College Admission Essays: Interrupted Chronological Order Essay Example

Homecoming Night

As I watched the paramedics measure my friend's blood pressure, I realized that this was the first time I had ever been in an ambulance; I asked myself, "How did I get here?" I apologize, I'm ahead of myself: this was my last Homecoming at my school.

Homecoming was a festival of sports, cotton candy, and fun. Alumni came back and visited their alma mater, lower school students painted their faces, and parents came to watch their children do what they love. As Student Body President, I had planned for several fundraising booths, and as Water Polo team captain, I had motivated myself to give our opponents a good game. Watching friends score touchdowns or serve aces and little kids run around in joy was truly an inspiring experience, and I couldn't have been more pleased with my last Homecoming- except, of course, if we had come back from our 5-4 Water Polo loss in the last quarter!

Often, to celebrate the event, several seniors rent out a space to host a dance party where, as tradition would have it, some kids arrive completely intoxicated, in hopes of fitting in. You might understand why I wasn't too keen on attending. After endless attempts to convince me that as a senior I would regret missing the party, I finally yielded and resolved to have a good time with my closest friends, far removed from the foolish behavior.

After a dinner, over which we shared some laughs, we approached the entrance to the party. A small group was gathering and whispers around me announced "Look, he's unconscious." I witnessed a classmate, with whom I was friendly, his eyes sealed shut, lying on the cold concrete sidewalk.

Out of the way, I waited in horror and watched paramedics hoist his seemingly lifeless silhouette onto a stretcher. "Oh my," I kept repeating. I tried to pray but my mind wouldn't function. Then my friends and I realized that the guys who had been with him all evening were letting him go alone, that they were going back to the party. We instinctively hopped in back of the ambulance so he wouldn't wake up alone and frightened, so his parents wouldn't arrive at the hospital without any answers. Struggling to remember his birthday or his address, all the while being questioned by suspicious police officers, who didn't believe that we hadn't drunk with him, we were strapped in and whisked away to the hospital. We sat, speechless, in our party clothes and combed hair uncertain what to feel. Our friend, a great student and warm-hearted person, had drunk because of peer pressure.

When his parents arrived in worried tears, they thanked us profusely. I'll never forget his distraught father's words, "We knew when we got here that we'd see who the real friends were." Was I a true friend? Where was I to warn him? I knew that these things happen and I wasn't there. But then I remembered those with whom he had come to the party, and how, to them, these events were but intermissions in the celebration. I remembered a theme in my favorite book, The Great Gatsby: carelessness. No one else would be bothered more than was necessary. No one else cared that he didn't regain consciousness until the middle of the night.

Once again I must apologize: I can't write an essay that I'll for certain be a filmmaker, musician, Olympic swimmer, or President of the United States; I love participating in the activities I have chosen in high school but my focus may someday change. I can however state with all the confidence in the world that for the rest of my life, I will live with the drive to be a loyal friend, to care for my peers, and to use my best judgment wherever I am. To me, this is what life is about: compassion and thoughtfulness, or perhaps compassion even without thoughtfulness. As for my first ride in an ambulance, well, I think I'd much prefer taking a taxi instead!