• Share an experience through which you have gained respect for intellectual, social, or cultural differences. Comment on how your personal experiences and achievements would contribute to the diversity of the University of Michigan.
"Priya, she's so wonderful, Pauline, she's so wonderful, Arpan, he's so wonderful, oh what a wonderful world!"
These were the lyrics to the song that were sung every morning at 9 at Mother Teresa's missionary home in Kolkata that I went to for a school trip. There were volunteers from all parts of the world, including Sweden, Japan, Yugoslavia and America. It was amazing to see that despite our cultural differences, we came together for a common goal: to help, provide care and love to the mentally and physically disabled children. By the end of the week, after bumping into each other on a day-to-day basis, we all became good friends. One of the most memorable moments is the singing session at 9am. Everyone would sit around in a circle and sing to start the day off. It was during these sessions, I realized the meaning of the lyrics. The simple song that is sung over and over again with different names inputted every time, showed that although each individual is unique, it's when everyone is put together that makes the world wonderful. This singing session also showed that music and laughter are unifying forces that bring everyone together despite ethnicity, religion or social class. It indeed is a wonderful world.
I believe I can bring my own cultural values to contribute to the diverse of University of Michigan, as I'm a student who has lived in three different countries as well as attend two different international schools. Furthermore I've been fortunate enough to travel around the world, which has allowed me to interact with all sorts of people. Therefore I will bring my knowledge of cultural differences as well as an open mind that can respect and accept people from around the world.
The word limit is approximiately 250, but i have 294 -
please read over and help me cut some words down
Thank you in advance!
Yeh-Jin Lee
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