“Fuku-Taichō”

⚔︎ Blau's March 2025 Leader App ⚔︎

— 2261 Words - App Link —

Question 1: Tell Us About Yourself - 376 Words

Salutations and good evening, ladies and gentlemen. I am BlauHourglass, more commonly known as simply Blau or Binary. Or Blalker. My pronouns are My Lady / Her Majesty and I reside on the East Coast. I understand that I had left due to personal issues in August of 2024, but I decided to return for a few close friends this session. I’ll likely vanish once more after March, even April. How is everyone doing, though? It’s been a while since I last shared a good conversation with any of you. However, let us commence for the moment.
I am an aspiring robotics engineer with the dream of making my own android in real life by the time I reach my late twenties or early thirties. I also am interested in law, and if time and budgets allow, will be getting a JD after my bachelor’s in computer engineering. I’m currently working towards enrolling at Virginia Tech.
I am an enthusiastic writer and artist, and I’ve recently picked up animation as well (a small bit in my app). My most proficient genres to write are the following: romance, angst, fantasy, sci-fi, action, and dystopian. I can also write scripts and poems, even as much as I dislike to. I started writing for as long as I can remember– I began with cringey, quarter-baked shorts filled with magic, drama, and children. Yes, children; I sent poor kids to war (my 6-year-old mind thought 12-year-olds were adults). However, I’ve come a long way from that and currently am working on several oneshots and short stories to help with my OCPD and eternal singleship!
And last but not least, a little bit of trivia: I am a profound Christian, closest to Southern Baptist or Plymouth Brethren, and an INTJ-A according to the MBTI. I love playing games as well, despite it being a while since I tied down to a single one and played it through. I have an immense sweet tooth and will be happy with even a piece of candy a day with no real sustenance.
Thank you for having me, and I look forward to either leading alongside or camping with you all. Let’s have an amazing 2025, and may this be a year better than the last.

Question 2: Previous Participation - 221 Words

I participated in three sessions thus far: March, July, and November of 2024. I was a camper in March and November, and a co-leader in July. I led alongside Luka, Yume, and Maia for Script, and we were efficient and effective. Though we had complications and schedule-setbacks, they were easily taken care of and circumvented by the rest of the team.
I currently am taking English as a major part of my curriculum, which entails writing persuasive and argumentative papers, compare-and-contrast essays, literary analyses, and free-writing/prose. I also write a lot in my free time, usually composing short stories or oneshots in the form of fanfictions or original character backstories.
I lead and spearheaded Soundwave Productions, a new wave game development team on Scratch. Even with my departure, I ensured that I had a reliable manager to take up the flag and lead on. I’ve mimicked a real-life work environment (softened and sugared, of course) inside this project, and created a way for each of the staff to explore and dip their toes in formal software development and management.
For smaller but no less significant works: I also am leading a 27+ person project of covering a popular Japanese song, Be The Music!, and I led a cabin for SSC (Scratch Singing Camp) last year, and it was a success.

Question 3: Cabin Preferences - 814 Words

I have four cabins that I’d love to create. Two fan-cabins, two original concepts.
Romance:
An original concept. And for a storyline idea: The campers are students at an academy whose headmaster is Cupid himself. My cos and I will be professors or other faculty (they can choose) for the school, and the campers have classes and tasks. However, the academy’s goal is to train and educate helpers of Cupid to spread true love and joy all over the world. The WCGs can be split in either classes or romance genres, and we’ll theme accordingly. The currency will be Arrows, and there will be small writing tasks and in-cabin activities all throughout the month. I also want to have March 14 to have a special cabin event, since March 14 is White Day. The event itself can be discussed with my cos, whether it be an extra fun challenge, or a special episode, or anything of the like. Our mascot will be Cupid. Later on in the month, probably a week or so in, Cupid will go missing and the campers will have to complete storyline tasks all in an attempt to continue his job of fostering romance and bringing him back.
Far-Eastern Mythology:
Second original cabin and the first (I believe) of this genre. I actually created this idea last November, for the cabin-making weekly. The cabin world setting is ancient far-east Asia, in the 1400s. The three greatest nations of the region, Corea, Japan, and Ming Dynasty, were ruled by three dragon brothers who, for the longest time, ruled with fairness, wisdom, and camaraderie. The eldest brother was the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, Tianlong, the dragon of light. The middle brother was Fujin, the shogun of Japan and the dragon of wind. Lastly, the youngest brother, Yong, was the dragon of water and the reigning king of Corea. As the generations passed, however, and the three brothers matured and grew in strength, they acquired a secondary element each. And with these newfound skills were born seeds of jealousy, arrogance, independence, and war. A great divide split the three apart, and for decades after they fought and destroyed each other’s lands and people with no definitive result.
However, three people from each mission rise to the occasion, one from each empire. Me and my cos. The campers are Core-compatible (imagine Xianxia/cultivation physics) people found from around the three lands, and are recruited by us three to restore balance and order between the brothers through diplomacy and inner works. The cabin story blurb will begin with the campers getting recruited, and then the story will continue on. At the end of the session, I plan to have the campers write a collaborative poem in the form of a memoir of their journeys. Each co will have their own WCG as the respective nation they hailed from, and the campers in their WCG will be under their teaching and guidance for the story. I really don’t want to spoil anything more, but I hope this is enough details…
Science Fiction:
This cabin is a fan-cabin, and I want to adopt the story of Kaiju no. 8, a recent and popular anime/manga by Naoya Matsumoto. In a world where Kaijus exist, Japan is overrun by said monsters and for centuries the nation has been combating them with first clans, and now a special military defence unit called the Japan Anti-Kaiju Defense Force. The campers are a part of the Defense Force, under different Divisions (each WCG is a different Division), and their goal is to defeat Kaijus and protect the populus. However, a new strain of Kaijus arises in the form of sentient, strategic, and highly-intelligent humanoids threatening to wipe all of humanity off the face of the Earth. The campers need to complete the storyline tasks to defeat the head Kaiju orchestrating the ravaging forces and find out a way to stop the Kaijus once and for all.
Fan Fiction:
And of course this has to be a fan-cabin. This one will be themed after the popular Japanese rhythm game, Project SEKAI: Colorful Stage! feat. Hatsune Miku. The storyline for this cabin will follow the campers as they start off in a brand new world through their phones, to finding a way to spread music and happiness to each person in the world, and later succeeding in it. Each WCG will be a different SEKAI, and the campers within will form a musical group according to the given genre and theme of the SEKAI. The characters from the canon cast will also exist, and will serve as NPCs/mascots.
Last but not least, The Cabin That Will Not Win. I would prefer not to lead TCTWNW simply due to my inner competitiveness, but if need be I’m more than happy to. I have no genres that I am averse to leading, however.

Question 4: Excerpt - 1246 Words

T/W: Detailed depictions of depression and emotional unhealthiness. Essentially a girl who’s fed up with her older sister’s love life. Aka my weekly from November last year.

The dorm room opened and shut with a quiet click, the sound of dripping water and wet shoes filling the previously silent room. Sopping sneakers squeaked against the linoleum flooring, causing the owner to reach down and shakily tug at the drenched knots of her high-tops. As she bent over, a wave of fresh pain washed over her head and she stifled a sigh, stilling her movements and blinking some rainwater from her eyes.
Binary fumbled with her shoelaces for an aggravating minute before giving up, cursing quietly under her breath as she straightened up and pushed some wet bangs from her face. She felt awful. Dehydrated, body hurting, and tired beyond measure. She hadn’t even eaten since two days ago, and she was more than aware of her fever. She jerked her drenched sweater off, flinging it to the ground next to her door as she walked to her desk and snatched a water bottle. Her patience was far from existent, but her sheer weariness kept her from lashing out at her undeserving dorm room.
With a quick glance around the suite, she only then remembered that she did indeed have a roommate. A stringent, stoic person worse than she was who would absolutely flip if the mess was still there. Binary gave a short scoff under her breath. She’d clean later when her laces dried enough to be undone. She slowly shuffled to her room and sat down on her desk chair, grimacing slightly as cold rain seeped from her clothing and onto the seat. The droplets dripped down the chair legs and into the tiny crevices of the floor, and she sighed, grabbing her textbooks from her backpack and beginning to set them so that she could study.
In this pit of superficial misery, she couldn’t care less if she got her books soiled.
She began to write down notes, wet sleeves soaking through the pages of her notebook. Her eyes flicked from her physics textbook to her hasty writing absently, snapping from in between. And then, her phone rang. Fishing the device from the depths of her backpack, she sighed as she saw the caller ID. Moonlight. She answered the call, raising it to her ear as she continued to write with her free hand.
“Hello?” she spoke languidly, the strain evident in her voice.
“Heyy! So- uh- how are you?“ Binary’s older sister chirped excitedly through the phone, light voice distorted slightly by the call quality. Binary’s heart squeezed slightly. She knew that tone. Tch.
“I’m fine. What’s up? You usually don’t call,” the younger girl replied quietly, pencil scratching at the ruined paper, harder with each stroke to make the graphite show on the wet, tearing surface.
“Yeah, Sunday just dropped me off after our date and–” What words that followed were instantly muffled into shrill ringing in Binary’s ears, her pencil freezing as it was about to complete a scribbled ‘t’. Her head was thudding like an African wardrum, heart racing, fingers twitching, vision blurring. White-hot fangs of ill-tempered snakes curled and coiled in her stomach, rearing their heads in preparation to strike.
Stop; calm down. It’s nothing major. So what if they went on a date? You’re just overreacting because you’re tired and sick, Binary mentally scolded herself even as she abruptly slammed her books shut. With the sudden onslaught of emotions, all of her weariness exploded into barely-restrained rage, and in an instant her soaked notes lay on the ground in wet shreds.
She leaned back in her chair, phone dropping from the edge of the desk where she had hastily set it onto her lap, and then the ground with a distinct clatter. Moonlight’s voice was nothing but indecipherable grating in her ears– heck, everything was. The water droplets slicking from her body and onto the floor, the sound of weak, labored breaths drawing from her lungs, the heavy beating of blood in her ears–
Binary closed her eyes, forcing herself to pick her phone up and clearing her mind slightly despite the raging pain that squeezed her chest in a diabolic vice. “Sorry, what was that?” she managed to breathe out, voice shaking slightly as she tried to steady her breathing and voice. Her free hand clenched the edge of her desk so hard her knuckles turned white.
“Oh, I was just talking about the dinner we had!” was the cheery response. “After that, we went to the museum and went around the exhibits…” Mute.
Binary’s chair tipped backwards with a loud slam that resounded throughout the dormitory, her head snapping back and thudding against the ground. Why did it hurt so much? Why couldn’t she just accept the fact that she was dating a guy? Dating Sunday? Why did it feel like there was an elephant sitting obstinately on her chest, serpents poisoning in her heart, and cold numbness settling over her very being?
It had to be the fever.
The wind had been knocked from her body with the impact of the fall, and she remained there for a long moment, just drawing shaky, shallow breaths. All of her anger had diminished and turned into despair and paralysis, quiet resignation seeping into her soul. Her cosmic eyes slowly roved to the closed door of her bedroom, a lump growing in her parched throat as her gaze sluggishly traced over the names written on the paper attached to the surface.
Names of her older sister’s past…past men. Were they boyfriends? Courters? Either way, they were just too much. And it didn’t help that Binary unfortunately found herself with the short end of the stick whenever she got hold of it.
“Stop, please…” Binary muttered hoarsely to no one in particular, hand instinctively finding her phone and unmuting herself. “H-hey, Moon. Mind if I call you back? I need to finish my workout.”
“–ream and then I ended up– Oh, alright. Have a good workout, Bi! See you later!” Moonlight replied, figuring that the fatigue in her sister’s voice was indeed from her annoyance and workout.
Binary was quiet for a moment. “Ahaha, yeah– See you,” she returned before promptly hanging up and using her last shred of strength to fling her phone against her bed. It bounced off and fell onto the floor, shattering the screen protector.
Binary watched for a moment before closing her eyes, raising her hands shakily to cover her face from the glaring overhead light. “W-why?” she choked out, a dry sob leaving her lips. She had run out of tears years ago, but perhaps the rain droplets that still hadn’t dried up could provide a good replacement. Not really though. They couldn’t create the same emotional release that tears naturally did.
Binary pressed her palms into her eyes, trying to find some solace in the stars and darkness that danced in her vision. She usually never had breakdowns like this. In fact, she shouldered everything or brushed it off. She supposed that this was just the straw that broke the camel’s back. And oh boy, what a camel it was.
Slowly, as her body racked weakly with desiccated cries, she could distantly feel control slip from her body, mind clouding with the notorious haze of unconsciousness. The world began to fade away as her hands slowly fell from her face, head falling back again. A tremorous gasp.
The last thing she could hear was a muted slam of her door and a muffled “Binary!” before her mind shut off.

Question 5: Time Dedication - 44 Words

March is a relatively free month for me. Regular school schedule and my birthday. No notable plans or blockers. I can check in throughout the day each day. If there are any abrupt events that come up, I’ll let my fellow leadership team know.

Question 6: Time Management - 297 Words

My response doesn’t vary much from before, ahaha. I still consider myself an excellent time manager, yet now for slightly different reasons.
My top three skills with time management primarily lie within prioritization, multi-tasking avoidance, and time-boxing. For years, I’ve been using a method of task prioritization where I create five lanes and sort all tasks or actions into those five sections. Must do, should do, can do, shouldn’t do, and must not do. The process works easily for all aspects in life, including morality decisions as well as task prioritization. I also avoid multitasking major tasks due to the probable lack of quality and attention that they will each receive due to it. I simply prioritize according to my before-mentioned process. In addition, I time-box each task to ensure that I don’t get carried away spending too much time on a given assignment. Once the time is up, whether it is 30 minutes, an hour, or something else, I leave the task and move on to the next to keep up continuous productivity. And if I’m unable to finish a job in the allotted time, I queue it again in my schedule or spend my free-time on it.
Contrastingly, my weakest links in time management are procrastination and underestimation of task sizes/difficulties. Frankly, I only procrastinate when it comes to writing weeklies, but procrastination is procrastination and it isn’t my best trait. However, I do have a tendency to underestimate the difficulty of different tasks, and end up having to switch gears at the last moment to accomplish them with no quality loss. But to combat this, I purposely give myself an extra 50% of time as a buffer in case my calculations are off. So far, using this solution, I’ve been doing far better.

Question 7: Collaboration & Assets - 226 Words

I’d say one of my biggest strengths when it comes to strictly people would be my ability to motivate people. I am a servant-leader. I lead by example, and I work the frontlines with my people. My people will follow me because they admire me for who I am and what I stand for. Like how my father raised me, I’ll train and teach them to be independent and disciplined without me. And if they have issues with me or ideas better than mine, they’ll bring it up to me confidently, and we’ll evaluate as peers.
However, my top weakness is my impatience. Having grown up in a very rigid and result-oriented family, I ended up with a thirst for perfectionism and I thrive on goals and breaking limits. However, my fault is that I end up projecting these expectations on others, and I am often running short on patience with those who fall short of my standards. To help with this, though, I’ve been forcing myself to relax and to mentally remind myself to not hold the people around me to the same expectations I push myself to. And whenever I do lose my patience to the point of full annoyance, I remove myself from the situation and calm down before resuming the conversation or task with a clear and rational mind and restored patience.

Question 8: One Quality - 118 Words

There is no one quality that sums up all of me. Or perhaps, the quality that I embody most is versatility or dynamicness. There is no singular facet to my values, work ethics, personality, or leadership. I am constantly adapting and innovating, and it is no different when it comes to leading or working with others. If issues come up, I’ll create ways to maneuver around the blocker or get rid of it, and if processes change within the system, I’ll immediately shift gears to adopt the change. If there are requested changes to be made, or limitations, or anything that hinders my goals, I’ll make sure to smoothly and efficiently ride over each one with my team.

Question 9: Cabin Atmosphere - 27 Words, 145 Characters

Relaxed and comfortable, open to new campers. Uses the storyline as a gentle way to get campers to write more words in a fun and engaging manner.

Question 10: Checkboxes - 138 Words

a). Check all that apply:
☑ I will be available to help add points in the main cabin consistently throughout camp.
☑ I’m willing to share a promotional project for SWC.
b). n/a
c). I’ll do what I do best: adapt and communicate. If I’m unavailable, I’ll make sure to let my captain/cos know, and make clear the tasks that I have yet to do (if any). I’ll also provide any insight or work-in-progresses that I have to ease the process. If a co is inactive, I’ll do the same as if I go awol. And if my captain is MIA, then I’ll notify a host and then step up to the role of filling in for them while they’re gone. If another co has done that already, then I’ll assist them with the tasks and maintain clear communications with each team member. However, before all of this, I’ll make sure that there are second-in-commands or otherwise plan-b’s for the rest of the team to follow in case things go awry.

Question 11: Bonus Theme - 44 Words

“Anywhere my love wants to go.”
I’m not a traveling person, and I’m not crazy about exploring new places around the world, haha. But if the man I love wants to go somewhere uncharted (and safe :’D), I’ll go with him in a heartbeat.

word count: 2727 words, excluding excerpt

The kingdom's newest bakery is preparing to open, but they'll never get a five-crown rating if their special baked goods aren't ready in time! Campers will help track down magical ingredients from well-loved fairy tales, hopping from realm to realm to gather everything before it's too late.

Power outages. No service bars. Strange noises. And the world's greatest technological genius has vanished overnight.
On top of all that, people have been seeing things - tiny eyes that glow in the dark, insectoid critters scuttling under furniture, and shining cobwebs swinging from dusty corners. It's up to the campers to find out who's responsible for this mess, before life as they know it crashes (literally).

An Up-themed cabin <3 The storyline will be based around the movie Up, so hang on to your balloons. Remember…adventure is out there!

• Beginning a task can be difficult for me, but once I get started, I don't have any problems with continuing to work on it. I don't like to break off in the middle and let jobs stagnate, so I usually complete things in a sitting or two. However, I try to stay aware of my limits, and I can recognize when I need to take a break and do something else, stretch, or take a drink of water. Maintaining a healthy balance between working and taking breaks helps me to avoid both burnout and procrastination.

• I'm good at sorting out which tasks need to take precedence over others. The short story I'm writing for the writing competition might be due in a week, but if my math homework is due in an hour, it's pretty clear which of them I need to finish first. On the flip side, if the writing competition ends in thirty minutes and I have five more hours to work on math homework, I'll keep writing (keeping in mind, of course, that life > SWC). This is useful for making sure I'm using my time in the most effective way possible when faced with several things to do and limited time to do them.

• I struggle with procrastination quite often. It's easy to shove tasks aside for another time, but it's not as easy to pick them back up. I've been working on getting better with this by setting personal deadlines and keeping track of time, which helps me get it done before it's due. I don't always succeed, but I'm trying to improve, and I hope to get to the point where this is no longer as big of an issue for me.

• I'm easily distracted and I tend to be forgetful when I don't have a whole lot of motivation or energy for starting the job. Other things call me: the shiny new book on my shelf, the art I'm working on, the piece of writing I'm trying to finish. Often, I'll forget all about my original goal after being lured away by something else I want to do instead, and won't remember to do it until too late. This is something that I admittedly haven't worked on too much prior to now, but this year I want to focus on finding some solutions to this, such as getting the assignment done as soon as I can after receiving it or setting reminders for myself so I don't forget about it.

• I'm flexible. I can find ways to work with what I've got, evaluate new ideas, and accept possibilities I haven't considered. I'm aware that not everyone thinks and feels the same way, and I'm willing to change or compromise to ensure that the team keeps running smoothly without any divisions. Unity is important, and I'm ready to do my part to make sure my team's cohesiveness is preserved.

• I love collaborating! Being on a team makes me happy, and I'm good at connecting to people. I can make friends with a lot of different personalities, cooperate with others on tasks, and delegate jobs as needed. Working with others to accomplish a common goal is something that brings me joy <3

• I always try to treat people respectfully, honestly, and kindly. It's important to remember that we're all human beings, and everyone deserved to be treated as such. This is especially true online, when things can escalate quickly, and I'm careful to think before speaking (or hitting share) in order to avoid hurting anyone's feelings or disregarding something they're saying. I read through each comment before replying to make sure that I know what they're trying to say, and if I need clarification, I ask for it before assuming something else. Mistakes can (and do) happen, but I work to make sure they don't happen often.

• I often overcommit myself. I have a hard time telling whether ideas of mine are something that I'm actually going to be able to follow through with, or if I'm going to lose interest in the middle and dump it. When working with a team, this means that sometimes I'll promise things that I can't or won't end up completing. My solution to this is to always check in with my team first and confirm with them that they think this is a good idea, that it's something we can complete without taking up too much time, and that it's something worth the time and energy that would go into finishing it.

• I can have a difficult time telling others on the team what I want when there's a decision to be made. Most of the time, when presented with options, I know which one I'd like to pick, but I don't want to make my teammates have to choose one they don't like as well because of my decision. Because of this, I leave it up in the air and wait for someone else to make a move. Unfortunately, that can lead to endless waffling as everyone tries to be considerate of everyone else. To avoid this, some honesty is necessary - I'll state which choice I'd like. However, I'll also make it clear that I'm open to listening to the ideas of others, and that I'm willing to adapt.

• I like talking to people, and I'm always happy to answer questions, help solve problems, or simply chat. I do my best to reach out and make people feel comfortable, especially when on a leadership team. Communication is an essential part of leadership, and not just between teammates, but those being led. I believe that establishing a good relationship between leaders and followers (or, in the case, campers) is important for creating a healthy and comfortable environment for everyone.

• I don't only write - I do art and code too! Both of these skills can come in handy during a session, whether it be designing thumbnails, coming up with color palettes, or helping create projects.

• I love planning things out and using my imagination. Coming up with ideas isn't only good for being creative, but for thinking ahead, fixing problems, and keeping everything running smoothly. I like to stop issues in advance by coming up with potential outcomes to the plan or idea, and then taking the steps necessary to prevent difficulties from coming up later. When problems do crop up, I can use my imagination to come up with good solutions.

☆ Career Options ☆ Skylar's SWC Leader Application ☆

☆ Question 1 ☆ About Me ☆
Hi there! I’m Skylar (she/her), a 16-year-old British-Chinese teen currently studying for my A-Levels. My timezone is GMT/BST. I’m in Year 12 (Grade 11), and am taking biology, chemistry, maths, and physics at the moment! In the future, I want to either go into civil engineering or go into healthcare and medicine. Civil engineering is the more likely option for me as I’d like to have time to travel places in the future.

I have many hobbies, which include writing, drawing, playing Minecraft and Mini Metro, and the slightly quirky hobby of staring at flight trackers. I love to write, and especially worldbuild as city planning has been an area of interest to me for quite a while. In addition to this, I also figure skate for fun and can barely land a salchow. I don’t do performances for skating, I mainly learn for fun and my own enjoyment.

At school, I participate in Model United Nations - a simulation of how the UN committees run. It is my absolute favourite activity to do, as it’s just a whole load of chaos and fun, especially during unmoderated caucus where we’re negotiating with other delegates. I’m about to attend my third conference and next year hope to become part of the secretariat that plans the conferences (but I’d miss debating </3)

In addition to that, I also love travelling! I love the whole experience of travelling as well, hehe. I’ve been travelling places for as long as I can remember (flying back to see family in Asia, visiting Europe a lot) and I’d love to do more long-haul travel in the future. Sleep deprived at the airport at 3am is my kind of fun

My interests cover a great deal of things, from public transport and trains (hence why I love this session’s theme!) to aviation, current affairs and politics, and science and STEM. My interests have led me to consider many different career paths over my life, which you can see in this application, hehe. They also manage to find their way into my writing, worldbuilding, and creativity - I literally just write about what I’m currently obsessed with.

☆ Question 2 ☆ Experience ☆
I first discovered SWC in 2020 or 2021 - I don’t remember exactly when, or how, I found out about this ahaha. I joined my first session in March 2021 in the Fantasy cabin, and just kept coming back. Since then, I have attended SWC eight times across three years, all as a camper. This upcoming session will be my ninth - crazy, I know.

Although I’ve been inactive for many of the SWC sessions I’ve signed up for in the past, these sessions do bring me great memories. One of my fondest SWC memories is definitely last session’s strike and the entirety of the last session in general! It was the first time I’d properly engaged with the SWC community and prevented me from becoming inactive that session. It was so fun to help cause chaos as a camper, and overall SWC has been such a positive experience for me <3

I’ve led and hosted other camps on Scratch over the past four years. I’ve led in SRC once, which is probably my most notable camp leading experience, as well as hosted SXC, SSC, and SMC, just to name a few. In these camps, I have taken on many leadership responsibilities that are applicable to SWC. These included choosing co-leaders, adding points, and planning exciting storylines for my cabins.

Outside of Scratch, I’m often the leader in group projects, having organised a bubble tea sale at my school before. I’ve also helped mentor a younger year group at my school. Next year, I’m hoping to take up more leadership responsibilities within the school, such as applying for MUN secretariat and becoming leader of a committee.

With writing, I’ve been doing it for a long time - pretty much my entire life. I wanted to write a book and publish it and be a full-time author, so I wrote a lot as a kid. I don’t really write consistently, it comes and goes. However, recently when I’ve been writing, I’ve been having fun with it and enjoy telling stories about my characters getting up to crazy shenanigans.

☆ Question 3 ☆ Cabin Preference ☆
The cabins I’d love to lead the most are Realistic Fiction, Science Fiction, and Fanfiction as these are my go-to writing genres. I’m also most confident in my ability to create ideas and lead in these genres. I would be happy with any of these three cabins but if at all possible, Realistic Fiction would be my preferred cabin, followed by Science Fiction and then Fanfiction.

For Realistic Fiction, my cabin would be inspired by the Great SWC Strike of November 2024! The campers would all work in the public sector and be employed by the government, and go on strike to demand things from the hosts, and they’d have to write in order to “negotiate” with the hosts and other leaders and come to a deal (payment in mangoes) to stop striking. The cabin would really integrate campers into the storyline, with campers able to make up demands and decide if the offer is high enough. It would be a lot of chaos, and a lot of fun for the campers and leaders.

For Science Fiction, campers would be members of a spy agency, trying to stop a secret assassin training base from invading and destroying the world! There’d be elements of espionage and secret missions, as well as space travel, and campers would do fun activities to complete each mission.

For Fanfic, my idea is the fanfiction multiverse! After all, fanfiction is an avenue for many to explore their favourite shows where things have gone in a different direction from canon with their favourite characters, or explore their backstory. But the leaders discover that the fanfiction multiverse is collapsing in on itself and the campers are recruited to save it! They’d venture through many different fandoms, from childhood nostalgia like Warrior Cats and Wings of Fire, to big-budget movies and TV shows like Star Wars, Star Trek, and Marvel, as well as sitcoms such as Brooklyn Nine Nine and The Big Bang Theory to save the multiverse.

I wouldn’t mind leading Dystopian, Mystery, Script, or any of the Real-fi/Sci-fi adjacent genres/subgenres with the hard exception of Romance. This is because Romance is a genre I’m not particularly comfortable writing in - I prefer writing established relationships as opposed to falling in love.

As for TCTWNW, I would prefer not to lead it as I do really enjoy the competitive aspect of SWC and enjoy the adrenaline rush of scrambling for points, especially during cabin wars.

☆ Question 4 ☆ Excerpt ☆
“Renée, you did not just-” Robert was either in shock or absolutely done, and Renée still couldn’t tell which one it was, even after three years of marriage and six of being in a relationship. Renée smiled as she walked through the door, holding a tiny kitten, having returned rather late from the day shift.

“It was on the road,” Renée said. “I couldn’t just leave it there,”

Renée was not one to make impulsive, rash decisions, but here was a cat, on the side of the road, and her heart had exploded.

Robert sighed. “I suppose we have been talking about getting a pet in the house, but this was not what I was expecting.”

Renée looked at Robert. “Yeah, but rescue cats are better than ones that have been bred. I’m sure Ally would appreciate and love this little one -“ she waved one of the kitten’s tiny paws, “- just as much as any other cat,”

Renée passed the kitten into Robert’s arms, as she leaned down to untie her shoes. As she did so, she watched the kitten leap back into her arms.

“Woah, woah, woah!” Renée laughed, trying her best to catch the kitten. “He’s safe, I promise.”

“How did you even get it to like you that much?” Robert asked. Renée could tell he was still clearly reeling from the shock of having a cat jump out of his arms, and was trying to soothe some pain.

“Sometimes,” Renée smiled, “all it takes is a whole lotta cat food.”

☆ Question 5 ☆ Time Dedication ☆
I should be able to dedicate 1-2 hours each day at least to adding points, planning my cabin, and helping around camp! I’ll be able to dedicate more on weekends. However, that may change with the amount of schoolwork I’ll have to undertake as I am currently in Year 12. I usually use my weekends to catch up on work if I fall behind. However, I think I’m managing myself and my workload quite well.

I’ll also be heading to China over the Easter break to see my family. I don’t have exact dates of when I’ll be leaving, though it will be on or after 29th March. Once I have exact dates, flight numbers, and flight times all confirmed, I’ll let the hosts and my co-leaders know about when I won’t be able to be contacted. It should only be for a day or two, and I will have full access to the internet soon after.

☆ Question 6 ☆ Time Management ☆
I am really bad at time management. It is a thing I’ve always struggled with to the point where I’ve just fallen back on the good old “do it the night before it’s due” trick. It’s not fun, especially if I have a lot of homework or a test to do, but panic gets my brain to work because it goes “oh there’s a deadline in two hours!”

Like most people, the thing I struggle with the most is staying focused and not getting sidetracked and start procrastinating. I also struggle starting a task in general, unless it’s really close to the deadline. Often, I'll put on some music to help me study, then take a break and go on social media, and then suddenly an hour has passed and my homework is due the next day. Starting a task is also really hard for me to do unless someone (who is not my parents) is actively telling me to do it. I’ve been trying to find different ways to improve my weaknesses in time management (such as using planners) but the thing I’ve found helped me the most is trying to get my work done the day it was set. I feel so much less overwhelmed now and have less 9pm stress-panic-homeworking.

My main skill with time management is probably organising things. Although I’m not a very organised person myself, I have found in the past that making a list to keep track of what I need to do has helped me (on days I actually remember to do it), rather than keep track in my head and forget something.

☆ Question 7 ☆ Collaboration and Assets ☆
My main strength when working with others is that I always listen to other people’s ideas and suggestions and bring them on board. In fact, I find it’s a lot better bouncing ideas off one another until we’ve got a solid plan as opposed to just working by myself, and I also excel best in a collaborative environment.

In addition to this, I’m a very flexible person. This means I can change my schedule easily to accommodate others and deal with unexpected events. In the context of SWC, this means I’ll be able to change internal deadlines for when we should have things done to accommodate others, or take on their responsibilities entirely (which I wouldn’t mind doing at all!) I’m also very flexible in terms of ideas, so if someone else has a better idea, I’d be happy to run with that idea instead of mine.

My main weakness is that I can get really fixated on a certain idea or aspect and end up being a bit of a control freak. It’s something I still struggle with right now. I’m improving on this by listening to other people’s ideas, giving people the freedom to do what they want with things, as well as bringing in people’s ideas so it’s not just me making all the important decisions and my collaborators have a say too.

As for what assets I could bring to an SWC leader team, I am a self-taught artist and graphic designer, with lots of experience in Canva and Procreate. As an artist and graphic designer, I’m more than willing to help make lots of art that’s required for a cabin such as thumbnails, forum signatures, and matching profile pictures, among other things.

Another thing I can bring to the table is an endless flow of ideas. My brain never switches off, which is sometimes a bad thing and sometimes a good thing. This means I’ll be able to continue to contribute new ideas and build upon what already exists. I’m also not afraid to put out ideas that may be a little bit more quirky and more out there. I also don’t mind having my ideas rejected either - if it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work and I’m okay with that.

☆ Question 8 ☆ One Quality ☆
The one quality I think I embody the most is maturity. Not considering myself mature enough is something that has significantly held me back from applying for SWC leader in the past. I also think it is something that I have grown into as I’ve grown up over the past three or so years I’ve been attending SWC.

Maturity to me means taking on responsibilities that maybe you don’t want to do, in addition to those that you enjoy. This is not to say that I don’t find SWC fun - the chaos and community is why I’m still here - but it is to say that when I don’t feel like doing something, I still need to do it because it is what is expected of me. This can be applied to SWC by helping the hosts out with fun and not-so-fun tasks. For example, helping with the POLAR BEARS and the Memory Book Committee are fun activities that I would willingly do. However, adding points is sometimes a not-so-fun activity that I might not want to do, especially if there’s a lot of points that need to be added that day. Regardless of my feelings, I would still add the points, since it is part of my responsibility as an SWC Leader.

Maturity also means setting an example, by following the community guidelines and showing my campers how to have a healthy work-life balance. In SWC, this is practically shown by always sleeping at a sensible time each night (10-11pm) and putting school work ahead of completing the SWC daily.

Finally, I think that being mature is not always taking things too personally. In some situations - yes, you do need to take it personally. But in most social situations, people may accidentally offend you because they don’t know your boundaries. In these cases, I take what they’ve just said with a grain of salt. None of us can read minds.

☆ Question 9 ☆ Cabin Atmosphere ☆
A welcoming environment with lots of room for fun, chaos, and memories, as well as cabin bonding activities, with competition on the side. (138 characters)

☆ Question 10 ☆ Checkboxes ☆
Yes
Yes, if I have time. As an A-Level student, I have to put my studies first as these exams can literally determine where I go for university, however, if I get the time, I would love to share one.

I will be able to complete all responsibilities listed.

Inactivity from another leader
If a fellow leader goes inactive, I’d contact them first if they haven’t responded to any messages from myself or another leader for two days, and then if they still don’t reply for a further two days, I’d talk to my other leader about how we’d proceed, and figure out how to count words, wrap up storylines, create a new point adding studio or cabin if needed, among other things.

Inactivity from me
If I went inactive, I’d message my other leaders, and discuss how we could end the storyline, do point adding (such as splitting campers in my point adding group) and transfer cabin hostship. Since I’ll definitely be away during or just after the end of camp, I plan to let my cos know how our storyline will wrap up, and give point adding responsibilities to them so they can manage the cabin while I’m away.

☆ Question 11 ☆ Train To Anywhere ☆
My main obsession with trains and public transit is definitely on expanding commuter rail networks and connectivity, and there are so many places I could choose that I feel lack the necessary train links - this is coming from a British person who is used to trains everywhere, ahaha.

But that said, if I could build a train route anywhere in the world, I’d love to build several commuter rail lines from Auckland to Christchurch in New Zealand (also expand the rail gauge as well because standard gauge rules and add double tracks everywhere to increase service frequency) so I can visit my family more often when I’m there without having to fly (a hassle) or drive (takes several days) when I eventually live there as an adult. Also, you never said how many branches could be on the route ;D

Total: Approximatley 2913 words
Edited based on crtique by Bookie, Em, and Livy, and spag-checked by Crystie!

hi there i'm pepper (she/her), and i live in the lovely timezone of pst! in my free time you can usually find me scribbling away in one of my many journals, sucked into an incredible book, or sleeping :p some of my favorite shows and movies to watch are last man standing, fresh off the boat, family feud, the giver, shawshank redemption, the curious case of benjamin button, the titanic, forrest gump, and, of course, survivor ;D i'm currently obsessed with the soc duology (I WILL NEVER BE HEALED FROM THE EVENTS IN CROOKED KINGDOM ASKJDSJDF), but some of my other favorite books include one for the murhpy's (lynda mullaly hunt), the seventh wish (kate messner), a mango shaped space (wendy mass), legend (marie lu), the boy in the striped pajamas (john boyne), and the inheritance games (jennifer lynn barnes)! my favorite genre to read is realistic fiction, but i also enjoy a good dystopian, mystery, fantasy, or historical fiction book from time to time <3 (if you have any book recommendations, please do share! my tbr pile is slowly dwindling :')) however, my favorite genres to write in are a bit different than what i like to read xD i like fantasy, adventure, dystopian, and occasionally fan fi! when i'm not inside doing one of the things i love, you'll likely catch me outside biking, playing some sort of sport, or camping with family and friends! i also like to bring some of my inside activities outside every now and then when the weather is nice ;D however, it seems that no matter what i'm working on, i always have music blasting through my airpods! my favorite music artists are hozier, noah kahan, laufey, sabrina carpenter, and josiah queen <3 i was going to make a short list of some of my favorite songs, but it turned out to not be as short as i'd hoped xD sooo, if you're curious, shoot me a message on either my app or my profile! i'd love to chat :0
anyway, i hope you enjoy my app, i sure enjoyed putting it together for you! and if you ever want to chat about something other than music or books, i'd love to do that as well ;D (i'm quite the yapper bahaha)

i've participated in six swc sessions (making this my seventh, and two year anniversary)! below are my cabins, roles, and sessions <3
march ‘23 - (hade)script - camper
july ’23 - tragedy orphanage - camper
november ‘23 - illu fi mushroom village - co leader
march ’24 - script theatron - co leader
july ‘23 - bi fi minion mania - co leader - memory book committee
november ’23 - mythology anti monster club - leader - memory book committee
i've also participated in several other camps across scratch in various roles. in my 29 sessions, i've camped 15 times, co-led 5 times, led 7 times, and hosted twice. i believe i have a lot of scratch camping experience, but i also have irl leading experience also!
i led a vbs (vacation bible school) lesson while on a mission trip, as well as helped with the kids a ton during my time on the trip. at church, i often volunteer to help with the little kids, whether it be leading a lesson, helping another leader, or setting up activities. i also help with a ministry that allows kids with disabilities to participate in the lesson, we just do so in a slightly different way <3 at school, i often find myself leading group projects and managing different tasks as well as helping others with their responsibilities to make sure everything runs smoothly. i've shared my voice on student council for a couple years, and consistently offer help to my teachers, whether it be to grab supplies from the office, print or laminate a few sheets of paper, or simply run to the water fountain to fill their water bottle. i have also been the captain for nearly all of my sports teams. in fact, my soccer nickname is the general because i'm always yelling directions and calling to my teammates across the field ahaha :salute:
as for writing experience, i've been writing for several years now, and i, of course, absolutely love it <3 it's my favorite thing to do ever, and i think it's amazing that swc offers the chance for me to improve on my writing skills while having a blast with an epic community of lovely people ;D i've placed in two poetry contests, won a best in jwc's 2024 writing comp, as well as written several short stories. i've been working on trying to publish a novel for quite some time now, and my goal is to put it out into the world before i graduate from highschool which has been a fun challenge

i've been participating in swc for quite some time now, and i know very well that every cabin turns into something absolutely brilliant, and i have no doubt the same will happen this session. that being said, i really don't have much of a preference for any specific genres :0 i think it would be cool if i got the opportunity to co-lead script, as i've been in script for every one of my march sessions, but i also wouldn't mind cabins such as adventure, dystopian, fairy tales, fan fi, fantasy, hi fi, mystery, poetry, real fi, romance, and sci fi. besides script, i don't think i'd be interested in co-leading any cabins i've already been a part of (tragedy, illu fi, bi fi, and myth). i'd also like to avoid horror, folklore, and steampunk as i'm not super experienced with those genres.
as for tctwnw, i'm totally open to co-leading it <3 i think it would be a super cool experience and a laid back, relaxed atmosphere would be nice to surround myself in, however, i'm leaning towards a more competitive cabin this session.

the deep blue water thrashed below their boat, sending sopping wet wooden planks into the fierce ocean, rapidly tearing apart their ship with ease. sailors hollered for help on deck, yelling orders at their crew, though their calls were lost to the howling of the wind. several people on board were thrown into the merciless sea, left to be ripped apart by the waves.
when the storm finally slowed to just a light drizzle, only about a quarter of the men still lived, many exhausted and bearing several injuries. weak murmurs for aid floated around, but no one was well enough to help his neighbor. hour after hour passed, death claimed some in their sleep, and others mustered up just enough strength to throw themselves overboard. it wasn’t until dusk that another ship found what was left of the men’s boat. they pulled closer, and a woman hopped over to examine the scene.
“what happened here, ay?” she called, looking over the men with confusion and frustration.
a few men spat at her, eyes sparkling with disgust at the sight of a woman more powerful than them. her long, wavy auburn hair blew in the breeze behind her, a black bandana holding it back from her face. she wore a beige blouse with frilled sleeves, and black pants with matching leather boots. the woman walked over to the man closest to her and lifted his chin with a knife.
“before you spit at me, maybe take into consideration how that could impact your future, yeah?” she gave him a sharp glare, kicking him backward. the woman stepped away and walked towards the center of the ship. “anyone have anything they’d like to say before i burn this place down?” she asked, snapping her fingers and looking towards one of her crew members for a torch. she glanced down at them with sad eyes. “oh well,” she sighed, dropping the fire onto the ground. “farewell!” the pirate made her way to the edge of the boat and dangled her legs over the water as the rest of the ship burned behind her. just before it was too late, she hopped overboard onto the safety of her own ship. “let this be a lesson to you, boys!”

i expect to be able to dedicate 1-2 hours per day on scratch, the majority of that time set aside for swc and any responsibilities i have. i am often online in the mornings before i leave for school, and i check in frequently throughout the day, whether it be in between classes, during class (shhh :>), or during my lunch! i also log on after school each day, where the majority of those hours are spent. i constantly check my inbox, and i love keeping up on the chaos in the main cabin and my own cabin <3 during the weekends, the time i spend online will likely increase as i have much more freetime. my estimated activity is 2-4 hours depending on my family's plans.
as of now, i'm not aware of any plans that would hinder my activity. i have school everyday, youth group on tuesday nights, and church sunday mornings, but i will still be able to set aside the same amount of time for swc each day. if something comes up, i will let my leadership team know, as well as the hosts and other leaders if it's super significant <3

i think the main thing that i could improve upon when it comes to my time management is being careful not to overwork myself. i have such a passion for swc and for (co)leading, and i often find myself wanting to do everything i can to contribute. i take on too many tasks, and end up suffering from burnout because of it. a strategy that i've found works with this weakness is taking a step back and being realistic. i ask myself questions such as, “do my other priorities make adding this to my to-do list inconvenient or difficult? if i take on this responsibility, will i be able to do it to the best of my ability?” ultimately, i know i have an amazing team of 1-3 other lovely people that would be more than happy to help, and if i'm not able to commit to a task, they can totally handle it, and it will turn out incredible <3
another thing that can factor into burnout is my poor pacing skills. sometimes, i get so excited about what i'm working on that i spend hours speeding through it, but when i go back to finish it up, i have absolutely no motivation. this is a problem because eventually, i'll have lots of half done projects without any drive to complete them. to avoid this, i like setting mini checkpoints for myself while working on something and giving myself a little reward when i reach them. whether it's a short break or i treat myself to a snack, it's an effective way to avoid simply giving up, and ensures that the work gets done <3

something i do well in is my organization and planning skills! being organized allows me to prioritize certain tasks over others so i always know what to do next and when. this makes the most of my time, so i'm not wasting it trying to figure out what other things i have to do. having clear plans is useful because it makes checking things off my to-do list less overwhelming. when a ton of responsibilities are lined up one after the other it can be daunting, but having a simple path to follow is a lot less stressful and makes the job more enjoyable.
both of these things make my time working on a task more efficient, and the majority of the time, better quality work is produced. i've learned that having a structured schedule in place really helps me with my time management, and makes completing things easier and fun.

i think being a perfectionist is not only my greatest weakness in collaboration, but overall. i've come to realize over the past few months that the standards others have set for me and i've set for myself are extremely high, which can be a good thing, but it also causes me to doubt myself and can negatively affect something i'm working on. perfectionism often makes me question whether or not i'm good enough, and whether or not the effort i'm putting into a task is good enough. my perfectionism can lead to procrastination due to the fear that i won't be able to achieve my goals or accomplish what i set out to do exactly the way i wanted. something that's helped me with this is trying not to be so hard on myself and taking a different approach on the work i'm doing. sometimes it's taking a step back and looking at all the lovely work i've already produced, sometimes it's not worrying about all the little details and focusing more on the bigger picture, sometimes it's asking for a critique and getting feedback from my peers. i've found that all of these things help a ton, and i'm excited to improve upon it even more this session, either as a co-leader or camper <3
one of my strengths in collaboration is my ability to be open minded. listening to other people's thoughts and opinions is something i enjoy, and i love making tweaks to our plans to incorporate everyone's ideas! i am always open to hearing someone's point of view, even if it collides with my own, because i believe that's where the best cabins are born oxford languages' definition of collaboration is, “the action of working with someone to produce or create something,” so what's the point of working together with someone if you're not going to listen to their input and apply it to the task at hand? one of my favorite things about (co)leading is being collaborative, so i'm excited to see what unfolds this session <3
when it comes to assets i bring to a leadership team, i love graphic designing and art! although my art skills are not very great (as this app shows you :'D), i really enjoy doing it, and have drawn the matching pfps for our cabin the last few sessions. as for graphic designing, canva and i are besties for the resties xD i enjoy experimenting with different styles on canva, and i'd love to continue that this session. i also like to have a lot of fun during planning and the session itself :eyes: being chaotic and making epic memories is also something i love about (co)leading, and keeping the team's spirits up is always a lovely time for me

i think an important quality for a leader to have is adaptability and i believe i embody this. not everything goes exactly as planned during cabin planning and/or the session itself, and it's extremely helpful if the people you work with are able to go with the flow when things aren't going how you thought they would. being adaptable helps me recover from setbacks and challenges, and flexibility can reduce not only my own stress, but my team's stress. if things unfold differently than we imagined, i will be able to encourage my leadership team as well as help make decisions on what steps to take next. experimenting with different outcomes and finding a new way to complete a task is something i enjoy, and i'm always up for the challenge.

an immersive experience for semi competitive campers where they can create lasting memories and forge new relationships while having loads of fun throughout the session.
170 characters

a) checkboxes
✓ i will be available to help add points in the main cabin consistently throughout camp
✓ i'm willing to share a promotional project for swc (definitely will if i have time <3)

b) are there any leadership responsibilities listed in the faq you cannot complete?
nope!

c) in the case of inactive leadership (either by yourself, or by a fellow leader), what steps will you take to ensure that the cabin can still run smoothly?
if i have to go inactive, i will tell the hosts and my leadership team as soon as i can, as well as try to complete any necessary responsibilities and help choose another co to take my place if my circumstances allowed.
if someone on my leadership team were to go inactive, i'd tell the hosts if they'd not already done so, and communicate with the other members on the team to decide the next steps to take with our cabin. every situation is different, and being flexible with everything will be beneficial for the team and help to avoid any unnecessary stress. i would try to sort out any details with the storyline and rearrange things as a team to best suit our cabin's needs while also keeping in mind the camper's and trying to make their experience as great as possible.

ooh interesting question :0 i think i would build a train route to fiji, where a season of survivor usually takes place :eyes: i think it would be an absolute blast to go on survivor one day (and i'd be sure to give swc a shoutout ehehe) forming alliances and pulling epic blindsides looks so incredibly fun on tv and it'd be awesome to be able to do it in real life! i'd love to eventually feel the thrill of finding an idol, winning individual immunity, or going on a reward to the sanctuary from participating in a challenge on the show :> plus i'd get to meet jeff probst?? and make lots of friends (and enemies teehee), along with some lifelong memories <3

WORD COUNT: 1987

ABOUT ME
Hi! I’m Surf, and welcome to my leader app! I use they/she pronouns, and I’m a highschooler in the EST timezone. If you don’t know me, I’m an avid reader (one fun fact about me is that I read 227 new books last year). I enjoy genres including science fiction, fantasy, dystopian, and nonfiction! Some of my favorite authors are Brandon Sanderson, Rick Riordan, and Andy Weir, and some of my favorite series are Mistborn, All Souls, and the Aurora Cycle.
I’ve been writing for years, and I love to create stories. I’ve always regretted not finding out about SWC when I was younger because it’s such a great experience that has really brought me back into the world of creative writing.
Some of my other hobbies are playing tennis, drawing, and coding! In terms of coding, I know Python best, but I’m learning CSS and HTML right now. In my free time, I like watching shows, the most recent of which that I’ve watched are Arcane and the final season of the Dragon Prince.
I love learning about whatever comes my way. My favorite subjects are geology and the sciences, as my dream job is to become a geologist. I also enjoy geography, which is how I came up with the topic of this app!

EXPERIENCE
I’ve participated in four sessions of SWC so far; I was a sci-fi camper for November 2023, a sci-fi camper for March 2024, a solarpunk camper for July 2024, and a mystery co-leader for November 2024. I was a leader for WUC in April 2024. I have also participated in multiple sessions of SAC and SRC, and am hosting SBJC this spring.

Past experience I’ve had with writing includes completing the National Novel Writing Month challenge for both November of 2023 and 2024. I’ve also submitted various stories/poems to my school’s writing magazine and have won a few local writing contests.

Leadership positions I’ve held outside of Scratch include being the co-president of the soon-to-be-approved Geography Club of my school. I captain one of my school’s quiz bowl teams as well, and I have had a job in the winter and spring teaching young children how to play tennis for a year. This has taught me how to manage wild eight-year-olds, keeping them organized and teaching them how to play tennis at the same time! There’s definitely a learning curve.

CABIN PREFERENCES
Cabins I’d be open to leading include Sci-fi, Steampunk, Dystopian, Fantasy, Nonfiction, and Adventure.

My first and favorite idea for a cabin would be the Sci-Fi Files, which would have a similar format to the Illuminae Files (a science fiction series I read recently and loved that was a mix of audio transcripts, text messages, emails, etc.). As campers earn keys, they can unlock more files in the Archive. Campers will have to solve challenges and puzzles in the files, collaborate to find clues, and work towards uncovering the truth of a catastrophic disaster involving multiple realities that was suppressed by higher authorities.

Another cabin idea I have is the Dystopian Dreamscape. People hidden deep under Earth’s surface have spent their entire lives inside of a dreamscape, unaware the world outside had been devastated by a horrific world war a hundred years ago. When the Dreamscape’s mechanism begins to fail, campers must figure out how to escape the crumbling world and return back to reality through a mixture of group activities and tasks to complete in an interactive storyline.

I also would love to lead a Nonfiction cabin set on a space station!

Cabins I would prefer not to lead include Fan-Fi, Horror, and Bi-Fi, since these are some of my least favorite genres. I also would prefer not to lead Mystery, since I recently co-led Mystery in November. I’d prefer not to lead the Cabin that Will Not Win as I really enjoy the competitive aspect of SWC.

EXCERPT
(Three paragraphs from my short story “by the time April comes around”)
She looked out the window to the frail, bare branched trees, clinging to their few remaining leaves the best they could, their empty, hollow bones bending in the wind. The trees groaned and creaked against the frigid winter air which seeped into their trunks. The blustering gale would linger until April, when it would be liberated by rain showers. In April, the breeze would thaw the dormant earth that had been solid for months in its hibernation. The steady drip of the melting icicles was like intravenous therapy, and soon, in the colder months, there would be thawing spires hanging off every overhang.
She rubbed her hands together, as if the friction could spark something other than the resignation that permeated the air. Her eyes flashed behind her for a second, to the white sheets that might as well have belonged to a ghost. A hollow husk, held suspended between life and death. She looked back to the ruddy glass window with an empty sigh. At least there was comfort there, in the everlasting oaks, forced into their perpetual cycle of abscission.
The dirt ground was firm, the needle ice below the uneven and clumped-up surface that was dotted with frozen crystalline lattices. Frost lined everything; the grass sparkled, along with the telephone pole and the metal hand bars on the accessibility ramp up to the main entrance. Each glittering blade and sheath, rigidly attached to the sod, were illuminated in turn by flashing rays and headlights. Everything was studded with shining diamonds, gelid and bitter in their frozen form. Gemstones so sharp that they’d leave your hands raw and numbed by the intoxicating beauty. Soon there would be delicate snowflakes, their ephemeral allure melting at the slightest touch; a memory, nostalgia attached to a forgotten sensation. Maybe the monochrome photos she’d find when emptying her mother’s bedside drawers, bent at the corners and stained with homemade jam from a family reunion.

TIME DEDICATION
Throughout February and March, my largest commitment is schoolwork and tennis. However, I’ll be able to devote a minimum of eighty minutes each weekday to SWC. I will check in throughout the day and in the morning, prioritizing messages and leadership commitments. I’ll be more active on the weekends, and will be online for about two hours. I have work until five Wednesdays, and generally have after-school clubs most weekdays, primarily Mondays and Fridays until four.

Both on March 13th and 26th I will have an evening event for school, and on the weekend of the 22nd (for both February and March) I will likely be at full day events (with lots of breaks, so I will still be able to be online). I will have no commitments in which I will be without internet and unable to access SWC.

TIME MANAGEMENT
Over the past two years, I’ve really had to master time management because of all the demanding classes I’m taking at school. Some of my skills in terms of time management include breaking up larger projects into tasks so I can complete them on time, prioritizing tasks and keeping aware of deadlines, and making sure I plan realistically. For over a year, I’ve used a bullet journal to help prioritize and plan out tasks I have to complete, which has been incredibly useful in helping me manage my commitments and school assignments. These skills are very useful whenever I have a large project or essay, and are also highly applicable outside of school, through extracurriculars to SWC.

Some of my shortcomings in time management include how sometimes I can overbook myself and underestimate how long something will take. Occasionally I’ll realize that I have a few hours of homework, an essay to write, two important club meetings to go to at the very same time, and tennis practice all in one evening! I’m working on this by allocating more time than necessary for me to complete something that could be a longer assignment, and then working on smaller projects in between. This way, I can manage all of my commitments and prioritize the things that are important to me, like writing and tennis. So far, this has been a really useful strategy! It’s made my workflow more streamlined and because of this, I’ve been able to be more efficient and productive on a whole.

COLLABORATION + ASSETS
One of my strengths in working with others is my openness to new ideas. I always value different perspectives, since some of the best ideas come from people working together! I recently read a book on collaboration and the value of rethinking ideas, and I’ve really worked to make sure I adopt this collaborative and open mindset whenever I’m working in a group.
Another one of my strengths when collaborating is creativity; I value finding new ways to approach problems, and brainstorming in a space open to ideas. This is applicable to SWC because I always encourage myself to think of unique ways to go about creating a storyline and in-cabin activities.

A weakness I have when collaborating is that I aim for perfection. While this generally makes me put forth a finished product of greater quality, sometimes I hold off on finalizing things and spend too much time worrying about small errors and details. I’ve been working on this by worrying less about whether something is perfect and finalized while still being proud of what I create and do.
I also sometimes struggle with paring down plans–I tend to want to include all the great ideas the group comes up with, but this can become impractical when the list becomes too complicated and impossible to manage. To keep on track, I remind myself to include everyone’s suggestions while making sure it’s still feasible, and I do this by taking time to reflect upon the group’s overall goal and the progress we’ve made so far.

I have a couple assets I can bring to the leadership team! I love graphic design and art, so I’d be open to making profile pictures! Some other things I can make are studio thumbnails, storyline descriptions, and various activities/puzzles. I’m willing to make any of these, depending on what my (co-)leaders are interested in making.

ONE QUALITY
One quality I embody is integrity. I hold myself accountable for my commitments, and this reliability is something that I believe is key to being a good member of SWC’s leadership team. Not only am I honest with others, but I’m also honest to myself, and about what I can reasonably manage. This means I might have to prioritize leadership responsibilities instead of, for example, finishing up a daily or weekly. By being dependable, I’m able to manage responsibilities and let the other leaders and co-leaders count on me.

ATMOSPHERE
“A friendly, creativity-geared cabin focused on personal improvement, while also encouraging collaboration among campers and amicable competition.” (145 characters)

CHECKBOXES
(✔) I will be available to help add points in the main cabin consistently throughout camp.
(✔) I’m willing to share a promotional project for SWC.

B. There are no leadership responsibilities listed in the FAQ that I’m unable to complete.

C. In case I become inactive, I will make sure to contact the hosts, and will make sure to help the rest of my leadership team as much as I can. If a (co-)leader becomes inactive, I will help reassign their responsibilities among the remaining (co-)leaders, and make sure the rest of the planning/session runs smoothly.

BONUS THEME
I think a train route that goes to the Mariana Trench would be so cool! It’s not a very accessible place, so it would be amazing if there was a train that went that deep underwater (though it might be a little spooky at lower depths). You’d get to travel down all the layers of the ocean, and everyone would be looking out the windows at all the sea life nearby!

- Opening Thoughts -
Hi Bea! You did a great job on your app! I really enjoyed all the little things you added in, and your humor was so apparent in your answers, which I loved.
I’ll be dividing this critique into three main sections. First, the grammar/syntax suggestions. This will mainly focus on sentence flow and other logistical things! Second, I’ll give overall suggestions for each of your answers, like how you can expand/improve the conceptual aspects. Third, I’ll give my final thoughts/other things that didn’t fit elsewhere (mainly having to do with the design of your project). I hope that you will find this helpful! <33

- Grammar and Syntax -
About Me

Hey, I’m Bea (or Wish, no preference.)

This is just a bit of a nitpick, but if you’re ending a sentence with something within parentheses, it looks better if the period is outside the parentheses, unless there’s a full sentence or more within the parentheses. I would suggest:
“Hey, I’m Bea (or Wish, no preference).”
This also applies to the other times you do this within your answers.

Please come talk to me! I promise I don’t bite

More nitpicking I would suggest making this one sentence, since it flows more cohesively when read with your eyes, if that makes sense. There’s nothing grammatically wrong, but it just, like, looks a bit better.

Even if I’m a chatterbox, I love to listen to (… er, read?) other people’s interests and hobbies! I’m always open to lend an ear (… eye??) to hear (watch???) people talk about what they like, or how their day went. I am the (un)certified (un)official therapist friend of my friend group!

No issues, just thought that this was hilarious! It got quite a good laugh out of me! This is where the punctuation rules for parentheses kinda go out the window. (Jokes are the best, hehehehhe-)

I also happen to like parentheses if you couldn’t tell.

This is just personal preference, but putting this joke INSIDE of the parentheses would be quite funny!

Previous Participation

I’ve been in five sessions, starting in March of ’23! I participated in July and November of that year, and then took a break. I came back in July of ’24 and November, as well. I’ve always been a camper, and this is my first time applying to be a co-leader!

This is great, albeit a bit confusing at first glance. In order to make this more cohesive, I would change this to:
“I’ve been in five sessions, starting in March of ’23! I participated in all the sessions in ‘23, but took a short break. I came back in July and November of ’24. I’ve always been a camper, and this is my first time applying to be a co-leader!”

I have lots of experience with writing! I have been writing since I was a little kid, although, those stories are terrible don’t look at them.

I would insert a comma between “terrible” and “don’t”.

Even if I don’t have that much experience, I am confident, in both my skills and ability to roll with the punches, that I could handle co-leading.

I would change the commas that I bolded into en-dashes, so it looks like this:
“Even if I don’t have that much experience, I am confident –in both my skills and ability to roll with the punches– that I could handle co-leading.”

Cabin Prefs
No notes! This is perfect and conveys your intent perfectly! One small thing would be to make the lists vertical, like this:


It’s more aesthetically pleasing, but just a personal preference <3 I think that it would serve you well by, like, putting the list into a quote, where you put your thoughts outside and below it.

Excerpt
No notes! Absolutely wonderful!

Time Dedication
No notes! This is great, and there’s really not much to change, since you’ve clearly established everything they need to know!

Time Management

Even if I am forgetful, and happen to procrastinate, I can get things done fast.

When you start the paragraph this way, it makes your reader think that you labeled the paragraph wrong. By starting with a flaw, you’re coloring your entire skill set with those flaws right away, giving your skills no chance to breathe on their own. I would recommend starting this paragraph with something like:
“I can get things done fast! Despite the fact that I am forgetful and that I happen to procrastinate, speed is one of my many positive qualities!”

I know and acknowledge that I’m forgetful, and this causes me to try and get tasks done as soon as they come up.

This is a personal preference, but this sentence seems a bit weak. I would change it so it gets to the point a bit faster like this:
“I know I’m forgetful, which causes me to attempt to complete tasks as soon as they come up. It’s my own way of relieving the pressure while still maintaining my responsibilities.”
Note on the added sentence: This may not necessarily be true about you, so you may want to change it or ignore this suggestion outright. However, I would suggest that you punctuate your paragraph with the context behind your actions, and this suggestion is a way of expressing that. Try to answer the question “why?” more! You do well with answering it in this paragraph, though, so this specific instance can totally be cut out!

I need Memory Marionberries (thanks Sage) unfortunately.

I would change this sentence to:
“Unfortunately, I need Memory Marionberries (thanks Sage).”
OR
“Unfortunately, I need Memory Marionberries. (Thanks for the name, Sage!)”

stick notes

Sticky notes?

However, I’ll try my best to not forget things, but I have absolutely no promises.

The way this sounds is a bit strange. I would change it so it’s less like a guarantee that you’ll forget things and more like a disclaimer of something that you may forget things.

Collaborations and Assets
No notes grammar/syntax-wise, but I’ll have more to say later ;D

One Quality
No notes grammar/syntax-wise

Atmosphere
No notes here!

Checkboxes/other thingies

unfortunately.

Just nitpicking, but I don’t think this is necessary. You’re setting a boundary, and you don’t need to seem apologetic.

reason, would do

I think there should be an “I” between the comma and “would”.

- General Suggestions -
About Me
I would beef this section up like CRAZY! Right now, all I get a sense of is how you present yourself, but there’s nothing besides that. I would love to hear more about your fandoms, your hobbies, your school, your extracurriculars! You mention dance later on in the app, how about you talk about that? Try to give the readers more of a sense of what they have in common with you. Do you both like a certain show? Do you both like to do a certain activity? Here are some more prompting questions that I find to be helpful!
What’s something obscure about you?
What’s something that people would be surprised to hear about you?
What’s your connection to writing look like? How did it originate?
What do you think is your best quality?
What is something that you pour your heart and soul into doing?
How have you made your environment a better place (either online or offline)?
Do you have anything about yourself that you think everyone should know?
Favorite color? (Mine’s green )
What do you think makes you special? (and it’s not ‘if you’re special’, BECAUSE YOU ARE SPECIAL)
What’s something you adore with all your heart?
How can you expand on what you’ve already talked about? Answer the question “WHY?”

Previous Participation
This should, be, like, your origin story/your product description. I know that sounds weird, but hear (see??) me out. Applications are essentially you ‘selling’ yourself to the people you want to ‘buy’ you. (THIS IS A METAPHOR ALJDLFKJSKLDJF- IT SHOULDN’T BE TAKEN TOO SERIOUSLY) Why are you a ‘product’ in the first place? What makes you appealing to ‘buyers’? The first section answers the first question, and the same applies to the latter two.

As for SWC history, I think it works well! One thing I would suggest would be to add how you found out about SWC in the first place. What made it stand out to you? What pushed you to try it? How did you feel before, during, and after your first session? What made you come back?

As for your writing experience, I would also expand upon this and make your love of writing more tangible! What are things that you’ve accomplished that you’re proud of? What fostered your love of writing? What makes writing so important to you? Have you ever entered your writing into anything?

I think your leadership experience is great! It’s a good concession that admits that you aren’t too experienced, but you’ve still got the drive for the position! However, what you think may not be ‘leadership experience’ could actually be a great example of it! Are you an older sibling? How has that shaped you if so? Have you done group projects in school? How have you stepped up in those if so? Do you often mediate conversations between friends? How so?

Cabin Prefs
This is wonderful as is! Since this is strictly a co-leader app (if I’m not mistaken), cabin THEMES are a little less important, although adding some of your ideas wouldn’t hurt!

Excerpt
No notes!

Time Dedication
No notes!

Time Management
Same suggestions as above! Try to answer the “why?” question a bit more, so that the readers can get a good grasp of your mind, how you think, and why you choose to answer things the way you do. It’s important to be open when you’re willing!

Collaboration and Assets
This section is great! However, I would suggest trying to focus on more than just both sides of the same issue. What else do you bring to the table? I’ve seen your art, and it’s awesome! What if you say that you’re willing to draw backgrounds/pfps? I’m not all that of an experienced artist, yet I did the cabin pfps for Bangsian, and they turned out SO cute! If you don’t have confidence in yourself, like I did, I would encourage you to challenge that!

One Quality
I would expand upon this a bit more than you do already. Why is it the one you picked? Why not something else? Do you have issues with leaders who aren’t reliable, and how does their unreliability affect their leadership?

Everything Else
No notes! Great job!

- Final Thoughts -
Overall, you did a wonderful job! I really liked it! Here are a few things:
Don’t be afraid of expanding upon things. Try to be more confident, your thoughts, opinions, and perceptions matter!
Your app, when displayed on a laptop (both full screen and not), has a text cut-off in the dialogue boxes and slides. Half of the words don’t appear in the dialogue boxes, and there’s a small cut-off otherwise. I would try and fix that <3
That’s it! Great job, I’m rooting for you!

- Opening Thoughts
Hey Skylar! I loved reading your application, and I’m rooting for you!! If you get accepted, it’d be hilarious if I were one of your campers (oh how the turns would table…)! I’ll divide this critique into three sections.
General Suggestions: This is where I’ll provide general suggestions for each of your answers. This section will be more oriented toward content, concepts, and ways to expand/improve.
Grammar/Syntax Suggestions : This is where I’ll be nitpicky and more detail-oriented. This will focus on the nitty-gritty aspects, like sentence structure, grammar mistakes, and clarity.
Closing Thoughts: This is where I’ll mainly be giving some encouragement and thoughts that don’t fit elsewhere.

Also, I chose not to critique the blurbs about your career prospects because I’m bad at time management and I decided to take on four critiques So, uh, necessary stuff only, sorry </3 I hope that you find this helpful all the same! <3

- General Suggestions -
About Me
I love this section! It really lets your personality shine through. I really have no notes, although maybe explain Model United Nations a bit? As someone from good ol’ ‘MURICA, I’m not sure what that is, although I can glean that it must be something having to do with mock political proceedings (possibly legislative processes?).
… Okay I just looked it up, and I was… kinda right? XD But yeah, I think my point still stands.
It would also be useful for you if you explained (just a bit) how your interests and hobbies affect you as a person. You already do this, but it’s something that I think really spices up About Me sections, and more of it wouldn’t hurt!

Experience
Again, this is wonderful! Gosh, you’re making it really hard for me to find things to critique- I think this is great and appropriately expounds upon your experience! One minor thing would be giving your ‘origin’ story. How’d you find out about SWC? What made it appealing? What made you come back after your first session?
This is something I think would be nice to add, but not at all necessary, since this is already so great: Maybe try and give examples of concrete examples of the responsibilities you had as a leader/host in the other camps? Even a quick list would be a good idea. This gives tangibility to your actions, especially if you detail HOW you carried out said responsibilities.

Cabin Prefs
No notes here! Wonderful job of clearly explaining your ideas, as well as the boundaries you have!

Excerpt
Awww- No notes, just a lot of cuteness!

Time Dedication
No notes here! It’s a great section <3 Short and sweet and gets to the point!

Time Management
I like that you’re upfront and open. I like the snappy opening line that subverts expectations, which is really cool, actually. It shows maturity (hehe, like your one quality) and authenticity. I relate SO heavily, and I like how you essentially said “Here are my flaws, but here’s how I deal with them in a way that I’m working to make healthy and effective.” Normally, I would suggest that people start with the good things, and move to the more negative things, but I think that this is great, and really, really works!

Collaboration and Assets
Wow- Jeez Skylar, again with the awesome sections! (You’re making my job really hard for me, stop it! /j) This is amazing, and I love how you’ve clearly laid everything out. Really my only issue is that your weaknesses paragraph is all one sentence- (oops that’s for the next session baha-) Is there anything else you can add or take away? I think that having the weaknesses in one or two sentences would work best. Following those up with the actions you’re taking to combat those weaknesses would break up the paragraph more, making it easier to read.

One Quality
Mmm, good answer. Maturity isn’t necessarily a ‘buzzword’, but it’s a word that people really look for. Of course, this being a writing camp run entirely by young people and attended near-exclusively with the same demographic, maturity isn’t always super emphasized in this environment. However, that doesn’t mean that this isn’t a good choice, I’m just rambling, because, y’know, Adventure for the win B). I really like how this sticks out and is really unique in my opinion. However, I’m a bit confused by “understands what is being asked of them”. In a vacuum, it makes sense, but it stands alone. Are there other ways where you exhibit maturity that you can list out here? How about in your real life? (it can be inferred, but drawing those conclusions yourself would be helpful)

Everything else below
No notes here! Great work!

- Grammar/Syntax Suggestions -
About Me

I love to write, and especially worldbuild as city planning has been an area of interest to me for quite a while.

This is a bit of a clunky sentence. I would break it up so it makes it easier to read and comprehend. Here’s what I would do:
“I love to write as well! Worldbuilding within my written works is the major draw for me, considering that city planning has been an area of interest to me for quite a while.”

Experience

This upcoming session will be my ninth (crazy, I know) having started attending in March 2021.

Grammatically, this sentence is a bit wonky. I would recommend reworking it so it gets the correct message across. Here is a suggestion, although I may not have the right idea:
“This upcoming session will be my ninth, which is crazy, I know! I started attending SWC in March 2021.”

I’ve led and hosted other camps on Scratch before over the past four years.

I would remove “before”.

When I was younger, I wanted to write a book and publish it and be a full-time author, so I wrote a lot as a kid.

The clause at the end is unnecessary. Either that, or the introductory clause. I would keep one and kiIl the other.

I don’t really write consistently, it comes and goes, but recently, when I’ve been writing, I’ve been having fun with it and enjoy telling stories about my characters getting up to crazy shenanigans.

I see that you’re also a fan of run-on sentences like me XD If I were you, I would break this up a bit. Here’s my suggestion:
“I don’t really write consistently, it comes and goes. Recently, however, when I’ve been writing, I’ve actually been having fun with it! I’ve been enjoying telling stories about my character and the crazy shenanigans they get up to.”

Cabin Prefs
No notes! (the sentences I identified as longer have to be that length to serve their purpose, so they get a pass )

Excerpt
No notes! This was great! (the excerpt isn’t really considered all that much, but nonetheless yours is amazing!)

Time Dedication
Short, sweet, to the point! No notes!

Time Management

Like most people, the thing I struggle with the most is staying focused and not getting sidetracked/start procrastinating, or just even starting a task in general.

This is a bit long-winded. I would cut this down! Here’s a way to do that:
“Like most people, the thing I struggle with the most is staying focused and not getting sidetracked/start procrastinating. And that’s when I’m able to manage starting a task in the first place!”

Although I’m not a very organised person myself, I have found in the past that making a list to keep track of what I need to do has helped me on the days that I do remember to do it, rather than keep track in my head and forget something.

(I think that British English likes using “s” in words like “organised”, right? Again, as an American, I’m used to seeing “z”, but that’s just a regional thing- Unless I’m crazy and it is a spelling mistake alksdjfasjdklfjsaf-) This is a bit long again. I would cut it down, although I’ll leave this up to you!

Collaboration and Assets

My main weakness is that I can get really fixated on a certain idea or aspect and be a bit of a control freak, but I am improving on this by listening to other people’s ideas, and giving people freedom to do what they want with things, and bringing in people’s ideas so it’s not just me making all the important decisions and my teammates have a say too.

Two things. First, in the place I bolded, I would insert “the” between the two words, although this is more personal preference than anything.
Second, this is all one paragraph, and it’s one sentence. I would break this up, making each sentence tackle a singular idea.

One Quality

It is something that has held me back from applying in sessions past, and it is something that I have grown into as I’ve grown up over the past three or so years I’ve been attending SWC, from a crazy, hyper, immature, twelve-year-old to someone who is mature and understands what is being asked of them.

I know I’m running this into the ground, but the run-on sentences are a bit hard to read, and they can easily get confusing. Again, I would break this up.

All the Rest
No notes here!

- Closing Thoughts -
I am ROOTING FOR YOU SKYLAR!! You’ve got this! Overall, this application is incredibly polished and well-thought-out! It’s genuinely so impressive, and I’m quite proud of you! My only major issue overall was that you enjoy packing a lot of information into a single sentence. I do too, so I think that I may be prone to pointing out that problem. One thing that helps me is making sure that each idea is expressed in full, and then moving on. It can be easy to type as if I’m speaking since I speak rather rapidly and jump from topic to topic. Don’t be afraid to change up the flow! Insert short sentences. Also don’t be afraid of inserting longer ones, considering that variety is important! (see what I did there?? ) Just know when to use each length. Keep separate subjects contained in their little sentence boxes!

Again, I’m really impressed! You’ve got this!! <3

- Opening Thoughts -
Hi Kit!!! Gosh, I loved getting to read your application! It’s amazing so far! I’m very grateful for the opportunity to critique your app, and I hope that you’ll find this helpful! I am SO rooting for you, and I can’t wait to see the results! You’ve got this, and I’m already proud of you for even applying in the first place!
I’ll be breaking this critique up into three sections (I know, fancy-)
General Suggestions: This is where I’ll provide general suggestions for each of your answers. This section will be more oriented toward content, concepts, and ways to expand/improve.
Grammar/Syntax Suggestions : This is where I’ll be nitpicky and more detail-oriented. This will focus on the nitty-gritty aspects, like sentence structure, grammar mistakes, and clarity.
Closing Thoughts: This is where I’ll mainly be giving some encouragement and thoughts that don’t fit elsewhere.

Just know that you’ve got this!! I’m so excited for you, and I hope that you get accepted!

- General Suggestions -
About Me
We are shockingly similar in some ways alksdjflkasjflkf- I feel like I SHOULD know that you’re homeschooled, but, uh, guess not? Bookie’s memory fails her YET again! XD This about me section is TEEMING with personality, and I’m in love with the way that you’ve presented yourself! It’s really cool, getting a glimpse inside your head to an extent. I think that this section is kind of like an opening for an autobiography, and it needs to be impactful. I think that this hits the mark! It wouldn’t hurt if you detailed more stuff about yourself, but it’s not necessary. (also, have you seen the movie adaptation of Nimona? If so, would you recommend it??? Same with the graphic novel but I’m most curious about the movie-)

Past Participation
Ooh, this is so cool! I really enjoyed reading this section, it’s great! You brought up relevant information, which is so great! This isn’t necessary, but if you wish, more examples of smaller leadership positions would be cool! Showing how you exercise leadership in your day-to-day life would be cool. This section is already great, but that would add another layer of depth to it.

Cabin Prefs
These ideas sound so cool! I love them! No notes here!

Time Dedication
No notes! Short, sweet, and gets to the point! (Jeopardy is very important XD)

Time Management
I like this section! Great work! One thing I would suggest would be to reorder the various skills and shortcomings, as it feels like it jumps around a lot and doesn’t have a thematic flow (if that makes any sense alskdjflkasjf-)

Collaboration and Assets
Gosh, I relate so much to this section XD No notes here, it’s wonderful! (Jeez, you’re making this really hard- Stop being so good at this!! /j)

One Quality
I really like this! One thing I would suggest would be expanding by giving small examples, like bringing up how you’re persistent in different areas of life like schoolwork.

Everything Else
No notes here, it’s all very sound!

- Grammar/Syntax Suggestions -
About Me
No notes here! Some sentences are a bit hard to read, but that’s just because they’re lists and it can’t really be avoided lol-

Past Participation

​​ I also had an article published in a children’s magazine in 2021.

I think there’s a space at the beginning that makes the paragraph look slightly indented. It would be wise to fix that.

Cabin Prefs

Interns would help the radio hosts and report on supernatural events and eldritch abominations (normal occurrences in this town), while trying to appease station management (also an eldritch abomination).

This could totally just be me, but the way this is worded (particularly the stuff in parentheses) makes it seem like normal things (like humans and mundane stuff) are the abnormal, while crazy eldritch stuff is the norm. I don’t that’s what it’s getting at, so maybe clarify that a bit?

Time Dedication
No notes! Maybe split up the singular sentence into a few?

Time Management

(I often use timers — “work on this for 20 minutes and then you can stop.”)

This is personal preference, but I think that it would be more effective if you said something like:
“(I often use timers, telling myself something like “work on this for 20 minutes and then you can stop.”)”

Collaboration and Assets
No notes! Gosh, Kit, again with the amazing and sound answers! You’re making it very hard for me to do my job! /s

One Quality
No notes! <3

Everything Else

Fun, goofy and and lively, with a low-demand storyline and a focus on camaraderie between campers and friendly competition.

Cabin Atmosphere has two “and”s together.

- Closing Thoughts -
Wow, this app was hard to critique! I had to wrack my brain a LOT to actually think of something I could poke a bit. This was incredibly sound, and I loved it tons! You’ve got this, I’m sure of it! You’re amazing, and I’m totally rooting for you! You’d make an amazing leader, and, by some stroke of luck, I end up in your potential cabin this March, I have no doubt that it would be one of my favorite sessions ever! Overall, I think that this app is wonderful and sufficient, although it would benefit from a bit more substance. Aside from that, it’s amazing! I’m very proud of you!

✸ Lights: Mouse's SWC Leader App

Approximately 2997 words, not including the blurbs or the excerpt!

Red - Rubies
Passion - intensity - warning - energy

Rubies are found all over the world, including Australia, India, Madagascar, Tanzania, and the US. They are created underground with extreme heat pressure. Oxygen and aluminum atoms are compressed into corundum, and rubies are made if chromium is present.
They don’t glow naturally, but they fluoresce under UV light due to the chromium in them.
Rubies represent wealth, passion, and protection. They’re seen as
symbols of love, commitment, life, and immortality.

Orange - Lava
Flamboyance - warmth - vibrance - overpowering

Lava is molten rock expelled from inside a terrestrial planet. It is formed when magma erupts through a volcano or a fracture in the crust of the planet.
Lava glows because it emits light at a shorter frequency because of how hot it is. All objects emit light as well as reflect it, but only very hot objects emit visible light.
Lava represents intensity, resilience, power, and transformation. It’s seen as a symbol of chaos, rebirth, strength, destruction, and courage.

Yellow - Fireflies
Cheerfulness - happiness - optimism - creativeness

Fireflies, also called lightning bugs, are found in many places, usually in temperate or tropical climates. They are an insect of the family Lampyridae.
Fireflies glow due to a biochemical reaction that happens in special organs on the abdomen. An enzyme (luciferase) acts on a unique molecule (D-luciferin). Combined with magnesium ions, ATP, and oxygen (which is supplied by an abdominal trachea, aka an internal breathing tube), light is produced!
Fireflies represent self-illumination, attraction, positivity, simplicity, and self-awareness, and they are seen as symbols of good luck and hope.

Green - Luminous Moss
Health - growth - nature - balance - renewal

Luminous Moss is also commonly called Goblin’s Gold or Dragon’s Gold, and its scientific name is Schistostega pennata. It’s found in China, Japan, Siberia, Europe, and North America, and it can grow in low light conditions where other moss can’t survive because of cone-shaped cells that act as lenses, collecting and concentrating light so faint most other plants would starve. The chloroplasts absorb some of the light and reflect the rest back toward the light source, which makes the moss appear to glow.

Blue - Glowworms
Tranquil - clam - loyalty - sadness - wisdom

Glowworms (Arachnocampa luminosa) are found in New Zealand. They live in caves and on sheltered banks where humidity is high, because the moisture helps maintain their silk so they can catch their prey, which is mostly small flies or midges.
They glow because of a biochemical reaction created by an enzyme (luciferase) and a unique molecule (luciferin, which in this case is synthesized from xanthurenic acid and tyrosine).
They are said to be symbols of love, hope, and rebirth!

Indigo - Deep Sea Shrimp
Intuition - thought - devotion - wisdom - justice

Deep Sea Shrimp (Acanthephyra purpurea) are found in the bathypelagic zone of the ocean (aka the midnight zone), which is the area between 1,000 and 4,000 meters down.
They are bright red in color, which makes them mostly invisible in their habitat due to the lack of red light (or really any light at all).
They are primarily carnivorous, consisting of smaller crustaceans and fish, and they have adapted to be able to go for weeks without eating anything.
Deep Sea Shrimp themselves do not glow, but they send out a cloud of bioluminescent fluid when they are distressed. The fluid contains luciferin, which reacts with the oxygen in the water to create luciferase and light!

Violet - Lightning
Eccentric - royal - creative - mystery - mystic

Lightning is formed when negative charges gather near the base of a cloud, while positive charges build in the top of the cloud. Electric fields are created and they grow between the cloud and the ground, and inside the cloud. Negative charges spread out in the base of the clouds and positive charges form underneath, concentrating on tall objects. A ground lightning strike starts as a channel of negative charges heading toward the ground that is met with an upward traveling positive charge channel. When they connect the energy begins to flow downward, and a huge luminous current heads upward into the cloud, which is what we see as lightning.
Lots of different conditions in the atmosphere affect the color of lightning, including vapor in the air and the distance of the observer. Lightning refracts the spectrum, similar to a rainbow, which is why it appears to be certain colors. Since the atmosphere is full of nitrogen and oxygen, this makes the lightning usually appear as a combination of violet, red, or blue.
Lightning represents transformation, intent, and truth. It is seen as a symbol of divine protection, sudden illumination, and punishment.

Pink - Mauve Stinger
Sweet - romantic - youthful - tender - happiness

Mauve stingers (Pelagia noctiluca) are found in oceans all over the world, in tropical/temperate seas. They are typically mauve, pink, purple, light brown, or yellow. They have eight tentacles and are covered in stinging cells, including on their bells. Their sting is painful but not deadly.
Mauve stingers produce low light that is really only visible to humans at night, emitted in the form of flashes that happen when the jellyfish is stimulated by something like the current or the passing of a ship. The light is relatively short and fades relatively quickly.

White - Stars
Purity - innocence - goodness - lightness - new beginnings

Stars are giant balls of hot gas in outer space–it’s estimated that there are over 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (one septillion) individual stars in the universe. Stars are made of mostly hydrogen, with some helium and other elements as well. They form in large clouds of gas and dust called molecular clouds. The coldness of molecular clumps causes gas to lump, forming high-density pockets. These clumps gain mass and collide until eventually gravity causes them to collapse. When this happens, friction heats up the materials until a protostar (which is a baby star) is formed!
Most of the new star’s energy comes from the initial collapse, but after millions of years immense pressures and heat form helium in the core of the star–this process is called nuclear fusion. Nuclear fusion heats the star and stops it from collapsing more under the force of gravity.
The immense heat produced by the star is what causes it to glow!
Stars represent hope, joy, protection, guidance, and destiny. They are seen as symbols of motivation, protection, wishes, and spirituality.

Multicolor - Cuttlefish
Variety - diversity - transformation - emotions

Cuttlefish are marine mollusks that have eight arms, two tentacles, and a W-shaped pupil. They are found in tropical and temperate waters, usually in shallow areas, although they can go up to 600 meters deep.
Some cuttlefish have photospheres that create a chemical reaction, enabling them to glow. They also have another power–millions of color-changing cells called chromatophores. By controlling the contraction or relaxation of these cells, cuttlefish can change color.
Cuttlefish represent illusion, camouflage, intelligence, and adaptability, and are seen as symbols of mystery, spirituality, and transformation.