Supplement I. Unedited Texts

Text 1-1

Integrity, discipline, selfless service, loyalty, courage, and competence are a few of the values and traits the military has instilled in me. Many of my successes in life can be attributed to those values and traits. I believe for the most part it is because these values and traits where built upon a strong foundation of perseverance. Obtaining my baccalaureate degree and my commission as an officer in the Army are prime examples of how perseverance allowed me to overcome difficult obstacles in my life. Neither of my parents went to college. My mother, a Dutch immigrant, finished her education short of fourth grade. My father barely passed the GED with the help of his Army recruiter. My parents worked hard but had little to show for it. I knew I wanted more out of life for my self and my family. Education was my opportunity to change my life. The specialized education system I had attended while in Holland resulted in my graduating high school at age 16. My father felt college would be a waste of money and refused to support me financially. My mother could not assist me financially, but she gave me the most valuable thing I needed; her encouragement. Two months after graduation from High School, I got a job working 45 to 50 hours a week, moved out into my own apartment and enrolled in college full-time. My average workday began at 4: 30 am and ended at 3: 30 pm. I went to school during the week from 6: 00 pm to 11: 00 pm. I still do not recall when I slept or did school work, but I was determined to succeed. As busy as I was between work and school, I still found time to do volunteer activities here and there. When I turned 17, I wanted to make a more substantial impact in the community that also would enhance my future. I joined the National Guard. I firmly believed, and still do, that nothing in life is free and that includes our rights and freedom. Even though the National Guard was taking up an additional weekend per month, I was still progressing in college at a decent pace and receiving decent grades. In the middle of my sophomore year, I began to realize that I did not just want to make a difference in the community, I wanted to lead others to make a difference too. The National Guard at the time was in need of officers; especially female officers. I applied to the Officer Candidate School weekend program, and was accepted. The rigorous and demanding training process began with one hundred soldiers. Five of the one hundred soldiers where females. From the beginning, I was singled out by the tactical officers because I was a female and had opted to go in the Corps of Engineers upon graduation. Female officers did not traditionally go into engineering at that time. Fourteen months later, eleven soldiers received Federal Commissions as Second Lieutenants in the U.S. Army. I was the only female among the eleven to graduate. Serving as an officer gave me some unexpected financial benefits that let me cut back the hours I was working and focus more on school. Finally, five years after I started the journey for my degree I received my Bachelors in Business. The perseverance I displayed in pursuing my degree and commission is the same perseverance that will ensure my success at the University of Maryland. My background in diverse leadership positions will allow me to contribute to my class from a unique perspective. Not many individuals at age nineteen have experienced being responsible for over thirty people. I have prepared and lead a 120 soldier unit for overseas deployment during a time of hostilities. The difficult decisions I have made and ethical dilemmas I have endured have made me realize the importance of " choosing the harder right rather than the easier wrong." It is this realization that will not only guide me while in school, but later on to become lawyer of integrity and character. I wish to study law for the same reason I joined the military. I want to serve my community from a position of leadership that is not only challenging, but in which I can make a difference.

I believe the University of Maryland will provide me a leading education and open doors to future opportunities. Having an education from an institution that is among the best in the nation certainly helps when pursuing a professional career, but it is not the primary reason for my choice. The primary factor for me choosing the University of Maryland is its applications oriented education. To read something and see it done is valuable, but to truly understand and succeed you must apply it in as a real environment as possible. The Army uses a saying to guide leaders in establishing training for its soldiers: " Train as you fight and you will fight as you train." I try to apply this philosophy to my education whenever possible. The law clinics, externships and the mentor program the University of Maryland offers will give me that valuable hands on training experience I will need in order to successfully serve the community. It is my sincere hope that you will that you will consider my application favorably and grant me entrance to the law program.

Text 2-1

My purpose for seeking a Doctorate Degree in Educational Leadership is to expand my knowledge of theory and research methods as it pertains to education. I especially want to fine-tune my research skills as I feel that the importance of gaining research skills is imperative to becoming a lifelong learner and developing intellectual self-actualization as I prepare myself for a career in Education. I realize the importance of gaining credibility among my future colleagues and people that I will be serving in the field.

My view of Education is that of a reformist. I have a particular interest in the improvement of homeless individuals, single mothers and women of color. Because of my own experience with both homelessness and single motherhood, I know the feeling of helplessness as you are sinking deeper and deeper in desperation that you feel that you will never recover from it. I have seen how generations of these people have become prisoners by being illiterate and /or insufficiently educated around our city with little or no hope of getting free from their bondage. Although I have struggled hard to get myself out of this situation I refuse to forget.

I have strove to make a difference wherever I can. As volunteer at Christian Assistance Ministry I witnessed the overworked conditions that the social workers and volunteers faced. Worn from these conditions these dedicated workers had no respite from their daily work of feeding, clothing and providing funds for the homeless and families who have found themselves in a desperate situation. Although I had many job responsibilities at Christian Assistance Ministry the most common was that of interviewer where I assessed the clients situation and offered help either monetary or that of food and clothing. I soon found that intake and interview forms as well as information that was distributed to the patrons. I took it upon myself after approval from the Director to redo and modernize these forms and lists. Also I had initiated lists of other agencies that would assist clients find additional help that they needed in the Greater Houston Area. One of theses lists that I have generated has been used by City Public Service to refer customers that are in need of financial assistance to pay their utility bills. I had contacted each of the agencies personally to get up to date hours, addresses and contact names and numbers before adding them to the list. Many patrons of Christian Assistance Ministry were included in my project as I compiled lists of job hotlines, shelters and affordable housing options. This inclusion also gave many of the patrons a sense of community collaboration, as I would discuss information with them.

In my present job at SeaNet I felt that it was necessary to know what our clients, Small businesses Development Center and Small business administration Counselors felt about the services we were providing them since in the job we do we don't have personal contact with them. With my directors approval I sent out surveys asking various questions about the service we provide and got an overwhelming response. This information was used in a quarterly report that is submitted to our funding agency in Washington DC. At SeaNet I am known as an individual that prides herself in thorough research techniques. I am often being asked to do research for special projects that are beyond our usual information requests. Most recently I have done research on the availability of renewable energy sources in South Texas. This research was for a consortium of various Universities in Texas, The Economic Development Center, Solar Energy and Brooks Air Force Base investigating who are examining the feasibility using various energy sources.

I am also an advocate of 21st Century Learning Centers that would provide a safe refuge for the millions of latch-key children in this country that go home to an empty house on any given school day. Along with that thought are full service schools that would provide many of the health and social services so desperately needed in many school districts. I have and continue to research community programs that are available to school children and their families. I recently collaborated with three such agencies (Upward Bound, Peace Center, and Davis….) in Houston to present to my fellow classmates the importance and impact community collaboration makes on our schools in our city. I also provided information in the form of brochures and handouts about other such organizations that could assist in the needs of their own schools. I feel that it is imperative that every teacher, principle and administrative staff in all schools be aware of these resources in our community. After the presentation many of my classmates who are teachers and administrators contacted several of the organizations that I had introduced them to in that hour presentation and have started programs within their schools.

Although I have not yet formally been employed in the educational work environment I have been a mentor for many students attending Davis Middle School as well as a tutor for several home-schooled children. During the years of my own children attending school, I was very involved in their schools both private and public and took on many organizational and leadership roles. I served on many boards and was very active in assisting instructors and administrators in the schools my children attended. Because of these 15 years of experience, I am very familiar with the diverse educational system in Houston.

I have helped develop leadership in others by serving as an example of how far you can go in education with dedication and hard work. By being a student I have been example to others who didn't feel they could juggle school with work and raising a family. I have a very hard working and decisive character that has earned me a 4.0 GPA. I have never been one to do anything halfway but instead show the dedication and integrity it takes to finish a project to its fullest.

My short-term goals include: establishing a network of scholars and future administrators, participating in a rigorous intellectual process.

My short-term goals include taking full advantage of the Doctorate program to fine-tune and learn more about research and writing skills. I want to use and improve my knowledge in quantitative research using programs such as SPSS and Microcase, in tandem with qualitative researching techniques. I want to develop a clear and concise understanding of leadership and the education profession and how the two mesh as one while enjoying the opportunity to develop a network of scholars. To experience the community and closeness that my fellow cohort mates can provide enjoy the opportunity to brainstorm and discuss pressing issues in our schools today and how we/I/they plan on changing them for tomorrow. After researching many doctorate programs in the area I feel that Texas A& M is unique in the standpoint of wanting to create a bonding collaborative experience among all the Educational Leadership Students and especially among cohort mates. I feel that the young and innovative program suits the fresh outlook on Educational Leadership that I am in search of. I have seen the department of education blossom in the last 4 years that I have been involved with it. I can appreciate the effort and future seeking work that is going on in the department, everyone has the attitude of moving forward and evolving with the times. To me this is the true example of reform, there is no lip service in this program, and it is practicing what it preaches. I know that in the classes that I have taken there is open invitation for research and suggestions for improvement solicited. Although I have no trouble working independently on projects it is reassuring that there will be others to inspire the creative juices that comes from group interaction that this program invites. I will look forward to working with professors that I have worked with before and I am anxious to meet those I have not. There is camaraderie in the Education Department that I do not feel is quite like any other at Texas A& M.

My long-term goals take what I have learned in my master's courses in combination with the doctorate courses that will well have prepared me to enter any job in Education. I intend to prepare much of the research using the foundations for a higher level of research I have established at Texas A& M and be published and make a difference in how the underprivileged will be educated. I know that the preparation for that higher plane of achievement that has been instilled in me will serve me well in any Educational or Governmental Occupation I will find myself in. Above all I will be secure in my ability to someway participate in the nation's urgent need to educate moor efficiently and comprehensively.

Text 3-1

Ngugi wa Thiong'o, an influential Kenyan author and NYU professor, introduced me to the study of African literature with a statement that continues to be the impetus of my academic goals and interests. During one of his Postcolonial African Literature classes, he stated that by adopting reading and writing as the chief form of social communication, a civilization is truly freeing itself to forget its own values, because those values no longer have to be part of a lived reality to have significance. A first-year undergraduate with a blind faith and deep passion for literature, I always cherished the idea that the written word has the ability to alter individual lives, to shape one's own identity and potentially, national identity. With Professor Ngugi's statement, however, I was confronted with the notion of literature not as an agent of vital change, but as a potential instrument of stasis and social stagnancy, and I began to question. How does " literature" function away from the written page, in the lives of individuals and societies? Furthermore, what is the significance of the written word in a society where the construction of history is not necessarily recorded or even linear?

Driven to examine these issues, I found that the general scope of comparative literature fell short of my expectations because it didn't allow students to question the inherent integrity or subjectivity of their discourse. We were told to approach Asian, African, European, and American texts with the same tools of analysis, ignoring the fact that within each culture (and numerous subcultures), literature may function in a different capacity and with a completely different sense of urgency. Seeking out ways in which literature tangibly impacted societies therefore led me naturally into other fields, including history, philosophy, anthropology, language, and performance studies. I believe the nature of this work is best represented in my independently-researched senior thesis entitled " Time Out of Joint: Issues of Temporality in the Songs of Okot p'Bitek, " which, in addition to my own literary interpretations, drew heavily on p'Bitek's cultural treatises and outside anthropological, psychological and philosophical works. This interdisciplinary direction helped me to understand not only the meaning of the literary works themselves, but what I believe is more important, it gave me insight into the state of the Ugandan society and popular psychology that gave birth to the horrific Idi Amin regime. In addition, I was able to realize how people interacted with the works and incorporated or failed to incorporate them into their individual, social and political realities.

In the future, I seek to continue exploring these issues by integrating the study of social, cultural and linguistic anthropology into the realm of literature. In doing so, I believe methods of inquiry can be developed which will allow interpretation of works that are both technically sound and sociologically insightful. My studies thus far have concentrated largely on African and Caribbean literatures in general terms, and I am very interested in studying these parts of the world in more specific national historical and cultural contexts. I also seek to increase my knowledge of African languages as a tool to study the lingering cultural impact of colonialism in modern day African literatures written in European languages. My faith in the tangible power of the written word that led me into the study of literature as a young student is my driving force today and will be for the foreseeable future. My ultimate goal is to gain the knowledge and tools necessary to illuminate that power to others.

I believe the Modern Thought and Literature program at Berkeley is uniquely positioned to guide me in reaching these aims. I was thrilled to find a program that approaches world literature with a cross-disciplinary focus, recognizing that the written word has the potential to be an entry point for social and cultural inquiry. The level of scholarly work that the department has produced also excites me about my hopeful future there. In particular, the work of Sanjay Kadavera, especially in Culture, Power, Place, was one of my first and most important experiences with the field of cultural anthropology. His complicating of the traditionally drawn local, national and foreign realms through the discussion of post-colonial displacement and mixed identifications first led me to believe that comparative literature's focus on national and linguistic borders was fairly arbitrary in the modern world. Much more significant is the accurate rendering of individual lived realities that may then be synthesized with other experiences. I believe that I could greatly benefit from his teaching and guidance in applying these ideas to the literary arena. I am also eager to learn from many other scholars in the department, contribute to a vital academic and practical discourse, and venture down paths that I may, as yet, not have imagined.

Text 4-1

In the 1990s, globalization has changed the business world profoundly. Companies of different country origins now can reach customers worldwide and cut their production and operation costs through international chains of production and distribution. Today, Gillette Co. is manufacturing razors in Russia, Fidelity Investment is selling its funds in Germany, and Citicorp is serving millions of customers from Asia to America. Meanwhile, global markets are featured with constant changes, intense competition, and heightened customer expectation, making it ever more difficult for a company to gain and maintain its competitive edge. Managers have to take broader responsibilities in the global economy. A successful manager will monitor the competitive landscape and decide if his organization has the strategies, structures and the people that can fulfill its global interest. In spite of the different approaches he may take, he always has to build the commitment to the global economy and develop the necessary strengths for international business throughout his company. Being exposed to global economy does not mean that a company will easily become international. Transiting from a national company to an international one will take an adjustment of attitude as well as operation. Explaining the challenges and opportunities, and addressing to employees' concerns, such as how globalization affect their jobs, are a manager's first steps to make the transition.

An excellent salesman in the U.S. may not work equally well in China or Brazil. In order to act globally, a company needs the right people with the right skills. Developing global working teams that have the necessary skills to work with people of different countries and cultures, then, is the next thing on a manager's agenda.

Also, a successful manager will help his company tailor its global strategies to its resources and capacities. It would be great to have 1 billion customers by the year 2010 like Citicorp might, but not every company has the size and global reach of Citigroup. Nonetheless, size is not everything. It's the quality of the products and services that a company can offer that matters. In stead of being all the things to all the people, a smaller company can take alternative approaches to the global market, such as focusing on a certain market sector in which it can compete efficiently. A manager must find the best strategies available and then establish appropriate policies in international marketing, finance, and human resource management accordingly. And then, these strategies will be continually monitored to take into account new advances in the business world. Furthermore, different cultures, laws, and market conditions make international operation a complicated process of system engineering. A manager has to shape his company into a flexible organization so that it can learn from and respond to fast-changing environments. In addition to developing global working teams, mastering technology is another central part of this action. With the help of technology, a manager will be able to direct and control operations on diverse scopes and scales. More importantly, since everyone has access to technology, how a manager leverages technology for competitive advantage will make the difference. In a world fraught with intensive competition, ideas become the ultimate power that makes a company stand out. In order to be recognized and chosen by customers, a company has to be creative and do things special. A manger's responsibilities must include encouraging and stimulating new ideas and techniques. To this end, he will look for new markets, customers, and allies with the purpose of generating new revenues and reducing costs.

In the field of finance, globalization has compelled managers to make their decisions in the shadow of uncertainty. Numerous forces affect international capital markets. As the markets become more and more integrated, the changes in one market will induce chain reactions that will eventually sweep all the markets. One of such an example is the Asian currency crisis that happened in 1997, which is still affecting the world's economy at this time. On the other hand, as the world moves toward common standard of financial governance and market valuation, new opportunities have arisen for international financial operations.

Financial managers must look for innovative ways to manage risk. In every global company, corporate financial managers will have to deal with the cultural and legal differences among countries to protect corporate assets and earnings. This requires that they have to take bigger roles in their companies' decision-making process in order to develop effective strategies that make the most of an uncertain situation. At the same time, accelerated innovation from financial service industry has given rise to arrays of resources for international financing. Keeping pace with the changes in the financial tools and effectively making use of different financial productswill be an important part in corporate financial manager's work. In financial service industry, globalization has triggered new operation standards. The emergence of Citigroup has demonstrated an example of one-stop shopping for financial products, which has combined different kinds of financial services such as banking, insurance, brokerage, and investment banking. But again, bigger is not always better. Instead, introducing new services, tailoring individualized solutions to customers' needs, and inventing more options for customers to access may lead to success. There are always new ways to compete, and managers should never give up finding those ways.

For a future manager, tackling the global economy is an inevitable task. In addition to the knowledge international business, he must have such skills as leadership, communication and cooperation, and organization to take the responsibility. As the leading school in global management issues, XXX will equip me with cutting-edge business knowledge and skills that’ll help me understand and anticipate the expectations of international guests and business associates. Also, the school's international environment will give me first-hand exposure to how people of different cultures think, act and communicate. These upgraded knowledge and skills, I believe, will pave my way to a global player in my future career.

Text 5-1

I still remember, quite vividly, that one day about ten or eleven years ago. A family friend had just brought me and my sister home from an outing, and he was walking us into our house. I would soon discover that after walking through my white front doors, I would never be quite the same again - I would finally and completely realize the grave situation that would have the most influence on my life thereafter. Upon entering the house, I could smell a very sour and acrid odor emanating from the living room, and I could also hear a person groaning disconcertingly. As we walked slowly into the living room, a staggering sight met our eyes. There, lying face down on a couch, was my father, with an ashen-faced complexion. His head was completely bald, and his grisly figure appeared enervated. He was gasping for air, and then suddenly, without a warning, he grabbed a blue pan, put his face to it, and just vomited with such vehemence that it really shook me. Before this, I used to think words like " cancer", " tumor", " chemotherapy", etc. - were all terms describing a simple illness that went away as fast as the common cold. Upon seeing what was happening to my father, I then realized that colon cancer was neither quick nor painless, but rather agonizing and disturbing. After vomiting, my Dad lifted his frail head up and uttered a weak " Hello, " before vomiting even more. I looked at our friend, and I understood the look on his face. " Let's go to my house, Jeff, " he said, " Let your Dad rest - he has been fighting brave and hard."

My Dad, my hero; the one whom I cherished and looked up to for love and guidance, was now battling for his life. His colon cancer was first detected in 1987, and for the next two years or so, things got worse as the illness became more and more malignant. The whole situation was then exacerbated by a series of debilitating surgeries and chemotherapy treatments. Because of this ordeal, my mom had to spend most of her time, energy, effort, not to mention large amounts of money, taking care of my father's health. As a result, my mother had to set aside both my needs and my sister's needs. Because of this involuntary neglect, I, as a seven-year-old developing child, never got much of a chance to expand my talents and personality, and many opportunities, such as learning piano at a very young age, had to be put off because of this family crisis. I had trouble coping with the absence of my father, due to his constant hospitalization, and I had problems finding my identity, lacking a close role model to look up to. I had difficulty performing well in school, and I felt bad when I saw other children already cultivating their talents and skills at very early ages. From around age seven to recent times, I've been at a disadvantage compared to my peers, in terms of personal maturation, intellectual development, and talent growth. I had been " lagging" behind.

Like my father, I too had a struggle to overcome, and I was determined to fight on. But the path ahead was not going to be easy; it was going to be a test of patience and perseverance.

Growing up without a " Dad" figure at my side, I had always felt different from the other children. In elementary and middle school, I noticed that most other youths always seemed happy, easy-going, and extroverted. I remember that I knew a lot of peers around me who always got the newest clothing and toys, but since my family had a tight budget, we weren't able to afford any luxuries. I saw other kids taking long family vacations with their Dads, while I saw my own father lying in bed. I remember a classmate asking me, " Where are you going this summer? " and I replied, " I'm going to the hospital to see my Dad." I was quiet, shy, and timid, since my parents weren't always there to encourage me to express myself openly. Thus besides having kept to myself, I had problems communicating with others, and at one point it had gotten so bad that I was avoiding human contact, and couldn't bring myself to look at people's faces when they were speaking to me. Some children considered me an outcast; therefore I was often the target of harassment and ridicule. Early on, I had a low self-esteem, which was worsened by my poor performance in school. My Dad had always stressed academics quite heavily, but after seeing my grades, I felt like I had failed my father, just like his health had failed him. Adding to the blow, I saw others around me already learning instruments, attending tutoring programs, and picking up art lessons - all at very young ages. I was a late starter, and that would be the cause of my struggle. Often, my predicament seemed hopeless - others were better off than I was; I was picked on and ignored by peers; I had an identity problem and was unable to express myself well; I had a hard time in school, and my talents were atrophying away. At a lot of times, I would simply say to myself, " I can't take this any longer. I don't have the patience or the spirit for this - I just don't know what to do anymore."

Funny how I said all that, because whenever I felt like giving up, my Dad would pop into my mind: Boom. A crystal clear memory of that day when I saw my Dad throwing up and dying right before my eyes, and when the family friend said to me, " Let your Dad rest - he's been fighting brave and hard."

I saw the truth in this. My Dad fought and struggled with the disease, and never once did he give in, because if he had, he probably wouldn't be alive today. By his bearing all that suffering just so that he could live another day to see his family, he had taught me determination and steadfastness. He taught me to never give up. I then realized that I had to go on and defeat this difficult but crucial time period in my life; thus, I made up my mind. I will catch up. I will fully develop my personality, which had been holding me back. I will improve my academics, no matter what, and I will go out of my way to harvest my talents. No more delays. No more fear. No more shame, and most importantly, no more giving up.

Beginning in middle school and all the way through high school, I worked hard and persistently to catch up, and I've accomplished a lot of my goals. Beginning in the sixth grade, I really started to focus on academics, and with each passing year, I got better and better grades. Particularly, these past few years in high school, I've been proud of my exceptionally high marks, and I owe all my determination to my father's high academic standards and the valuable lesson he had taught me. Also in middle school, I tried to catch up in cultivating one of my talents and interests - piano. I know that others who had been playing for a while had an advantage over me, as learning an instrument such as the piano is best undertaken at very young ages. But following my Dad's attitude, I pushed myself; I practiced and practiced, although it became more difficult to find practice time as my grade level advanced. Finally, I had practiced so much that my teacher allowed me to skip levels in the piano Certificate of Merit exam, just so I could get up to speed with the others. As a result, I jumped from a CM level 4 to a level 8 in just two years. This is another accomplishment of which I am especially proud of, and in March of 2001, I achieved the level 9. My Dad's tenacity had motivated me to pursue not only a musical talent, but other things as well, such as tennis, abacus, Chinese school, and tutoring. But I think the crowning achievement of my youth was my ability to overcome my personality flaw. In eighth grade, I sacrificed time for other activities, and joined an Asian youth leadership program, which basically taught me how to communicate openly and effectively as a peer mentor, and as a leader in the community. I am now able to speak clearly and confidently to my peers, and it has worked wonders. Last year, I was even able to host an open house event for the program, speaking comfortably in front of a very large audience, an accomplished feat of which I am very proud of and that I owe to my father, my reason for living.

My Dad had been at my side all this time. Even if he had been lying sick in bed from chemotherapy treatments, his spirit was with me every step of the way. He taught me how to live life as well as the most fundamental of all problem-solving skills: never give up, no matter how desperate things seem. Watching him in deep discomfort and agony, seeing him suffer with dignity, is something that I'll never forget. His struggle with the cancer became a model for my own struggle to get caught up, especially during my early childhood and adolescence. I've worked long and hard, doing whatever I could to make up for all those years of lost progress. His will to live on became my will to work harder and to improve my person as a whole, all for the sake of catching up. Fortunately, my father's will paid off, as in 1992, there was a period of remission. He got better, but my struggle didn't stop then, because it was ongoing. I continued the fight through elementary, middle, and high school, and even now in my senior year, I've been struggling, especially with college entrance tests like the SAT. Nevertheless, I can never thank my Dad enough for what he has given me. I think I'll go to my Dad now, and really show him all of my accomplishments. Perhaps he'll then say to me: " I'm proud of you son…you've been fighting brave and hard."