Practice inquiry through research, observation, exploration, and reflection. This
essay challenges you to consider how where you grow up and live shapes who you are and how you live your
life. You will choose a specific location and explore how that place relates to what you believe about the world.
You will describe the place in rich, evocative detail, then “rise up the mountain” of reflection to show the
importance of that place and describe how it relates to what you believe. You will engage both personal
experience and outside research. In its final form, your essay should:
• Describe a specific place, not just a city like Seoul or a country like South Korea
• Reflect on that specific place’s importance in determining what you believe
• Engage narrative writing to tell a story about your life
• Use descriptive language, scene, and detail to engage the five senses
• Have a thematically significant title
• Effectively answer so what? by the end