Lawrence Lee
Myself Third Spirit of New York 2002 Scholarship Winner
Brooklyn Technical High School
Hunter College
"Lawrence excels in social studies, economics and English.… He was the Vice President of Production for his Junior Achievement project, where he carried out a very successful business, designing web pages for people. Lawrence took Physics 110 and Psychology 100 at Hunter College. He finds these classes go much more in-depth and are therefore more challenging.… As a senior member and co-captain of the school's fencing team, Lawrence helps keep the team together and focused on common goals. In the summer of 1999, he volunteered at Goldwater Memorial Hospital in a wheelchair department, where… he learned that treating patients with respect, kindness and attention is most important."
—M. Speer, Senior Guidance Counselor
Work, Volunteer, and Extra-Curricular Activities
- Coler-Goldwater Memorial Hospital
- Peer Leadership & Mediation
- Varsity Fencing Team
- Ace's Wines and Liquors
Excerpts from Lawrence's Essay
Civic responsibility is my duty to give back to society what it has given me. It's not the simple act of taking and returning; it's cultivating everything that has helped me become who I am and spending a lifetime passing it on to a new generation. This duty I carry out with my knowledge, and it is reinforced with what wisdom I have and enlarged by my personal principles of moral righteousness. Only by accepting civic responsibility do I truly deserve my place in society. It would be selfish not to pass on the kindness, compassion, and love given to me from teachers, friends, and family that have made me into who I am.
The first time I realized the value of civic accountability was volunteering at the Coler-Goldwater Memorial Hospital. There, I saw many patients ailing from the maladies of old age. They used to be like me: young, healthy, and oblivious of what the future might bring. By meeting, helping, and socializing with these people, I knew them as individuals. My presence made them happy because I was different from the nurses and doctors. I was free from the worries of being grown up. My job was to be a good kid and to go to school. It only felt right to use my extra time and energy contributing to society. In my case, I offered a helping hand and a smile whenever needed.
When the elderly spoke of the past, a prevailing tone of regret always lingered in their voices. These experiences had me thinking about my own future. How would I end up? I realized that in the end all that really matters is passing on with no regrets and a sense of satisfaction with your life.
With this in mind, my goal is to give. Through teaching, understanding society, or helping the less fortunate I can do my part and hopefully make a difference. I don't need a job that can buy me a nice car. I need a passion that can make me useful to society. An excess of money is not important. I can live comfortably with the emotional reward of dedicated benevolence. I would like to leave this world knowing that I gave it my all and never held back. A kind deed makes me a better person; a lifetime of kind deeds makes the world a better place. We will never reach Utopia, but civic responsibility on everyone's part can bring us all just a little closer.
