You

I spent about four hours today reviewing and grading scholarship applications submitted by a fresh batch of baby Bruins. Teenage bears who, for the most part, attempted to express all the pieces of their respective selves they felt comfortable sharing in one thousand words or less. Rubrics and instructions were distributed, outlining in seemingly objective but quite subjective detail what was considered "ideal" ... photocopies of deceased and processed trees that somehow were supposed to help you identify the perfect student. 

I'll probably never interact with these students, or if I do I won't be able to identify them as the ballet dancer, the one who quoted Lisa Vanderpump, or the one who strove to challenge cultural and social norms that oppressed her throughout childhood. Nevertheless, I have been thinking the following as loud as I possibly can on the slim hope that somehow stating my intentions to the universe will translate into tangible ripples.

To you, the applicant, and to you, the reader, you are worth so much more than the sum of your arbitrarily decided parts. You are worth more than a metric, more than a sliding scale, more than any number of points. You, you as your whole, you as your whole self, you are beautiful. 

I am a tiny potato, and I believe in you. You can do the thing.