<p>I have been trying to write my common app essay on the Diversity prompt and could really use some CC advice. Thanks!!</p>
<p>DIVERSITY PROMPT</p>
<p>The air conditioning in the Justices Chamber was fighting a losing battle against the heat, and the seven of us were sweaty and irritable in our Girls State Supreme Court robes. Every time Katelyn (the minority) opened her mouth, the rest of us sighed. We had kept the courtroom waiting for hours, and the last thing I wanted to do was continue discussing something six of us had already decided. But the afternoon dragged on and we still had no verdict, thanks to Katelyn and her incessant arguments. Bored, the other Justices went to the bathroom one by one, until it was just Katelyn and I alone in the Chamber.</p>
<p>Do you get what Im saying? she asked.</p>
<p>Yeah, I shrugged. I resisted the urge to ask her to concede. Everyones rock solid though. You have no chance of swinging the court. </p>
<p>So?</p>
<p>So, dinners in an hour, and I plan on eating. Lets wrap this up.</p>
<p>Seriously, Rylie? We can wrap this up when you guys take every source into account for the verdict. Youre so biased. </p>
<p>Insulted, I didnt respond, and resolved to finish her in the next debate. I leafed through my reference binder again, trying to find holes in the rulings she had mentioned earlier. Strangely enough, they were all in the back of the binder, the part I had skipped after reading the first half and deciding the rest could wait. Astonishingly, I had listened to her for hours without realizing I wasnt familiar with the cases she was talking about. Katelyn was right: my decision was completely biased. I had been lazy with the facts of the case, assumed other Justices knew what they were talking about, and gone along with their decision without formulating my own opinion. I wondered if the others had seen these pages either.</p>
<p>When the other girls returned, I asked them to look in the back half of their files, many of us for the first time. Together we went over every case, discussing what it meant for us and how it would factor into our decision. Everyone was involved, and we moved quickly toward our goal: a unanimous verdict, which we proudly delivered to the waiting courtroom an hour and a half later. As difficult as she made our decision that day (and as hungry as I was when we finally got to dinner), Katelyns opposition made our verdict and our court better. Thanks to her, we actually took the time to understand the facts of the case and hear each others opinions, and realized how different each of our perceptions were. Once we started paying attention to one another, the minority member went from a leper to an equal. The result was better than we thought it would be: a verdict that encompassed all aspects of the case and the beliefs of the court. In the end, it really wasnt that hard to write. All we had to do was listen.</p>