CommonApp エッセイ ~Duke~

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。
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 Duke Supplemental Essay

What is your sense of Duke as a university and a community, and why do you consider it a good match for you?  If there’s something in particular about our offerings that attracts you, feel free to share that as well. (250 word limit)

My Answer:

Outstanding academics, rich research opportunities, and engaging extracurriculars make Duke an inviting place for someone like me, an enthusiastic learner with a broad range of interests.

Duke's Certificate in Philosophy, Politics & Economics (PPE) will satisfy my intellectual curiosity in these complementary areas. Through the lectures of Dr. Jack Knight, who focuses on the diversity of the "conscience" of judges, and Dr. Neil Siegel, who conducts research linking constitutional law, the judiciary, and politics, I am excited to learn more about the future of the judiciary and its philosophical foundations.

In the Art, Art History, and Visual Studies department, Dr. Thomas Rankin, who has been photographing American culture, and Dr. Paul Jaskot, a researcher of urban planning and architecture, will encourage me to explore the relationship between people and cities, particularly the scrap-and-build mindset of Tokyo. I can also pursue the theme of "bringing beauty to the everyday" in my street snapshots with Dr. Pedro Lasch's classes.

In addition, I would like to experience student politics and the rule of law by students, for students, as a member of the Duke Student Government Judiciary. I will join Duke's Mock Trial and Moot Court activities to learn the skills of a lawyer, using my experience of debating with Japanese university students on intellectual property rights at the Mock WTO conference.

Alongside enthusiastic and talented peers, I want to be a part of American democracy and study its future in the microcosm that is Duke.  (242words)

We seek a diverse student body that embodies a wide range of human experience.  In that context, we are interested in what you’d like to share about your lived experiences and how they’ve influenced how you think of yourself. 

My Answer: 

My classmates call me the God of Cleaning.

In Japanese high schools, we have to take charge of cleaning the blackboard between classes. Though almost no one wants to do this, I enjoy taking on this responsibility.
This is because once I alone wipe the blackboard with an eraser, all the other students and teachers enjoy the lecture in a clean environment. Even one teacher’s comment saying, “This blackboard looks beautiful” warms my heart. 

The "blackboard eraser" spirit of enjoying everything wholeheartedly was demonstrated in other areas as well. After joining the Photography Club, which was down to five members, I became the head of the club, entering photo contests and talking about the appeal of 1960s Early American photographers such as Eugene Smith, Vivian Maier, or Robert Frank in the school magazine. We now have 20 members, and last year, we held an exhibition outside the school for the first time in the club’s history.

In the past, I used to say, “You have an artistic sense. You should join our Photography Club!” However, I was always rejected. But when I enjoy taking pictures, my classmates get interested in joining. Perhaps this "blackboard eraser" spirit has the power of empathy that makes those around me excited.

Therefore I would like to keep the spirit of the "blackboard eraser" as something that not only cleans my mind but also naturally excites the minds of others, giving me a sense of purpose in my daily life.

What has been your best academic experience in the last two years, and what made it so good?

My Answer: 

I recently had the opportunity to speak with Dr. Yuki Mihara, a professor who studies modern Japanese literature. I asked him the following question: How do you think literature can benefit society? Professor Mihara's answer was simpler than the technical and complicated explanation I had expected. “Literature is a kind of thought experiment. Therein, we can see the folk beliefs and political and cultural backgrounds of the time." The word "experiment" reminds me of Justice Breyer's "It's an experiment,” which he used to describe the judiciary and American society as a whole.
I am fascinated by the ways old and new values collide and evolve to shape the world we exist in today: our legal frameworks, our values, our art. From the photographs of Daido Moriyama and Saul Leiter to the conservatism of Edmund Burke, the democracy of de Tocqueville, and the Japanese political philosophy of Masao Maruyama, I come into contact with the lives and lifestyles of our predecessors and their ideas based on logical thinking. More importantly, though, each interaction gives a picture of the very lives they lived and the climate of their times. 
For me, "experimentation" in political science and art means to warmly accept individual ways of life, but also to connect and clash these values to create novel ideas and perspectives. My conversation with Professor Mihara encouraged me to learn “elements of thinking” instead of just right and wrong answers. This provides us with a framework for considering important questions for ourselves. (248words)