In the middle of the repairs, we gave an award winning 15-minute engineering presentation to judges. We miraculously got the robot working in time for our second pool run and we placed third! I learned that to be an effective leader, I need to understand every team member's strengths and weaknesses. The hardware leader annoyed me because he started building without planning and made avoidable mistakes. But I appreciated his instant problem solving when we needed to rapidly rebuild our robot. Now that I know what he is good at, I can give him appropriate roles for his talents. I am using what I've learned to lead our team effectively by giving everyone the chance to use their best skills.
2020 年,我在自家车库里成立了水下机器人团队。我们邀请了学校和数学圈的朋友。有些成员没有机器人方面的经验,有些则有很多经验,所以我通过帮助每个人制作陆地机器人来教他们。第二年,我接触了社区里更多的人,团队成员从10人增加到22人,遍布10所学校。团队中既有高年级学生,也有初中生。我提拔回归的成员领导硬件、测试和文档团队。我领导软件团队,教授 Python、设置树莓派计算机和流媒体摄像头。我妈妈认识一个人,他的侄子最近从墨西哥移民过来,想学习机器人技术。我邀请他加入团队,并指导他安装机器人。现在,他还教别人如何设置机器人。当我给予个别关注时,人们就会发展出有用的技能,并将这些技能传授给其他人。
比赛当天,我们没有拧紧电子舱,导致整个电子系统进水短路!但我们没有悲伤,而是直接开始解决问题。硬件负责人拔掉了插头,拧下了零件。我对电脑进行了测试,并告诉队员们从去年的机器人上拿可用的部件。我的联席CEO安抚了团队。在修理过程中,我们向评委做了 15 分钟的获奖工程演示。我们奇迹般地及时修好了机器人,并获得了第三名!我认识到,要成为一名有效的领导,我需要了解每个团队成员的长处和短处。硬件组组长让我很恼火,因为他在没有计划的情况下就开始制作,犯了一些本可以避免的错误。但我很欣赏他在我们需要快速重建机器人时立即解决问题的能力。现在,我知道了他的长处,就可以根据他的才能让他担任适当的角色。我正在利用我所学到的知识,让每个人都有机会发挥自己的特长,从而有效地领导我们的团队。
【essay评价】
这篇essay的语言朴实得近乎平淡,为什么成了UC招生官眼里的成功essay,获得了UCB(加州伯克利)的Offer?
因为UC招生官认为:所有UCessay的本质都是讲以自己为主角的故事(storytelling)。在这篇领导力essay中,学生讲述了自己创建机器人团队的经历。由最初的10人发展到了22人,教成员Python、设置Raspberry Pi等技能,并分享了如何克服团队在比赛中遇到的困难。这篇essay虽然朴实无华,但呈现了非常多的细节来展现学生具有的知识/技能,领导力,问题解决能力,以及对于不同群体的关怀。
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