The prompt is “Describe a circumstance, obstacle or conflict in your life, and the skills and resources you used to resolve it. Did it change you? If so, how?” So in this essay I describe an encounter with an animal that embarrassed me in front of my entire 5th grade class. I then go on to describe how I had a phobia of the animal until my junior year, when I encountered a painting of the animal, which encouraged me to study about the animal. I eventually get over my phobia by turning it into a subject of intellectual curiosity and fascination. So is this really considered overcoming an obstacle? It’s kind of humorous as well.
I believe so.
If you write about that, you could throw in a line how it’s certainly not the most dire obstacle in the world, but…just so they know you have a sense of a bigger world out there.
The point behind this essay is to give the admissions counselor a reason to say yes to your college application.
I think you have to be very careful not to expend too many words on what happened when you were 11, and spend the vast majority of them on what happened to you as a Junior. Go real easy on the backstory, and emphasize the actual overcoming of that phobia.
That said, it sounds like it could be good.