Another College Essay

This one is my favorite that I dug up, the Bubble Gum one was good but I mean common... I sent it to Lowell.
I am Jonathan William Leaman. This is my name. This is my accomplishment. Not many people call me this though. I think it is because there are too many syllables, but my mom does not mind saying it sometimes to get my attention. Usually I am called by a nickname, like Jon or Johnny, that my friends give me. I like my name and my nicknames because I never pick them. They were given to me, either by my friends or my family, and I feel I have earned them.

The first nickname I can remember having is Johnny. This was the perfect nickname for me. I like it because it sounds a little immature and filled with trouble, but not the bad trouble, the kind of trouble when you are curious about the world and never stop at no. This was me. While being Johnny I lived, learned, and never looked back. Learned my basic morals and filled my number one need of having fun. I was in Cub Scouts because my dad encouraged it and played soccer for a recreation team because my mom liked it when I played, but I did not mind because I was having fun anyway.
Jon. This was a very new idea for me. I had always been called Johnny. When I was called Jon for the first time I felt intrigued and new. It was when I entered an optional aerial contest through my school with my best friend. We did not need to do this project but we did, and I learned a lot from this project. One, it is highly possible to learn outside of school and I had been doing it my whole life, and two, first place is not always the best reward. When we were awarded second place for our project, my father, who had witnessed our project coming together, came over to me and said “Congratulations Jon.” That very moment I felt like a new person. I knew that when I grow up people will call me Jon. I started writing it on my papers because I was proud of it. I started living as Jon, and fell into my track, and my place. I felt that Jon was Johnny but more mature and more individual. I found a new click of friends I liked, but not because they were “cool” but because they liked who I was and I thought they were all very funny. I started playing soccer competitively and picked up a few new hobbies because they looked interesting and fun for me. I stayed in Cub Scouts to become a Boy Scout, and now a Life Scout on my path to Eagle. I think Jon is a leader and more mature than Johnny. I like being called Jon.
The next nickname I was called was Leaman. Not everyone can call me Leaman. I think there are about twenty other kids who call me Leaman. The number is pretty specific because it is for my soccer team. You might say it is because it is on the back of my shirt, but I disagree. Our soccer team is different and is like a new community. We all fit in no matter how “cool” we are in school, and no one is hated. We all have names that I never hear them called in school or at home but we have them because we are a family, a team. We act as one, we all lead and we all follow. I am Leaman, and we are the Blue Knights. When people call me Leaman, I feel respected and needed because each one on the team needs to be a leader to make the team what it is.
People earn names, and names are more than just a nickname, they are titles. Johnny, Jon, Leaman, and all my other names are given to me because of who I am, not what I look like or how much money I have. I like my nicknames, and my nicknames fit me. With a unique look on life and an optimistic view of the future, I would like to request you accept Jon Leaman as part of the freshman class of 2004.

By: Jonathan William Leaman

update: I wonder if there is any significance as to why I chose the name Jonny for my blog...?