What is it you most trust about yourself?

What are the character

traits you look for in a friend? What is it you most love about or
a lesson you’ve learned from a beloved grandparent? What did
you discover about yourself during Covid?
--Carol Weirick

Write about that one thing that they mention and all of their
friends groan. They sigh, roll their eyes, and say 'ugh, not again.'
Whatever that thing is, that's what students should write about.
That's the thing that they are SO excited about that it's annoying
to others. Regardless of the actual topic, that excitement will
carry through into their essays and will get us excited too.
--Yulia Korovikov

What don’t you want to write about?

--Harry Nerenberg

Use the NPR series “This I Believe” to get going. Or write a

“The Things I Carried” essay.
We have had the students take the University of Pennsylvania’s
VIA 2 Character Strengths survey and then write an anecdote
about one or two of their top character traits.
--Anna Wright, the Benjamin School
From your perspective now as a senior, what have your learned
about yourself since you began high school that has surprised or
pleased you? How are you different from that first day
freshman year?
--Lynn Ossowski

“If you could be a superhero, what would your superpowers

be?” Of course WHY do you want these superpowers and how
you would use them is a really fun discussion in small groups. I
often do this as a drawing+writing activity. Taps into another
part of their brain and they have fun. They draw their costume
or symbols. We might do a group share and vote for the best
hero. They have no idea we are digging into their values and
their psyches!
--Tara Dowling, Worcester Academy

The essence object and value exercise from the College Essay
Guy (Ethan Sawyer) are what I use now. [Ethan Sawyer hopped
on to contribute some resources he uses with students, labeled
here as “personal statement”:
https://www.collegeessayguy.com/college-application-hub.”]

--Christine Eischen

Prompt: When you leave this school / your home / your place of
work / this community, what will be different because of your
absence? What will be missed? Link that difference or thing that
will be missed to a physical object.
Example of what will be different: 
1. coffee cup no longer left on the windowsill 
2. no more sound of my skateboard hitting the rails at 8 a.m. 
3. worms no longer get moved from the sidewalks to safety after
a rain because I'm the one who does that
Then see if there is a larger reflective statement you can make
about what that object / image symbolizes. 
Example: 
1. Coffee making is an important ritual in our house because it
gives us a small moment in the day to share some time, and it
will be great to take that mug to school where new rituals that
connect me to others will happen.
2. The skateboard has gathered a group of neighbors who
watched me get better over time, some of them surprising me
with their own skate tricks...open to learning from others in
surprising places.
3. Worms are a symbol of vulnerability and of taking the time to
help things just because you can. 
This is usually pretty productive. I have students brainstorm a
list, then work the list in pairs, discussing possible symbolic
expansion possibilities.
--Jennifer Boyden

1. Tell me about something you used to believe but don’t believe

anymore (no Santa Claus essays please). [This requires the
writer to recognize that their thinking evolves and that
circumstances can change perceptions. In general, that seems to
me to be a characteristic necessary to succeed in college and the
telling usually produces an event that has required insight and
reflection]
2. Complete this sentence and then let’s talk about it: “If you
could have seen me ________________, you would know how
_________________ I am.” [I like this as it focuses on how
events reflect character.]
3. And for that occasional student who thinks I’m an Uber who
will deliver him to college while he sits in the back seat
checking his phone, I offer: “You’re more than ready for
college, Gosh, let’s just move on to business school and get you
into Stanford. Here’s their question. Write that up for me for
Monday: “What matters most to you, and why?”
--Sarah McGinty, The Character Collaborative