Edgar Jaramillo, a junior at Cypress High School was chosen through several interview procedures to study at the United World Colleges (UWC) for the 2012-2014 school years. UWC consists of twelve international schools and colleges throughout the globe. It was established in 1962 and its programs have been continuing since then.
Jaramillo went through two acceptance stages to be officially accepted into the UWC program. First, he had to pass the written application work, where approximately 100 students got approved to be interviewed. Then he was interviewed in March among the chosen students in his region. “The interview was different from a traditional interview. All the people there, about a dozen all together, were really brilliant. They not only had good grades but also had lots of extracurricular activities and were great communicators,” stated Jaramillo. Meeting his competent competitors for the first time at the interview was nerve racking for Jaramillo, “I actually felt more confident about my chances before the interview than after.”
Despite the intimidating competitors, as Jaramillo stated, he was able to get accepted into the program.”When I got the acceptance email, to be honest it was just a pure elation. I had been waiting for this for months and the program was something that I thought could really change my life. He stated that his friends and family congratulated him to the fullest. “I was with my friend Justin Huynh when I received the email, and he gave me the best bro-hug ever.”
Jaramillo will be completing an entire International Baccalaureate (IB) program in next two years at the New Mexico chapter of the United World College program. “The United World College offers some of the premiere education in the world. The fact that more that 80 countries are represented means I’ll be able to make new friends and experience brand new cultures,” said Jaramillo.
Jaramillo will be heading off to New Mexico in August for the next school year, where he will be able to make new friends and learn new materials. He stated that he feels anxious to be away from home, but he is looking forward to the new experience ahead of him.
This is a very positive and touching article! I think to make the reader more interested, include some tips or hints from your subject about college, etc… your audience is most likely students, so they’ll be interested in how a successful student went about doing things. Good job!!
Hi Christina, what a great achievement for Edgar! He does deserve to have a story written about him. You followed a good structure and provided good description about the application process of UWC. Personally, however, I don’t know much about UWC and I assume most readers don’t too. You might want to add more information about WHY the program is so good and WHAT students do as part of the program. Also, getting quote from more than one source would also be more helpful. Overall, good job.