- 2021 Highlights
Personal Statement
I am and always have been a person with a plethora of interests across a vast spectrum ranging from sports, theatre and drama, the environment, music and more. This is the case since an impeccably stated quote I abide by, is that “Once you stop learning, you start dying” (Einstein) and since there is so much to live for, I choose to live; and in doing so, I consciously choose to learn.
I am also a very goal-oriented person, fuelled by a desire to achieve my aims and keep climbing upwards on the ladder of life. My most recent target has been deeply engraved in my mind since I came across a system different, grander and far more opportunity-ridden than what I had been accustomed to. This target lies in my aspiration to study in the USA. I am compelled by the image I have conjured through my research, conversations with friends living in the USA, as well as the rich history, which has unravelled to create the nation we see today. While it is difficult to label an earthly place as a land of dreams, one can say that America is a place which promotes the nourishment of dreams and provides an environment where both the innovator and the idea itself can evolve and flourish.
As a dedicated student-athlete, my ambitions are guided by the desire to cultivate my academic-based intellect, while simultaneously elevating my athletic skill to a higher level, by attending one of the top universities in the world. I yearn to be unbridled somewhere where the wind of change whistles through the streets, and like many people in the past and present, contribute to a better society. Contribute to a society which has a playing field more even than rough, more fair than unjust and far brighter than it is dull.
My main hobby has always been sport. I began as a tennis player and reached a high national rank up to the age of eleven. Simultaneously, I involved myself in swimming, dancing (modern, ballet, jazz and contemporary), the basketball and futsal teams, winning numerous titles for my school and creating strong friendships with other equally passionate student athletes. Ultimately, my current interests are athletics and field hockey. I have an undying love and untamed passion for heptathlon (a combined track and field event) which I have been training for the past 4 years, accumulating countless medals and honours along my journey, including 5 school records and a u16 national record in heptathlon. Only recently, I decided to shift the scales and apply more focus on the event which I find fuels my urge to improve the most; javelin. Along with this field event, I have been playing hockey for the past five years and incredibly managed to be put under the microscope of the Cyprus Olympic Committee, as the best female u19 hockey athlete in 2017. My ambitions as an athlete have opened doors for me beyond the confines of my country, enabling me to have taken multiple trips abroad in the past 5 years, proudly representing Cyprus. Through these excursions I’ve cultivated my discipline, independence and resilience by travelling alone, as well as in the company of my national team, competing in an intensely demanding environment, far away from home.
In addition, I hold a place of irrefutable love for performing! It is in my nature to be a performer, whether it be under the bright, beaming light of the stage, amongst the furious competition on the field or even on the pedestal in debate. My heart has been yearning for me to be an actress for as long as I can recall, which is why I’ve leapt at any chance I could clasp onto, to participate in theatrical events in my school. In my performance last year, I discovered the plethora of skills that make a good actor that surpass the very gift of performing; the ability to work cohesively with your cast, push through endless hours of rehearsals and maintain your focus on your final goal. Another enthusing performing experience was my participation in the English-school debate society for three years. I managed to reach up to the top 10 candidates for the World Competition last year, although I couldn’t proceed with attending due to prior athletic engagements. In any form my performing takes, I love every thrilling, exhilarating moment of it!
Moreover, as an inhabitant of this earth, I am unequivocally an environmentalist. I’ve been volunteering for the emerging Youth for Climate Movement this past year, seeing the exigency of the heightened issues we are facing, due to the natural ambivalence between the preservation of the environment and our ever-commercialized society. My role involves researching topics which will later be used to raise awareness through our media platforms, but also as a part of the media committee. I act as one of our main photographers at events, to help highlight the actions of our movement, and hence, deliver the message of the urgency to act now. Even before my involvement in this movement, I claimed the Duke of Edinburgh Bronze award, and am currently working on my Silver award. This multi-dimensional activity, gives me the opportunity to volunteer as an athletics coach for junior girls in my school, develop my skills in piano, but most notably, has given me the chance to experience a phenomenal camping trip amidst the virescent beauty of Cyprus’ forests with my group.
Other emerging interests of mine have the common factor of leadership as a core component of them. I began on a simple level of leadership as a class representative for two years, as well as a member of the student council. There, I actively participated in the discussion of various issues concerning the student body and put forth ideas as to how we could combat core issues affecting our school community. Next, I partook in the Inter-School Junior Achievement session two years ago, where my team-mates and I had to create our own innovative product and present it in our school competition. I was the CEO off our company and lead our team along the journey of this competition which we completed quite successfully. In addition, I’ve been involved both as a writer and as a section leader, in our school magazine, for the past three years. I love writing and I especially love to see how different people manipulate language to create their own interpretations of different ideas/situations. For this reason, I rejoice in the experience of working with writers and helping them explore their ideas and mould them into a poem/article!
Additionally, I always aim to help and positively contribute to society. This desire is also what drove my decision in partaking in the Cyprus Friendship Program (CFP) at the camp in Agios Nikolaos, two summers ago. The utter combination of conflict resolution workshops among others, surfaced soulful discussions about our common factors as successors of a past generation flooded by hatred, dire loss and separation. We understood our role in diverting the path of our future and channelling our energy in evolving a diligent society which will avoid replicating past mistakes, at all costs. It was a phenomenal experience, allowing us, Cypriot teens, to bridge the gap created by our political history and succumb the separation we were born into. The camp also broadened the scope of my mind’s eye, enabling me to appreciate peace and clearly see the fact that unless a society demands change, it will never achieve it. A further step I have taken in my societal contribution is the elongation of my summer job, into a part time job during weekends. I work as an assistant teacher helper at a private, English kindergarten called “The Giving Tree”, where the school graduates (aged 6-12) attend for a fun Saturday club. My intrigue to work here was interlinked to the idea, that children hold the reigns of our future, and educators play a remarkable part in shaping the best possible citizens of the following generations. Moreover, I was in awe of the remarkable nature of this school; its mission is to deliver citizens of the world that are empathetic, conscientious and independent.
Finally, an extremely important fraction of who I am derives from my interest in developing my own creativity. I have been writing, mostly poetry, for several years now, and find that it is the best form of expression, therapy and rejuvenation. It begun with me writing for my own relief. Soon, it developed further to a form of utterance of feelings, emotions, ideas I wanted more people to experience, with the hope that even if one person could resonate deeply with what I write and extract a meaningful message from it, I’d have succeeded as a young poet. My poetry is also a platform for my evaluating stance towards topics of my interest; our society, politics and history. I’ve shared my pieces with various people and published some pieces on our school magazine, but my unconfined ambitions crawl further into the future where I dream of becoming an officially published and renowned poet!
