Showing "passion" on an essay

430ktk
Fri, 13 Jun 2014 01:11:45 +0000

I am a rising senior, and I have been involved in debate since middle school and I absolutely love it. I love the activity for what it teaches its participants and how it really changes peoples’ lives, not just for the trophies. But I don’t know how to show “passion” for debate on an application. This year, I was district(qualifying me for Nationals)/regional/state champion in various debate events, and I’ll be going to Nationals next week. Sophomore year I was historian for the debate club at my school and junior year I was vice president. This summer, I’ll be working at a debate camp at another school. Does this demonstrate enough interest? I was considering writing about debate for one of my essays, but I’m afraid extracurriculars are a cliche topic. So I have a few questions about this:

1. How do I show “passion” for debate?

2. Is it possible to link debate to my wanting to major in philosophy? (I do Lincoln-Douglas debate, which is centered around moral discussion. For example, past topics were “When in conflict, privacy ought to be valued about safety in a society.” and “In a democracy, voting ought to be compulsory.”)

3. Is this even a “passion” colleges will care about since it doesn’t directly correlate with a major and I might not continue it in college? (College debate is an entirely different ball game than HS debate, entirely different rules, entirely different judges, and it’s hours a day of work for some highly competitive teams.)
Thanks!