<p>Thanks, dig. And I want to add two points. </p>
<p>(1) A kid with a true interest can “stumble” on this approach without realizing it. Without- to my knowledge - consciously trying to achieve a nickname-worthy app, S probably ended up with one anyway. The combo of his activities, short and long essay just created that clear identity. His particular interest showed up everywhere in his app, but treated differently in each component,- so not redundant. Probably came up in his recs, too, altho we didn’t see them. I am not recommending the “stumble” approach; just to say that if it’s really there, it’s really there. The helpful part of your post is educating the coming crop to think about what it is and how to present it.
2) It’s not necessarily what the nickname-activity is, it’s how you write about it/present it. S could well have been characterized as “drummer-boy” by an adcom. Now, being a drummer is NOT a unique, hook type thing for a hs boy. But S’ short essay “why this EC is important to me” began to give a real feeling for who he was (ie, not a brag piece but a true “what it means” to me). His main essay was not ABOUT the drumming, but plunked the reader into a performance setting with him and went from there to show some real insight into who he is, how he sees the world… A reader of that essay knew a Person when he was through. </p>
<p>I’m concerned that newbies reading this will despair if S/D has not climbed Mt. Everest or equivalent and thus cannot achieve the desired Nickname status. Now, maybe at HPYS (S was not a HYPS-driven guy) you’ve got to have that “X” unique activity as calmom described, rather than the Y (=dancing, drumming…) that many others will have. I’m not sure, but my key point is that it’s not only the what, it’s the how you use it in your application.</p>