Personal life & relationships
Everyday experiences, family, friendship and ways to spend our time.
Teen Well-Being Requires More Than Restricting a Phone
An evidence-based essay argues that phone limits can help address specific harms but should be part of a broader approach that supports sleep, meaningful relationships, and teens’ ability to make informed choices.
Long-Term Goals Versus Immediate Recognition
An argument that young people should prioritize meaningful, sustainable goals over fame, while learning to use public visibility as a tool for service rather than as a substitute for achievement.
Why Communities Need Connections Across Generations
An argumentative essay explaining why communities should create opportunities for younger and older people to exchange practical help, while distinguishing a proposed approach from a documented program.
Walking as an Everyday Form of Exercise
An explanatory essay on how accessible everyday movement can support health alongside organized sport, and why opportunities to move should account for differing abilities and circumstances.
Can Technology Support Meaningful Social Connection?
Technology can help people maintain contact and find support, but meaningful connection depends on relationship quality, not simply the number of messages or online contacts. Evidence about U.S. teenagers shows both real benefits and meaningful limits.
Amanda Gorman on Optimism and Pessimism: When Is Hope Most Powerful?
An argumentative essay contending that optimism is strongest when it listens to pessimism’s evidence and limits, while explaining why hope can also become an excuse for inaction.
Should Friends Always Agree With Each Other?
A qualified argument that friends need not agree on every issue, but should treat disagreement with respect, offer honest support, and set boundaries when conversation becomes harmful.
Why Winning Should Not Be the Only Goal of Youth Sports
An argument for taking competition seriously while judging youth sports by more than who wins: effort, improvement, participation, and the quality of relationships matter too.
Social Connection Is Part of a Healthy Community
An explanatory essay defines social connectedness and argues that communities, institutions, and individuals share responsibility for making meaningful relationships possible.
Can Living People Still Be Heroes?
An argument that living people can be heroes, provided heroism is judged by sustained, consequential service rather than fame or flawless character.
Schools and Student Well-Being: What Belongs Beyond Academic Instruction?
An explanatory essay argues that schools should support physical activity, sleep awareness, and social connection as conditions for learning, while respecting instructional priorities and practical limits.
How Much Do Circumstances Determine Human Behavior? GRE Issue Essay
An argumentative essay weighs the powerful influence of social and material circumstances against human agency, using Japanese American incarceration during World War II and choices in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice.