My Biggest Inspiration
Kaari Hobson
Mrs. Wilson
Senior Composition
10-4-08
College essay
Question: Who is the person tat has influenced you most in your life?
When I first met Dorothy, I was fifteen. She was seventeen. I have this clear memory of her running into the building screaming “ I’m gunna be a princess, I’m gunna be a princess!!! ” She was a short autistic girl with bright blue eyes, a HUGE smile, short blonde hair, and glasses that were way too large for her face. I was volunteering at a dance for my church called “ A Night to Remember” which was a prom for the disabled students .At the time I was just a high school athlete who was only volunteering because my mom said it would look good on college applications. I didn’t understand how someone could be so excited over a dance. As a sophomore in high school, I had absolutely no experience with the handicapped . Dorothy was my first hands-on experience and at first it was really hard not to get irritated with her running around and screaming everywhere. She would often get so uncontrollable that we would have to call a family member in for help calming her down. Once she was done getting ready she literally leaped out of her seat and ran around the entrance singing “My name is Dorothy and I am a princess” repeatedly. I could tell I was in for a long night.
Later on that evening, Dorothy looked up at me with a hurt expression on her face and she said “Kids make fun of me a lot.” Right off the bat I realized that we were in one of those sensitive moments where even saying the slightest thing wrong could lead to a disaster. My mom is a social worker and she told me that if something like this was to come up there’s only one thing that I could do… Sing. So I did. After about five lines into the song Beauty and the Beast Dorothy brought back that big smile I had seen all night, but it didn’t stop there, next thing I know I look on stage and heard “ Hey! Me and my new friend Kaari wanna sing you a song okay.” I tried...
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