Does Your Child Need Help With Their Personal Essay for College Applications? Do You Know Someone Who Does? Enroll in This Workshop at the Corner Store.

Faced with stacks of college applications, university admissions officials say the personal essay can make a student “come to life.”  The personal essay can help separate an individual student from a sea of competitors with similar qualifications.

Diana Chapman has taught dozens of students at San Pedro High School and the Boys and Girls Club how to write personal essays for college applications. Most of her students landed in colleges such as Notre Dame, UC Berkeley, UC Irvine, UCLA and others across the country.

Diana trains students to tell compelling personal stories—often difficult to come up with on their own—and teaches them how to write so their applications stand out from thousands of others.

“I don’t know what I would have done without you,” said Sarah, who recently took the workshop.

The workshops run for five Tuesdays in a row from 4:00-5:30 p.m. starting Sept. 27. The class costs  $30 for five sessions.  Drop-ins can pay $10 a class. There are no refunds. To register, just show up at the Corner Store, 1118 W. 37th St., San Pedro, on Sept. 27.  Or send an email Diana at hartchap@cox.net to request more information.

Here’s what Diana’s students say about her workshop:

Ø “I wanted to go to a good college and I needed a great personal statement. But my mind would go blank. Diana helped me brainstorm, create, edit and revise the essays. The first day we learned not only about ourselves but about other students like me.” --Aminah Kahn, UCLA

Ø “When it came time to apply to college, I was uncertain what activities and characteristics to include in my essay. Diana helped me draft an essay that included my extracurricular activities, events in my community and characteristics I excelled in. Not only did she help me plan my essay, she advised me how to create and arrange well articulated paragraphs. [Then] I received my acceptance letter to UC Riverside. My desire to attend a UC had been accomplished with my academic skills and a well-developed essay.”  --Roman Abindab

Ø “I went to Diana’s workshop to learn how to write without having to be graded. With her help I was able to express myself. Throughout the fall semester of my senior year, I came in with different (college) applications and each had a different topic. Diana told me to just answer the question first and not worry how well it was written. Later, of course, we reviewed it almost daily. I got into 11 schools and am now a junior at the University of Notre Dame.” --Ricardo Romero