CommonApp エッセイ ~University of Pennsylvania~

私が出願したエッセイをただただ記録のために載せていくシリーズです。参考までに。

UPennはエッセイがほっこりしまして受けようと思ったのを覚えています。Haverfordとも近いので何かの縁でまた行けるかもしれないことを願って。

毎度の如く、剽窃はありませんのでご安心を。

By submitting this application, I affirm my understanding of and agreement to the statements found here: http://www.commonapp.org/affirmations.

2022 UPenn Supplemental Essay

Write a short thank-you note to someone you have not yet thanked and would like to acknowledge. (We encourage you to share this note with that person, if possible, and reflect on the experience!) (150-200 words)

Dear Mr. Keiga,

I used to enjoy drawing my friends at the beginning of each class in your Arts & Crafts class. You said, "Each of you has a wonderful point of view, so don't try to draw a good picture, but a picture you want to draw.” In my elementary school graduation album, you wrote: "We only live once, so share the joy of seeing, creating, and protecting beautiful things!"

I believe that your thoughts sunk in and led me to an interest in street snapshots, where beauty is found in everyday scenes woven by people and towns, and in political science, which focuses on respect for the essence of individual human beings. For me, political science and photography are both warm and strong with a human touch, affirming a person's personality, and defending them from "negative" enemies using logic as a weapon. 

The idea of seeing, creating, and protecting the beauty of individuality was given to me by you, Mr. Keiga, who painted the cherry tree at the school gate with a gentle touch. That is why you are the number one teacher among elementary, junior high, and high schools.

Your former student,
Ryotaro Sakazaki
Aspiring Photographer and Lawyer (200words)

How will you explore the community at Penn? Consider how Penn will help shape your perspective and identity, and how your identity and perspective will help shape Penn. (150-200 words)

In wotagei dance, chemical lights are waved around in time with music (mostly fast-paced Japanese anime music). Uninterested in anime, I was still fascinated by the synchronized movement of the chemical lights in wotagei videos.

In junior high school, I simply performed choreographies that my friends came up with, but in high school I began to come up with my own choreographies and perform them. Last year, my friends and I came up with an original choreography for Blinding Lights by The Weeknd, and when we performed it at the school festival's dance contest, the audience got so enthusiastic that I couldn't hear the background music. We won first prize by a landslide in the voting.

So I would like to join the Pan-Asian Dance Troupe or Penn Hype Dance Crew to introduce this wotagei dance to my peers at UPenn. Showing them how a simple choreography to cheer on Japanese underground idol singers has evolved into the dance style called wotagei, I want them to feel the energy of Japanese pop culture. Moreover, we can explore how to combine our different styles, and I can comprehend how other music and dance styles reflect the cultures they come from. (199words)

Considering the specific undergraduate school you have selected, how will you explore your intellectual and academic interests at the University of Pennsylvania? (150-200 words)

Together with my colleagues at UPenn, I hope to create a new vision of human rights, democracy, and society.

UPenn's Philosophy, Politics, and Economics major offers a fascinating cross between philosophy and practical science with the law at its core in fostering my philosophy of law as a legal scholar. In particular, the Thematic Concentration Public Policy and Governance allows me to deepen my study of the relationship between GAFA, freedom of expression, and free markets, which I have discussed at daily dinners with my father, a summary court judge, and my mother, clerk of a Supreme Court justice.

A recent mealtime topic of my family is the request for disclosure of Twitter user information to the courts. The problem is that it is difficult for the Japanese government to invoke coercive power against Twitter, a U.S. company. I have high hopes for our study of how each country will respond to the current international situation where opportunities for freedom of expression are rapidly expanding due to the economic activities of a small number of multinational corporations.

I am excited to work with my peers at UPenn to solve these international problems that have arisen due to globalization.   (199words)