Making Lemons into Lemonade by Sabrina

Making Lemons into Lemonade by Sabrina - July 2025 Scholarship Essay

My mother hugged me goodbye as she moved me into my dorm room. I hugged her back and as her car sped away, I felt tears stream down my face. A typically exciting moment for most students was tinged with sadness. My parents put high expectations on my siblings and I to go to prestigious universities and to obtain world-class college educations. This meant taking advanced coursework, studying, and putting academic achievement above friendships and extracurriculars. This expectation was so ingrained into me that when I did get into a university, I felt relieved that my parents would feel proud that all three of their children would go to top-ranked colleges. Truthfully, I had genuine interests in working within the trades or going to mortuary school, but these interests were pushed aside in order to appease my parents. Yet, I did not let my discontent define my college experience. If I were to give my past-self advice, I would say that talking to strangers would be the way to make the best out of a bad situation. Talking to strangers can be the first step in creating beneficial, lifelong connections.

In my first year of college, I was terrified of interacting with my new environment. I grew up in a small town and went to a small high school where everyone knew each other by name. Yet, I decided to attend a large university that was outside the boundaries of my comfort zone. In order to ease my discomfort, I decided to join my dorm’s Hall Council. Hall Council is a student organization that focuses on hosting events to boost resident engagement and to help students gain leadership skills and to learn about event planning. When I joined, I was incredibly shy. Over time I grew to be a leader in my club, taking initiative in event planning.

My proudest accomplishment in Hall Council was hosting a large dance with another residence hall. Since my residence hall had a grandiose ballroom, many hall council members suggested having a dance. It became a long term goal of ours, but we realized that in order to achieve an event of such high caliber, we needed help. We decided to collaborate with another resident hall to combine resources, ideas, and potential audiences who wanted to attend the event. Our first meeting with the other residence hall group did not go as planned. As my Hall Council members discussed their vision for the event, disagreements came up and arguments arose. Whether it was debates about the date of the event, the theme, what the budget would look like, and how the work would be divided among group members, the first meeting was a cacophony of thoughts. No one was able to discuss their thoughts and points of view without being spoken over. Everyone left the meeting feeling frustrated and discontent. I left feeling stressed out and overwhelmed. How were we ever going to pull off a large event within four weeks if no one could make decisions?

The next week, we received a disgruntled email from the other residence hall explaining their grievances with our ideas and our proposal for the event. This left my Hall Council members and I feeling confused, since these sentiments were not addressed in the previous meeting. At that moment, we pondered cutting ties with the other residence hall and doing the event our way. After some reflection and necessary perspective taking, we realized that we had been too pushy and forward with our expectations and vision of the event. We decided to keep working with the other residence hall to hear what they wanted the event to look like and what moving forward with the event would look like. Over time, we learned to listen to each other more and learned to compromise aspects of the event. Creating a clear method of communication during and outside of meetings was critical in order to clear up misunderstandings and to organize the event properly. These disagreements helped my Hall Council to become more resilient to conflict and it strengthened our collaboration skills.

Despite the conflict, the event was a hit! Hundreds of students attended and our event hit record attendance for the year. I will never forget the laughter, music, and smiles I witnessed that night from my fellow peers. Those moments showed me how much joy I derive from making people smile and enjoy themselves. It showed me that through talking to strangers, I was able to make the best out of my first year of university. During my time in Hall Council, I made connections. Building these connections helped me to become a Resident Advisor, which has been quite fulfilling.

Currently, I am approaching my second year as a Resident Advisor, and I will be participating in an 8-week internship. In this internship, I will be teaching first-year students a curriculum related to how to navigate the transition from high school to college. In all of these experiences, I owe making connections with strangers as the reason I gained these opportunities. Without taking the first step, I would not be the same person I am today. So, to my past self: I challenge you to talk to strangers and to get comfortable being uncomfortable. In the long run, it will help you to make the best out of situations.