It’s second semester of senior year, and probably the most defining feature of this school year has been APPLICATIONS. Tons and tons of applications. From long personal essays, to short supplements, to interviews, and creative pieces, each application has taken reflection, deep thought, and constant attention to detail. However, when I was invited to apply to the Dedman Distinguished Scholars Program (DDSP) at UT Austin, one of the application components was different from anything else I had done this year: a video!!

DDSP is UT’s full-ride program for honors students in the College of Liberal Arts, and when I saw that the application involved a video (amongst other written components), I decided I would have some fun with this one and get a little creative! The purpose of the video was to tell the selection committee a little about ourselves, as well as how we would fit into the scholar community.

When I found out that I had been selected for the finalist round of the program last night, I mustered up the courage to make my unlisted video public! And with that, I’m venturing to release my first rap single… in five languages!! (Also, for you NSLI-Y Jordan ’17 people out there, y’all were the ones who christened me “Shredder” and claimed I was a rapper, so I’m finally living up to that name.)

This was a lot of fun to write/compose/put together, and even though I’ll admit it is a bit cheesy, I wanted to share it, for laughs!! Note: Dismiss all language mistakes as “poetic license.”