essay about challenges and opportunities

Essays About Challenges: Top 11 Examples and Prompts

We come across many challenges we must endure throughout life. If you want to write essays about challenges, start by reading some of our top essay examples.

Everyone has had to deal with obstacles or challenges at some point. Some people can overcome hurdles with confidence and bravery, while many others have difficulty trying to face them. However, the challenges we have faced are, without a doubt, a central part of who we are today. Overcoming challenges can make you a better person. The lessons you learn from them are essential for future success, and as with all other experiences, these challenges help form you into the person you are today. They can also be exciting to some, as they test your skills and capabilities. 

If you are writing essays about challenges, look at our featured essay examples below. 

1. Personal Challenges by Delores Goodwin

2. life’s struggles make us stronger – and happier – if we let them by helen g. rousseau, 3. how to overcome your challenges with openness and courage by tony fahkry.

• 4.  ​​Life: full of challenges by Vaibhav Jain

5. Challenges Facing Public Schools by Lewis Rios

1. challenges i have faced, 2. lessons learned from challenges, 3. how to change your attitude towards challenge, 4. helping others overcome challenges and adversity, 5. challenges faced in your home country, 6. challenges the world currently faces.

“A challenge will tell an individual more about themselves than anything else in life. Am I a quitter? How much adversity can I take? How badly do I want this? What is my breaking point? Where does my loyalty end? Challenge can ask us hundreds of questions and forces us to answer honestly. Challenges end the talk and make one walk the walk. Create challenges for yourself, it will cause you to see who you really are.”

Challenges are a necessity of life despite the hardship and stress they come with, and Goodwin discusses this in her essay. A great accomplishment cannot be made without a challenge. Without challenges, one becomes complacent, so we must keep facing challenges to keep us mentally and physically strong. Goodwin encourages readers to challenge themselves more to help them delve deeper into who they are. For more, check out these essays about life challenges .

“Every human being has been in this place at one time or another. Sometimes depression can make it more difficult to get away from the edge but any spark of light or encouragement should be used to seek help physically, emotionally or spiritually. When we face a crisis, it effects the all of who we are and thus must be met with our total beings.”

Rousseau reflects on overcoming adversity, recalling when she met with two former coworkers. They talked about their lives, families, and struggles during lunch. They could bond over their shared positive, confident mindset, allowing them to overcome challenges. Rousseau clarifies that if you put your mind to it, you can overcome anything and closes her essay with two of her poems about resilience. 

“Instead of running away from your emotions, lean into them and experience them fully. This transforms your fears and anxiety into empowering emotions. Let go of what you believe life owes you. It owes you nothing since you are the expression of life. Rise to your challenges armed with courage and an open mind. Remain confident that your experiences are serving your personal growth.”

Fahkry explains how to face challenges without stress and suffering. He reminds us that, first of all, we have free will, so we do not have to feel the way we do if we put our minds to it. We cannot change our reality once it is already there, so feeling sad or angry for prolonged periods is useless. If we change our mindsets for the better, we can overcome all adversity. Our fear and anxiety can be turned into confidence, empowerment, and courage. Check out these essays about competition .

4.  ​​ Life: full of challenges by Vaibhav Jain

“A person who has not encountered difficulties in life can never achieve success. Difficulties test the courage, patience, perseverance, and true character of a human being. Adversity and hardships make a person strong and ready to face the challenges of life with equanimity. There is no doubt that there can be no gain without pain. It is only when one toils and sweats it out that success is nourished and sustained.”

In his short essay, Jain writes about the wonders of life as well as its challenges. He likens life to a bed of roses, complete with painful thorns. In general, life is good, but adversity and challenges are prevalent. These two concepts seem different, but one cannot exist without the other. As with the previous essays, Jain explains that challenges make us stronger and help us feel successful and relieved: “there can be no gain without pain.” Without challenges, we take the better parts of life for granted; if we accept and overcome our struggles, we can live life to the fullest.

“In conclusion, public educational institutions experience many challenges ranging from budgetary constraints, student violence and low parental involvement. Much research needs to be done to establish why these problems exist in the first place and lasting solutions for these institutions.”

Rios’ essay explores challenges in an education system; he proposes research on the constraints of the U.S. public school system. Public schools face several economic and social challenges, such as insufficient funding and lack of parental involvement due to many students’ working-class backgrounds. Rios wishes for more research on these problems and possible solutions. 

Writing Prompts On Essays about Challenges

In this essay, write about a challenge you previously encountered and how you dealt with it. Provide context by describing the events leading up to it, how it happened, and, most importantly, how you overcame it. Then, describe how you felt after- were you relieved, stressed, or tired? You can also discuss how this experience has affected you today. 

Challenges can teach us a lot about life and the world. Reflect on a challenge you faced previously and what you learned from it, whether positive or negative. As with the previous prompt, feel free to include ways in which the lesson you learned affects you today. 

How can you best handle the challenges you may face? Describe the ideal attitude one would need to overcome complex challenges. For example, what qualities would you need to have- courage, prudence, or sensibility? Regardless of what type of attitude you choose to write about, your essay will be substantive if you can adequately support your argument. 

In your essay, you can write about a time you were able to help someone facing a challenge. Who did you help- a friend, family member, or someone else? Then, write about how you helped them, how it made you feel, and how it has impacted your life. 

Research one particular challenge your country is facing today, whether that be an economic, social, or political issue. Discuss how this challenge occurred and what began the difficulties. If applicable, include multiple viewpoints on the issue and include information from credible sources. You can also propose possible solutions to this issue. 

Humanity faces challenges on a massive scale, from a climate change crisis to possible third world war to a global pandemic. Choose one challenge the world faces today and write your essay about it. As with the previous prompt, write about the causes and responses to this challenge, and feel free to propose a solution. 

Check out our guide packed full of transition words for essays .

ProWritingAid is one of our top grammar checkers. Find out why in this ProWritingAid review .

Martin is an avid writer specializing in editing and proofreading. He also enjoys literary analysis and writing about food and travel.

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8 Overcoming Challenges College Essay Examples

The purpose of the Overcoming Challenges essay is for schools to see how you might handle the difficulties of college. They want to know how you grow, evolve, and learn when you face adversity. For this topic, there are many clichés , such as getting a bad grade or losing a sports game, so be sure to steer clear of those and focus on a topic that’s unique to you. (See our full guide on the Overcoming Challenges Essay for more tips).

These overcoming challenges essay examples were all written by real students. Read through them to get a sense of what makes a strong essay. At the end, we’ll present the revision process for the first essay and share some resources for improving your essay.

Please note: Looking at examples of real essays students have submitted to colleges can be very beneficial to get inspiration for your essays. You should never copy or plagiarize from these examples when writing your own essays. Colleges can tell when an essay isn’t genuine and will not view students favorably if they plagiarized. 

Essay 1: Becoming a Coach

“Advanced females ages 13 to 14 please proceed to staging with your coaches at this time.” Skittering around the room, eyes wide and pleading, I frantically explained my situation to nearby coaches. The seconds ticked away in my head; every polite refusal increased my desperation.

Despair weighed me down. I sank to my knees as a stream of competitors, coaches, and officials flowed around me. My dojang had no coach, and the tournament rules prohibited me from competing without one.

Although I wanted to remain strong, doubts began to cloud my mind. I could not help wondering: what was the point of perfecting my skills if I would never even compete? The other members of my team, who had found coaches minutes earlier, attempted to comfort me, but I barely heard their words. They couldn’t understand my despair at being left on the outside, and I never wanted them to understand.

Since my first lesson 12 years ago, the members of my dojang have become family. I have watched them grow up, finding my own happiness in theirs. Together, we have honed our kicks, blocks, and strikes. We have pushed one another to aim higher and become better martial artists. Although my dojang had searched for a reliable coach for years, we had not found one. When we attended competitions in the past, my teammates and I had always gotten lucky and found a sympathetic coach. Now, I knew this practice was unsustainable. It would devastate me to see the other members of my dojang in my situation, unable to compete and losing hope as a result. My dojang needed a coach, and I decided it was up to me to find one.

I first approached the adults in the dojang – both instructors and members’ parents. However, these attempts only reacquainted me with polite refusals. Everyone I asked told me they couldn’t devote multiple weekends per year to competitions. I soon realized that I would have become the coach myself.

At first, the inner workings of tournaments were a mystery to me. To prepare myself for success as a coach, I spent the next year as an official and took coaching classes on the side. I learned everything from motivational strategies to technical, behind-the-scenes components of Taekwondo competitions. Though I emerged with new knowledge and confidence in my capabilities, others did not share this faith.

Parents threw me disbelieving looks when they learned that their children’s coach was only a child herself. My self-confidence was my armor, deflecting their surly glances. Every armor is penetrable, however, and as the relentless barrage of doubts pounded my resilience, it began to wear down. I grew unsure of my own abilities.

Despite the attack, I refused to give up. When I saw the shining eyes of the youngest students preparing for their first competition, I knew I couldn’t let them down. To quit would be to set them up to be barred from competing like I was. The knowledge that I could solve my dojang’s longtime problem motivated me to overcome my apprehension.

Now that my dojang flourishes at competitions, the attacks on me have weakened, but not ended. I may never win the approval of every parent; at times, I am still tormented by doubts, but I find solace in the fact that members of my dojang now only worry about competing to the best of their abilities.

Now, as I arrive at a tournament with my students, I close my eyes and remember the past. I visualize the frantic search for a coach and the chaos amongst my teammates as we competed with one another to find coaches before the staging calls for our respective divisions. I open my eyes to the exact opposite scene. Lacking a coach hurt my ability to compete, but I am proud to know that no member of my dojang will have to face that problem again.

This essay begins with an in-the-moment narrative that really illustrates the chaos of looking for a coach last-minute. We feel the writer’s emotions, particularly their dejectedness, at not being able to compete.

Through this essay, we can see how gutsy and determined the student is in deciding to become a coach themselves. The writer shows us these characteristics through their actions, rather than explicitly telling us: To prepare myself for success as a coach, I spent the next year as an official and took coaching classes on the side.

One area of improvement of this essay would be the “attack” wording. The author likely uses this word as a metaphor for martial arts, but it feels too strong to describe the adults’ doubt of the student’s abilities as a coach, and can even be confusing at first.

Still, we see the student’s resilience as they are able to move past the disbelieving looks to help their team. The essay is kept real and vulnerable, however, as the writer admits having doubts: Every armor is penetrable, however, and as the relentless barrage of doubts pounded my resilience, it began to wear down. I grew unsure of my own abilities.

The essay comes full circle as the author recalls the frantic situations in seeking out a coach, but this is no longer a concern for them and their team. Overall, this essay is extremely effective in painting this student as mature, bold, and compassionate.

Essay 2: Starting a Fire

Was I no longer the beloved daughter of nature, whisperer of trees? Knee-high rubber boots, camouflage, bug spray—I wore the garb and perfume of a proud wild woman, yet there I was, hunched over the pathetic pile of stubborn sticks, utterly stumped, on the verge of tears. As a child, I had considered myself a kind of rustic princess, a cradler of spiders and centipedes, who was serenaded by mourning doves and chickadees, who could glide through tick-infested meadows and emerge Lyme-free. I knew the cracks of the earth like the scars on my own rough palms. Yet here I was, ten years later, incapable of performing the most fundamental outdoor task: I could not, for the life of me, start a fire. 

Furiously I rubbed the twigs together—rubbed and rubbed until shreds of skin flaked from my fingers. No smoke. The twigs were too young, too sticky-green; I tossed them away with a shower of curses, and began tearing through the underbrush in search of a more flammable collection. My efforts were fruitless. Livid, I bit a rejected twig, determined to prove that the forest had spurned me, offering only young, wet bones that would never burn. But the wood cracked like carrots between my teeth—old, brittle, and bitter. Roaring and nursing my aching palms, I retreated to the tent, where I sulked and awaited the jeers of my family. 

Rattling their empty worm cans and reeking of fat fish, my brother and cousins swaggered into the campsite. Immediately, they noticed the minor stick massacre by the fire pit and called to me, their deep voices already sharp with contempt. 

“Where’s the fire, Princess Clara?” they taunted. “Having some trouble?” They prodded me with the ends of the chewed branches and, with a few effortless scrapes of wood on rock, sparked a red and roaring flame. My face burned long after I left the fire pit. The camp stank of salmon and shame. 

In the tent, I pondered my failure. Was I so dainty? Was I that incapable? I thought of my hands, how calloused and capable they had been, how tender and smooth they had become. It had been years since I’d kneaded mud between my fingers; instead of scaling a white pine, I’d practiced scales on my piano, my hands softening into those of a musician—fleshy and sensitive. And I’d gotten glasses, having grown horrifically nearsighted; long nights of dim lighting and thick books had done this. I couldn’t remember the last time I had lain down on a hill, barefaced, and seen the stars without having to squint. Crawling along the edge of the tent, a spider confirmed my transformation—he disgusted me, and I felt an overwhelming urge to squash him. 

Yet, I realized I hadn’t really changed—I had only shifted perspective. I still eagerly explored new worlds, but through poems and prose rather than pastures and puddles. I’d grown to prefer the boom of a bass over that of a bullfrog, learned to coax a different kind of fire from wood, having developed a burn for writing rhymes and scrawling hypotheses. 

That night, I stayed up late with my journal and wrote about the spider I had decided not to kill. I had tolerated him just barely, only shrieking when he jumped—it helped to watch him decorate the corners of the tent with his delicate webs, knowing that he couldn’t start fires, either. When the night grew cold and the embers died, my words still smoked—my hands burned from all that scrawling—and even when I fell asleep, the ideas kept sparking—I was on fire, always on fire.

This essay is an excellent example because the writer turns an everyday challenge—starting a fire—into an exploration of her identity. The writer was once “a kind of rustic princess, a cradler of spiders and centipedes,” but has since traded her love of the outdoors for a love of music, writing, and reading. 

The story begins in media res , or in the middle of the action, allowing readers to feel as if we’re there with the writer. One of the essay’s biggest strengths is its use of imagery. We can easily visualize the writer’s childhood and the present day. For instance, she states that she “rubbed and rubbed [the twigs] until shreds of skin flaked from my fingers.”

The writing has an extremely literary quality, particularly with its wordplay. The writer reappropriates words and meanings, and even appeals to the senses: “My face burned long after I left the fire pit. The camp stank of salmon and shame.” She later uses a parallelism to cleverly juxtapose her changed interests: “instead of scaling a white pine, I’d practiced scales on my piano.”

One of the essay’s main areas of improvement is its overemphasis on the “story” and lack of emphasis on the reflection. The second to last paragraph about changing perspective is crucial to the essay, as it ties the anecdote to larger lessons in the writer’s life. She states that she hasn’t changed, but has only shifted perspective. Yet, we don’t get a good sense of where this realization comes from and how it impacts her life going forward. 

The end of the essay offers a satisfying return to the fire imagery, and highlights the writer’s passion—the one thing that has remained constant in her life.

Essay 3: Last-Minute Switch

The morning of the Model United Nation conference, I walked into Committee feeling confident about my research. We were simulating the Nuremberg Trials – a series of post-World War II proceedings for war crimes – and my portfolio was of the Soviet Judge Major General Iona Nikitchenko. Until that day, the infamous Nazi regime had only been a chapter in my history textbook; however, the conference’s unveiling of each defendant’s crimes brought those horrors to life. The previous night, I had organized my research, proofread my position paper and gone over Judge Nikitchenko’s pertinent statements. I aimed to find the perfect balance between his stance and my own.

As I walked into committee anticipating a battle of wits, my director abruptly called out to me. “I’m afraid we’ve received a late confirmation from another delegate who will be representing Judge Nikitchenko. You, on the other hand, are now the defense attorney, Otto Stahmer.” Everyone around me buzzed around the room in excitement, coordinating with their allies and developing strategies against their enemies, oblivious to the bomb that had just dropped on me. I felt frozen in my tracks, and it seemed that only rage against the careless delegate who had confirmed her presence so late could pull me out of my trance. After having spent a month painstakingly crafting my verdicts and gathering evidence against the Nazis, I now needed to reverse my stance only three hours before the first session.

Gradually, anger gave way to utter panic. My research was fundamental to my performance, and without it, I knew I could add little to the Trials. But confident in my ability, my director optimistically recommended constructing an impromptu defense. Nervously, I began my research anew. Despite feeling hopeless, as I read through the prosecution’s arguments, I uncovered substantial loopholes. I noticed a lack of conclusive evidence against the defendants and certain inconsistencies in testimonies. My discovery energized me, inspiring me to revisit the historical overview in my conference “Background Guide” and to search the web for other relevant articles. Some Nazi prisoners had been treated as “guilty” before their court dates. While I had brushed this information under the carpet while developing my position as a judge, i t now became the focus of my defense. I began scratching out a new argument, centered on the premise that the allied countries had violated the fundamental rule that, a defendant was “not guilty” until proven otherwise.

At the end of the three hours, I felt better prepared. The first session began, and with bravado, I raised my placard to speak. Microphone in hand, I turned to face my audience. “Greetings delegates. I, Otto Stahmer would like to…….” I suddenly blanked. Utter dread permeated my body as I tried to recall my thoughts in vain. “Defence Attorney, Stahmer we’ll come back to you,” my Committee Director broke the silence as I tottered back to my seat, flushed with embarrassment. Despite my shame, I was undeterred. I needed to vindicate my director’s faith in me. I pulled out my notes, refocused, and began outlining my arguments in a more clear and direct manner. Thereafter, I spoke articulately, confidently putting forth my points. I was overjoyed when Secretariat members congratulated me on my fine performance.

Going into the conference, I believed that preparation was the key to success. I wouldn’t say I disagree with that statement now, but I believe adaptability is equally important. My ability to problem-solve in the face of an unforeseen challenge proved advantageous in the art of diplomacy. Not only did this experience transform me into a confident and eloquent delegate at that conference, but it also helped me become a more flexible and creative thinker in a variety of other capacities. Now that I know I can adapt under pressure, I look forward to engaging in activities that will push me to be even quicker on my feet.

This essay is an excellent example because it focuses on a unique challenge and is highly engaging. The writer details their experience reversing their stance in a Model UN trial with only a few hours notice, after having researched and prepared to argue the opposite perspective for a month. 

Their essay is written in media res , or in the middle of the action, allowing readers to feel as if we’re there with the writer. The student openly shares their internal thoughts with us — we feel their anger and panic upon the reversal of roles. We empathize with their emotions of “utter dread” and embarrassment when they’re unable to speak. 

From the essay, we learn that the student believes in thorough preparation, but can also adapt to unforeseen obstacles. They’re able to rise to the challenge and put together an impromptu argument, think critically under pressure, and recover after their initial inability to speak. 

Essay 4: Music as a Coping Mechanism

CW: This essay mentions self-harm.

Sobbing uncontrollably, I parked around the corner from my best friend’s house. As I sat in the driver’s seat, I whispered the most earnest prayer I had ever offered.

Minutes before, I had driven to Colin’s house to pick up a prop for our upcoming spring musical. When I got there, his older brother, Tom, came to the door and informed me that no one else was home. “No,” I corrected, “Colin is here. He’s got a migraine.” Tom shook his head and gently told me where Colin actually was: the psychiatric unit of the local hospital. I felt a weight on my chest as I connected the dots; the terrifying picture rocked my safe little world. Tom’s words blurred as he explained Colin’s self-harm, but all I could think of was whether I could have stopped him. Those cuts on his arms had never been accidents. Colin had lied, very convincingly, many times. How could I have ignored the signs in front of me? Somehow, I managed to ask Tom whether I could see him, but he told me that visiting hours for non-family members were over for the day. I would have to move on with my afternoon.

Once my tears had subsided a little, I drove to the theater, trying to pull myself together and warm up to sing. How would I rehearse? I couldn’t sing three notes without bursting into tears. “I can’t do this,” I thought. But then I realized that the question wasn’t whether I could do it. I knew Colin would want me to push through, and something deep inside told me that music was the best way for me to process my grief. I needed to sing.

I practiced the lyrics throughout my whole drive. The first few times, I broke down in sobs. By the time I reached the theater, however, the music had calmed me. While Colin would never be far from my mind, I had to focus on the task ahead: recording vocals and then producing the video trailer that would be shown to my high school classmates. I fought to channel my worry into my recording. If my voice shook during the particularly heartfelt moments, it only added emotion and depth to my performance. I felt Colin’s absence next to me, but even before I listened to that first take, I knew it was a keeper.

With one of my hurdles behind me, I steeled myself again and prepared for the musical’s trailer. In a floor-length black cape and purple dress, I swept regally down the steps to my director, who waited outside. Under a gloomy sky that threatened to turn stormy, I boldly strode across the street, tossed a dainty yellow bouquet, and flashed confident grins at all those staring. My grief lurched inside, but I felt powerful. Despite my sadness, I could still make art.

To my own surprise, I successfully took back the day. I had felt pain, but I had not let it drown me – making music was a productive way to express my feelings than worrying. Since then, I have been learning to take better care of myself in difficult situations. That day before rehearsal, I found myself in the most troubling circumstances of my life thus far, but they did not sink me because I refused to sink. When my aunt developed cancer several months later, I knew that resolution would not come quickly, but that I could rely on music to cope with the agony, even when it would be easier to fall apart. Thankfully, Colin recovered from his injuries and was home within days. The next week, we stood together on stage at our show’s opening night. As our eyes met and our voices joined in song, I knew that music would always be our greatest mechanism for transforming pain into strength.

This essay is well-written, as we can feel the writer’s emotions through the thoughts they share, and visualize the night of the performance through their rich descriptions. Their varied sentence length also makes the essay more engaging.

That said, this essay is not a great example because of the framing of the topic. The writer can come off as insensitive since they make their friend’s struggle about themself and their emotions (and this is only worsened by the mention of their aunt’s cancer and how it was tough on them ). The essay would’ve been stronger if it focused on their guilt of not recognizing their friend’s struggles and spanned a longer period of time to demonstrate gradual relationship building and reflection. Still, this would’ve been difficult to do well.

In general, you should try to choose a challenge that is undeniably your own, and you should get at least one or two people to read your essay to give you candid feedback.

Essay 5: Dedicating a Track

“Getting beat is one thing – it’s part of competing – but I want no part in losing.” Coach Rob Stark’s motto never fails to remind me of his encouragement on early-morning bus rides to track meets around the state. I’ve always appreciated the phrase, but an experience last June helped me understand its more profound, universal meaning.

Stark, as we affectionately call him, has coached track at my high school for 25 years. His care, dedication, and emphasis on developing good character has left an enduring impact on me and hundreds of other students. Not only did he help me discover my talent and love for running, but he also taught me the importance of commitment and discipline and to approach every endeavor with the passion and intensity that I bring to running. When I learned a neighboring high school had dedicated their track to a longtime coach, I felt that Stark deserved similar honors.

Our school district’s board of education indicated they would only dedicate our track to Stark if I could demonstrate that he was extraordinary. I took charge and mobilized my teammates to distribute petitions, reach out to alumni, and compile statistics on the many team and individual champions Stark had coached over the years. We received astounding support, collecting almost 3,000 signatures and pages of endorsements from across the community. With help from my teammates, I presented this evidence to the board.

They didn’t bite. 

Most members argued that dedicating the track was a low priority. Knowing that we had to act quickly to convince them of its importance, I called a team meeting where we drafted a rebuttal for the next board meeting. To my surprise, they chose me to deliver it. I was far from the best public speaker in the group, and I felt nervous about going before the unsympathetic board again. However, at that second meeting, I discovered that I enjoy articulating and arguing for something that I’m passionate about.

Public speaking resembles a cross country race. Walking to the starting line, you have to trust your training and quell your last minute doubts. When the gun fires, you can’t think too hard about anything; your performance has to be instinctual, natural, even relaxed. At the next board meeting, the podium was my starting line. As I walked up to it, familiar butterflies fluttered in my stomach. Instead of the track stretching out in front of me, I faced the vast audience of teachers, board members, and my teammates. I felt my adrenaline build, and reassured myself: I’ve put in the work, my argument is powerful and sound. As the board president told me to introduce myself, I heard, “runners set” in the back of my mind. She finished speaking, and Bang! The brief silence was the gunshot for me to begin. 

The next few minutes blurred together, but when the dust settled, I knew from the board members’ expressions and the audience’s thunderous approval that I had run quite a race. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough; the board voted down our proposal. I was disappointed, but proud of myself, my team, and our collaboration off the track. We stood up for a cause we believed in, and I overcame my worries about being a leader. Although I discovered that changing the status quo through an elected body can be a painstakingly difficult process and requires perseverance, I learned that I enjoy the challenges this effort offers. Last month, one of the school board members joked that I had become a “regular” – I now often show up to meetings to advocate for a variety of causes, including better environmental practices in cafeterias and safer equipment for athletes.

Just as Stark taught me, I worked passionately to achieve my goal. I may have been beaten when I appealed to the board, but I certainly didn’t lose, and that would have made Stark proud.

While the writer didn’t succeed in getting the track dedicated to Coach Stark, their essay is certainly successful in showing their willingness to push themselves and take initiative.

The essay opens with a quote from Coach Stark that later comes full circle at the end of the essay. We learn about Stark’s impact and the motivation for trying to get the track dedicated to him.

One of the biggest areas of improvement in the intro, however, is how the essay tells us Stark’s impact rather than showing us: His care, dedication, and emphasis on developing good character has left an enduring impact on me and hundreds of other students. Not only did he help me discover my talent and love for running, but he also taught me the importance of commitment and discipline and to approach every endeavor with the passion and intensity that I bring to running.

The writer could’ve helped us feel a stronger emotional connection to Stark if they had included examples of Stark’s qualities, rather than explicitly stating them. For example, they could’ve written something like: Stark was the kind of person who would give you gas money if you told him your parents couldn’t afford to pick you up from practice. And he actually did that—several times. At track meets, alumni regularly would come talk to him and tell him how he’d changed their lives. Before Stark, I was ambivalent about running and was on the JV team, but his encouragement motivated me to run longer and harder and eventually make varsity. Because of him, I approach every endeavor with the passion and intensity that I bring to running.

The essay goes on to explain how the writer overcame their apprehension of public speaking, and likens the process of submitting an appeal to the school board to running a race. This metaphor makes the writing more engaging and allows us to feel the student’s emotions.

While the student didn’t ultimately succeed in getting the track dedicated, we learn about their resilience and initiative: I now often show up to meetings to advocate for a variety of causes, including better environmental practices in cafeterias and safer equipment for athletes.

Overall, this essay is well-done. It demonstrates growth despite failing to meet a goal, which is a unique essay structure. The running metaphor and full-circle intro/ending also elevate the writing in this essay.

Essay 6: Body Image

CW: This essay mentions eating disorders.

I press the “discover” button on my Instagram app, hoping to find enticing pictures to satisfy my boredom. Scrolling through, I see funny videos and mouth-watering pictures of food. However, one image stops me immediately. A fit teenage girl with a “perfect body” relaxes in a bikini on a beach. Beneath it, I see a slew of flattering comments. I shake with disapproval over the image’s unrealistic quality. However, part of me still wants to have a body like hers so that others will make similar comments to me.

I would like to resolve a silent issue that harms many teenagers and adults: negative self image and low self-esteem in a world where social media shapes how people view each other. When people see the façades others wear to create an “ideal” image, they can develop poor thought patterns rooted in negative self-talk. The constant comparisons to “perfect” others make people feel small. In this new digital age, it is hard to distinguish authentic from artificial representations.

When I was 11, I developed anorexia nervosa. Though I was already thin, I wanted to be skinny like the models that I saw on the magazine covers on the grocery store stands. Little did I know that those models probably also suffered from disorders, and that photoshop erased their flaws. I preferred being underweight to being healthy. No matter how little I ate or how thin I was, I always thought that I was too fat. I became obsessed with the number on the scale and would try to eat the least that I could without my parents urging me to take more. Fortunately, I stopped engaging in anorexic behaviors before middle school. However, my underlying mental habits did not change. The images that had provoked my disorder in the first place were still a constant presence in my life.

By age 15, I was in recovery from anorexia, but suffered from depression. While I used to only compare myself to models, the growth of social media meant I also compared myself to my friends and acquaintances. I felt left out when I saw my friends’ excitement about lake trips they had taken without me. As I scrolled past endless photos of my flawless, thin classmates with hundreds of likes and affirming comments, I felt my jealousy spiral. I wanted to be admired and loved by other people too. However, I felt that I could never be enough. I began to hate the way that I looked, and felt nothing in my life was good enough. I wanted to be called “perfect” and “body goals,” so I tried to only post at certain times of day to maximize my “likes.” When that didn’t work, I started to feel too anxious to post anything at all.  

Body image insecurities and social media comparisons affect thousands of people – men, women, children, and adults – every day. I am lucky – after a few months of my destructive social media habits, I came across a video that pointed out the illusory nature of social media; many Instagram posts only show off good things while people hide their flaws. I began going to therapy, and recovered from my depression. To address the problem of self-image and social media, we can all focus on what matters on the inside and not what is on the surface. As an effort to become healthy internally, I started a club at my school to promote clean eating and radiating beauty from within. It has helped me grow in my confidence, and today I’m not afraid to show others my struggles by sharing my experience with eating disorders. Someday, I hope to make this club a national organization to help teenagers and adults across the country. I support the idea of body positivity and embracing difference, not “perfection.” After all, how can we be ourselves if we all look the same?

This essay covers the difficult topics of eating disorders and mental health. If you’re thinking about covering similar topics in your essay, we recommend reading our post Should You Talk About Mental Health in College Essays?

The short answer is that, yes, you can talk about mental health, but it can be risky. If you do go that route, it’s important to focus on what you learned from the experience.

We can see that the writer of this essay has been through a lot, and a strength of their essay is their vulnerability, in excerpts such as this: I wanted to be admired and loved by other people too. However, I felt that I could never be enough. I began to hate the way that I looked, and felt nothing in my life was good enough. I wanted to be called “perfect” and “body goals,” so I tried to only post at certain times of day to maximize my “likes.”

The student goes on to share how they recovered from their depression through an eye-opening video and therapy sessions, and they’re now helping others find their self-worth as well. It’s great that this essay looks towards the future and shares the writer’s goals of making their club a national organization; we can see their ambition and compassion.

The main weakness of this essay is that it doesn’t focus enough on their recovery process, which is arguably the most important part. They could’ve told us more about the video they watched or the process of starting their club and the interactions they’ve had with other members.

Still, this essay shows us that this student is honest, self-aware, and caring, which are all qualities admissions officer are looking for.

Essay 7: Health Crisis

Tears streamed down my face and my mind was paralyzed with fear. Sirens blared, but the silent panic in my own head was deafening. I was muted by shock. A few hours earlier, I had anticipated a vacation in Washington, D.C., but unexpectedly, I was rushing to the hospital behind an ambulance carrying my mother. As a fourteen-year-old from a single mother household, without a driver’s license, and seven hours from home, I was distraught over the prospect of losing the only parent I had. My fear turned into action as I made some of the bravest decisions of my life. 

Three blood transfusions later, my mother’s condition was stable, but we were still states away from home, so I coordinated with my mother’s doctors in North Carolina to schedule the emergency operation that would save her life. Throughout her surgery, I anxiously awaited any word from her surgeon, but each time I asked, I was told that there had been another complication or delay. Relying on my faith and positive attitude, I remained optimistic that my mother would survive and that I could embrace new responsibilities.

My mother had been a source of strength for me, and now I would be strong for her through her long recovery ahead. As I started high school, everyone thought the crisis was over, but it had really just started to impact my life. My mother was often fatigued, so I assumed more responsibility, juggling family duties, school, athletics, and work. I made countless trips to the neighborhood pharmacy, cooked dinner, biked to the grocery store, supported my concerned sister, and provided the loving care my mother needed to recover. I didn’t know I was capable of such maturity and resourcefulness until it was called upon. Each day was a stage in my gradual transformation from dependence to relative independence.

Throughout my mother’s health crisis, I matured by learning to put others’ needs before my own. As I worried about my mother’s health, I took nothing for granted, cherished what I had, and used my daily activities as motivation to move forward. I now take ownership over small decisions such as scheduling daily appointments and managing my time but also over major decisions involving my future, including the college admissions process. Although I have become more independent, my mother and I are inseparably close, and the realization that I almost lost her affects me daily. Each morning, I wake up ten minutes early simply to eat breakfast with my mother and spend time with her before our busy days begin. I am aware of how quickly life can change. My mother remains a guiding force in my life, but the feeling of empowerment I discovered within myself is the ultimate form of my independence. Though I thought the summer before my freshman year would be a transition from middle school to high school, it was a transformation from childhood to adulthood.

This essay feels real and tells readers a lot about the writer. To start at the beginning, the intro is 10/10. It has drama, it has emotions, and it has the reader wanting more.

And, when you keep going, you get to learn a lot about a very resilient and mature student. Through sentences like “I made countless trips to the neighborhood pharmacy, cooked dinner, biked to the grocery store, supported my concerned sister, and provided the loving care my mother needed to recover” and “Relying on my faith and positive attitude, I remained optimistic that my mother would survive and that I could embrace new responsibilities,” the reader shows us that they are aware of their resilience and maturity, but are not arrogant about it. It is simply a fact that they have proven through their actions!

This essay makes us want to cheer for the writer, and they certainly seem like someone who would thrive in a more independent college environment.

Essay 8: Turned Tables

“You ruined my life!” After months of quiet anger, my brother finally confronted me. To my shame, I had been appallingly ignorant of his pain.

Despite being twins, Max and I are profoundly different. Having intellectual interests from a young age that, well, interested very few of my peers, I often felt out of step in comparison with my highly-social brother. Everything appeared to come effortlessly for Max and, while we share an extremely tight bond, his frequent time away with friends left me feeling more and more alone as we grew older.

When my parents learned about The Green Academy, we hoped it would be an opportunity for me to find not only an academically challenging environment, but also – perhaps more importantly – a community. This meant transferring the family from Drumfield to Kingston. And while there was concern about Max, we all believed that given his sociable nature, moving would be far less impactful on him than staying put might be on me.

As it turned out, Green Academy was everything I’d hoped for. I was ecstatic to discover a group of students with whom I shared interests and could truly engage. Preoccupied with new friends and a rigorous course load, I failed to notice that the tables had turned. Max, lost in the fray and grappling with how to make connections in his enormous new high school, had become withdrawn and lonely. It took me until Christmas time – and a massive argument – to recognize how difficult the transition had been for my brother, let alone that he blamed me for it.

Through my own journey of searching for academic peers, in addition to coming out as gay when I was 12, I had developed deep empathy for those who had trouble fitting in. It was a pain I knew well and could easily relate to. Yet after Max’s outburst, my first response was to protest that our parents – not I – had chosen to move us here. In my heart, though, I knew that regardless of who had made the decision, we ended up in Kingston for my benefit. I was ashamed that, while I saw myself as genuinely compassionate, I had been oblivious to the heartache of the person closest to me. I could no longer ignore it – and I didn’t want to.

We stayed up half the night talking, and the conversation took an unexpected turn. Max opened up and shared that it wasn’t just about the move. He told me how challenging school had always been for him, due to his dyslexia, and that the ever-present comparison to me had only deepened his pain.

We had been in parallel battles the whole time and, yet, I only saw that Max was in distress once he experienced problems with which I directly identified. I’d long thought Max had it so easy – all because he had friends. The truth was, he didn’t need to experience my personal brand of sorrow in order for me to relate – he had felt plenty of his own.

My failure to recognize Max’s suffering brought home for me the profound universality and diversity of personal struggle; everyone has insecurities, everyone has woes, and everyone – most certainly – has pain. I am acutely grateful for the conversations he and I shared around all of this, because I believe our relationship has been fundamentally strengthened by a deeper understanding of one another. Further, this experience has reinforced the value of constantly striving for deeper sensitivity to the hidden struggles of those around me. I won’t make the mistake again of assuming that the surface of someone’s life reflects their underlying story.

Here you can find a prime example that you don’t have to have fabulous imagery or flowery prose to write a successful essay. You just have to be clear and say something that matters. This essay is simple and beautiful. It almost feels like having a conversation with a friend and learning that they are an even better person than you already thought they were.

Through this narrative, readers learn a lot about the writer—where they’re from, what their family life is like, what their challenges were as a kid, and even their sexuality. We also learn a lot about their values—notably, the value they place on awareness, improvement, and consideration of others. Though they never explicitly state it (which is great because it is still crystal clear!), this student’s ending of “I won’t make the mistake again of assuming that the surface of someone’s life reflects their underlying story” shows that they are constantly striving for improvement and finding lessons anywhere they can get them in life.

Where to Get Your Overcoming Challenges Essays Edited

Do you want feedback on your Overcoming Challenges essays? After rereading your essays countless times, it can be difficult to evaluate your writing objectively. That’s why we created our free Peer Essay Review tool , where you can get a free review of your essay from another student. You can also improve your own writing skills by reviewing other students’ essays. 

If you want a college admissions expert to review your essay, advisors on CollegeVine have helped students refine their writing and submit successful applications to top schools. Find the right advisor for you to improve your chances of getting into your dream school!

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Challenges and Opportunities in the Post-COVID-19 World

The COVID-19 crisis has affected societies and economies around the globe and will permanently reshape our world as it continues to unfold. While the fallout from the crisis is both amplifying familiar risks and creating new ones, change at this scale also creates new openings for managing systemic challenges, and ways to build back better. This collection of essays draws on the diverse insights of the World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report Advisory Board to look ahead and across a broad range of issues – trade, governance, health, labour, technology to name a few – and consider where the balance of risk and opportunity may come out. It offers decision-makers a comprehensive picture of expected long-term changes, and inspiration to leverage the opportunities this crisis offers to improve the state of the world.

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Will COVID-19 change how we think about migration and migrant workers?

Migrant workers are key to the pandemic response, but the focus on health security could have long-term implications for migrants and migration policy.

The COVID-19 pandemic is not a break for nature – let’s make sure there is one after the crisis

Nature is facing increased pressure due COVID-19 crisis – and to our health and our economy, governments must also prioritize healing our planet, too.

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How to Write the Overcoming Challenges Essay + Example

April 17, 2023

At some point, most college-bound students are tasked with writing an overcoming challenges essay. The prompt crops up in various forms, as a supplemental short essay about overcoming a challenge, and in as the main essay itself.

Some students may feel inclined to write about a dramatic experience (say, spotting a grizzly bear outside the kitchen window), mistaking the drama of the moment for a significant challenge. Others may get to work, only to realize they don’t have much to say about the time they got a C in P.E. (that dreaded frisbee unit). Students who’ve overcome unspeakable difficulties, like a death in the family, may find that reducing the tragedy to 650 words feels insufficient, or worse—as if they’re attempting to profit from suffering. One or two students may stare down the blank computer screen as their entire existence shrinks to the size of a 12-point font. Should they write about the challenge of writing about the challenge of writing an overcoming challenges essay??

Don’t worry. Focusing first on how to tackle the essay will help any student decide what they should write about. In fact, how the essay is written will also prove more influential than the challenge itself in determining the strength of the essay.

Decoding the Prompt

Let’s take a look at the overcoming challenges essay question included among the seven 2023-24 Common App Essay Prompts :

The lessons we take from obstacles we encounter can be fundamental to later success. Recount a time when you faced a challenge, setback, or failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience?

Notice how the prompt places an immediate emphasis on the “lessons we take,” rather than on the obstacles themselves, or any potential success. This is because the challenge itself often says less about the student than the way the student chose to tackle it, or the way they now reflect on it. In other words, obstacles often come at us randomly; it’s our personal response to the circumstances which reveals something of who we are.

While studying a prompt for clues, it’s helpful to think from the perspective of the admissions officer (the essay reader). What can they glean from an overcoming challenges essay?  A lot, actually. A thoughtfully written essay may tell them about the student’s personality, as well as things like problem-solving techniques, rigor, persistence, creativity, and courage. These insights can work to prove to the admissions officers that the student has what it takes to overcome challenges in college, too. These future challenges may range from the inevitable academic obstacles that occur with heavy courseloads, to social and moral challenges that arise as college students form their adult identities.

Picking Your Topic: A Brainstorming Activity

With the question of identity in mind, let’s now approach the overcoming challenges essay backwards, by brainstorming the final message the student wants it to contain.

For this three-part exercise, the student will first set a five-minute timer. With the clock ticking, they’ll jot down character traits, values, and any descriptive words or terms that say something about who they are. If stumped, change perspective. The student may imagine what their best friends, parents, coaches and siblings would say. (For example, tenacious , logical , scientific , peacemaker .) Even mild criticism can be helpful, as long as it’s not cruel. While a student’s brother may call him a “perfectionist,” perhaps this word will trigger other relevant words, like persistent and detail-oriented.

Next, the student will set the timer for another five minutes, pull out a second sheet of paper, and jot down any challenges, obstacles, setbacks, failures, and achievements that come to mind. Don’t hold back here or overanalyze. (For example: underdog at state swim meet , getting lost on the family hike , petitioning for a school compost system …)

Lastly, the student will place the two pages side by side, and draw lines between the items on the list wherever connections occur. One student may draw lines between persistent , curious , gamer , passionate about electronics , and saved the day during the power outage. Another set of lines might connect caring, observant, creative thinker , and helped sister leave abusive cult . Whatever ideas are sparked here, the goal is to identify which challenges will demonstrate something essential about the student to an admissions officer.

Topics to Avoid

The internet is rife with advice on what not to write when writing an overcoming challenges essay. Yet this advice can be confusing, or downright hypocritical. For instance, some may advise against writing about death. Yet a student who lost their father at an early age may be capable of writing a poignant essay about their search for an alternative father figure, and how they found one in their soccer coach.

I suggest avoiding guides on what not to write until after the student has done a thorough round of brainstorming. Otherwise, they risk censoring themselves too early, and may reject a promising idea. Once they’ve narrowed down their list to three ideas or less, they may want to check our guide on College Application Essay Topics to Avoid .

The reason why certain types of overcoming challenges essays miss the mark is that they emphasize the wrong aspect of the experience, which turns the topic into a cliché. While it’s generally a good idea to avoid trivial topics (again, that C in P.E.), any topic has the potential to be compelling, if it’s animated through personal opinions, insight, and description. Details bring an experience to life. Structure and reflection make an essay convincing. In other words, how the story is told will determine whether or not the topic is worth writing about.

So, rather than avoid specific topics, consider avoiding these scenarios: if you can’t show the essay to your best friend or grandmother, it’s probably not ready to show a college admissions officer. If you must write a clichéd topic, don’t choose a typical structure.

Techniques to Hone

Techniques that animate an overcoming challenges essay are the same ones used in storytelling. Think setting, visuals, sounds, dialogue, physical sensations, and feelings. “Showing” instead of “telling.” Crafting the essay with these inner and external details will bring the challenge to life, and catch the reader’s attention.

Another technique which works well when trying to avoid the trappings of cliché involve subverting the reader’s expectations. In storytelling terms, this is a plot twist. The student who got a C in P.E. may actually have a stellar essay on their hands, if they can break away from the “bad grade” trope (working harder to improve their grade). Perhaps this student’s story is actually about how, while sitting on the bleachers and not participating in the game, they found themselves watching the frisbee spin through the air, and realized they had a deep interest in the movement of astronomical bodies.

Some of the strongest overcoming challenges essays demonstrate what students have learned about themselves, rather than what they’ve learned about the obstacle they confronted. These essays may show how the student has come to see themselves differently, or how they’ve decided to change, thanks to the challenge they faced. These essays work because the reflection is natural and even profound, based on the student’s self-awareness.

Writing the Overcoming Challenges Essay, or Drafts, Drafts, Drafts

Everyone writes differently, some by outlining (never a bad idea), some by free-styling (good for capturing sensations and memories), some by lighting a candle—but don’t procrastinate too much. The only “must” is to revise. After a first draft, the student should begin to look for several things:

1) Clarity and Detail. Is the challenge recounted with precision? Is it personal?

2) Structure. Consider mapping the structure, to visualize it better. Does the structure suit the story? Can it be changed for clarity, or to keep the reader more engaged?

3) Cliché. Identify words, sentences, and ideas that are dull or repetitive. Mark them up, and in the next draft, find ways to rewrite, subvert, condense, and delete.

4) Lesson Learned. Has the student reflected adequately on the lesson they learned from overcoming a challenge? To add more reflection, students might ask themselves what they have felt and thought about the experience since. Would they do something differently, if faced with the same challenge? Has their understanding of the experience evolved over time?

By the final draft, the experience and the reflection should feel equally weighted. To get there, it may take five or six drafts.

Overcoming Challenges Essay Sample

The Happiness Hotline

First there were reports. Then we were told to stop socializing, go inside, wait. Covid struck. Everyone knows what ensued. It probably looked different from where we were all (separately) standing, even though we faced the same thing. Those first weeks, I stood at my bedroom window. It was dark by early evening in Oregon. The weirdest part—after the fact that we were collectively sharing the loneliest experience of our lives—was the silence.

… it was really quiet.

So quiet, I could hear my mom sigh downstairs. (So quiet, I couldn’t remember if I’d hummed aloud, or if I’d just heard myself in my head.) When I looked out the window, I could hear the stoplight at the end of our street. Green to yellow. Click.

Before going on, you should know three things. First, this is not a Covid essay. This is about melancholy, and the “sadness that has taken on lightness,” to quote Italo Calvino. Second, from my bedroom window, I can see down a row of oak trees, past the hospital, to my friend Carlo’s house. Third, Carlo is a jazz singer. Maybe that sounds pretentious, a freshman kid being a jazz singer, but that’s Carlo, and I wouldn’t be me without Carlo being Carlo. He’s someone who appreciates the unhinged rhythm of a Charlie Parker tune. He’s an extrovert who can bring introverts like me out of my shell. He convinced me to learn trombone, and together we riff in the after-school jazz club.

In the first month of the pandemic, we called each other nightly to talk rap albums, school stuff. At Carlo’s house, he could hear a white-crowned sparrow. He could also hear his parents talking numbers behind the bathroom door. The death toll was mounting. The cost of living was going up too. As the month wore on, I began to hear something else in our calls, in the way Carlo paused, or forgot what he was saying. Carlo was scared. He felt sad, isolated, and without his bright energy, I too, felt utterly alone.

Overcoming Challenges Essay Sample (Continued)

After some dark days, I realized that to help ourselves we needed to help others. It was pretty obvious the more I thought about it. People are social creatures, supposedly, even introverts. Maybe our neighbors needed to remember the noisiness of life.

We built a happiness hotline. That sounds fancy, though essentially, we provided three-way calls on my parents’ landline. The harder part involved making flyers and putting them up around town, in places people were still going. Grocery stores, the post office. We made a TikTok account, and then—the phone rang. Our first caller.

For months, if you called in, you could talk to us about your days in lockdown. People went really deep about the meaning of life, and we had to learn on the spot how to respond. I’d become a journalist and a therapist before becoming a sophomore. After chatting, the caller would request a song, and if we knew how to play it, we would. If not, we improvised.

Now we’re seniors in high school. Carlo visits the hospital with band members. As for myself, I’ve been working on a community music book, compiling our callers’ favorite tunes. I don’t want to forget how important it felt to make these connections. Our callers taught me that loneliness is a bit like a virus, a bit like a song. Even when it stops it can come back to haunt you, as a new variant or an old refrain. Still, sadness can take on lightness when voices call through the dark: sparrows, friends, strangers. I learned I’m good at listening into the silence. Listening isn’t only a passive stance, but an open line of receiving.

Analysis of the Overcoming Challenges Essay Sample

This student uses their musical passion to infuse the essay with vivid detail. There’s a focus on sound throughout, from the bird to the stoplight. Then there are the callers, and the clever way the student conceived of breaking through the silence. The narrator’s voice sharpens the piece further, elevating a clichéd Covid essay to a personal story of self-discovery.

In fact, the essay briefly breaks with structure to tell the reader that this is not a Covid essay. Although techniques like this should be used sparingly, it works here by grabbing the reader’s attention. It also allows the student to organize their thoughts on the page, before moving the plot along.

Outwardly, the student is overcoming the challenge of loneliness in a time of quarantine. Yet there seems to be an inner, unspoken challenge as well, that of coming to terms with the student’s introverted personality. The essay’s reflection occurs in the final paragraph, making the essay experience-heavy. However, clues woven throughout point to the reflection that will come. Details like the Italo Calvino quote hint at the later understanding of how to alleviate loneliness. While some readers might prefer more development, the various themes are threaded throughout, which makes for a satisfying ending.

A Last Word on the Short Essay About Overcoming Challenges

The short essay about overcoming a challenge requires the same steps as a longer one. To write it, follow the same brainstorming activity, then focus more on condensing and summarizing the experience. Students who’ve already written a longer overcoming challenges essay can approach the short essay about overcoming a challenge by streamlining. Instead of deleting all the extra bits, keep two interesting details that will flavor the essay with something memorable and unique.

• College Essay

Kaylen Baker

With a BA in Literary Studies from Middlebury College, an MFA in Fiction from Columbia University, and a Master’s in Translation from Université Paris 8 Vincennes-Saint-Denis, Kaylen has been working with students on their writing for over five years. Previously, Kaylen taught a fiction course for high school students as part of Columbia Artists/Teachers, and served as an English Language Assistant for the French National Department of Education. Kaylen is an experienced writer/translator whose work has been featured in Los Angeles Review, Hybrid, San Francisco Bay Guardian, France Today, and Honolulu Weekly, among others.

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How to See Challenges as Opportunities

Don't think you can stay in your comfort zone and keep learning..

Posted November 5, 2016 | Reviewed by Devon Frye

In everyday life, we will be faced every so often with important decisions about new challenges—such as whether to apply for a new job or start a new course. Taking on such challenges is an important part of growing and developing as a person. The more we can test our limits and capabilities, the more we will learn about ourselves. New challenges are opportunities for us.

However, we don't always see it that way. When we take on new challenges, we also have to face the possibility of failure. Rather than seeing the opportunity in the situation, often, we focus on what it will be like to fail.

As a result, embarking on a new challenge can be frightening, and the fear of failure can be too much to bear. In these cases, we may avoid the challenge altogether and carry on down the same path we were on. We make some excuse to ourselves so that we can stay in our comfort zone.

But the truth is that staying in your comfort zone—particularly when you do so out of fear—is not always exactly comfortable. By avoiding challenges, we don’t have the opportunities to learn about ourselves. We feel trapped—as if we were leading a life that is not true to ourselves. We are plagued by discomfort, anxiety , and the niggling sense that things are not quite right.

There are times and places when we might want to avoid a challenge for good, realistic reasons. The trouble comes, however, when we don’t recognize that we are making excuses. Perhaps, deep down, we are frightened of what other people might say and of what we might learn about ourselves. But instead of acknowledging that, we tell ourselves that now is not a good time, or that this isn't the right opportunity. In reality, it is our fear talking.

To lead an authentic life, we need to take on new challenges that stretch us and give us more opportunities to be ourselves. It is not that the authentic person does not feel the same fear; rather, they are simply more willing to face their fear.

Authentic people won’t let their path in life be dictated by what others think. They are open to new experiences and cherish the challenges of learning about themselves, but they know that it is like crossing a river on stepping stones—there is always the possibility of getting wet.

The question is not how to lead a life in which we never feel the fear of failure, but rather, how we can move forward despite our fear. Are we able to transform our fear into an enthusiasm to engage with the new challenge and learn from it?

To learn more about authenticity , check out my book: Authentic: How to Be Yourself and Why It Matters .

Stephen Joseph, Ph.D. , is a professor of psychology, health, and social care at the University of Nottingham, UK, and author of What Doesn't Kill Us .

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Turning a Problem into an Opportunity

• Ron Ashkenas

Managers have little choice about facing challenges, whether they come from competitors, economic conditions, or customer demands. However, they can choose whether they treat those challenges as problems or opportunities. Here’s an example of two managers faced with the same challenge — one approached it as a problem to overcome, and the other, a possibility […]

Managers have little choice about facing challenges , whether they come from competitors, economic conditions, or customer demands. However, they can choose whether they treat those challenges as problems or opportunities.

• Ron Ashkenas is a coauthor of the Harvard Business Review Leader’s Handbook  and a Partner Emeritus at Schaffer Consulting . His previous books include The Boundaryless Organization , The GE Work-Out , and Simply Effective .

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How To Turn Challenges Into Opportunities To Become A Better Leader

• Anouare Abdou
• December 8, 2021

Table of Contents

Leaders are made under pressure. “As Winston Churchill said, never let a good crisis go to waste. I see challenges as the most opportune time for a leader to demonstrate true leadership qualities,” says best-selling author and certified life and business coach Jocelyn Chong , who has a 20-year proven track record in high-level sales, leadership and management.

According to her, challenges are the perfect opportunity to stretch your limits in order to embrace new, positive emotions in the face of adversity, while providing fresh guidance to those around you:

“I define challenges as an opportunity to introduce a new idea that creates more value to someone’s life. Be a leader and be ready to evolve instead of letting the past create the future. Create the future by being fully present in the moment.”

Here are some of her best tips to turn any challenge into an opportunity and become a better leader in the process, one that your team will be able to lean on and rise with.

Things to avoid and embrace when leading through challenges

First, self-care is key, as you can’t serve others from an empty cup. Proper sleep, healthy food, daily movement and hydration are important even when things are chaotic. You can also embrace habits such as meditation and journaling to stay grounded. The time you invest in those things might feel like time taken away from other activities, but it will make any of your work efforts more effective and save you time down the road.

It’s also critical to be willing to make decisions when dealing with a crisis. “Indecision is still a decision. Seek input from your most trusted advisors and listen to them intently. Be curious, ask questions, apply professional judgment and take the lead. And don’t take too much time to make a decision,” says Chong.

You’ll also want to keep the communication lines open with your team while showing them you are taking action to overcome challenges. “Provide assurance to your people. Be a human. Be visible. Lead by actions, not by words. Do town hall meetings, listen to your people and take questions.”

5-step process to turn challenges into opportunities

Step 1: choose a goal and determine why you want to achieve it.

“To excel, always focus on one goal at a time because your brain likes simplicity and clarity,” according to Chong. So even if you’re facing what seems to be a mountain of problems, pick one objective that would feel like a win, something that would have a positive ripple effect on other aspects of the situation. Then, determine why it matters and why you want to achieve it, as this thought process will not only help you prioritize the right goal , but also fuel a powerful determination to make it happen.

Step 2: List everything that needs to happen

Then, list everything that needs to happen for your goal to come to completion. From tasks to stakeholders you want to involve, “leave no stones unturned so you can consciously put things in order of priority and importance,” recommends Chong.

Step 3: Brainstorm and anticipate all possible obstacles

Now that you’ve brainstormed relevant sub-goals and action items to map out the road to achieving your ultimate goal, anticipating all possible obstacles is a necessary step. “Get ultra-clear about all possible obstacles. This will remove confusion, overwhelm and procrastination,” says Chong.

Step 4: Turn all the obstacles into strategies

Here’s where you turn hardship into gold. Take your list of obstacles and turn them into strategies to reach your goal. For example, if your goal is to reach a sales target , and you’ve identified a lack of hot leads as a current obstacle, you can come up with a strategy that will turn warm leads into hot ones. Once you’ve identified your strategy, turn it into a measurable objective.

“Make this section measurable using this sentence ‘By (fill the date), I will have completed and created (fill the blank) and will know I’m done because of (fill in the blanks the exact/anticipated results),’” says Chong.

Step 5: Execute from a place of abundance and joy

Finally, it’s time for execution. As you lead your team through the strategic and operational process required to carry out your goal, be intentional about the journey and the way in which you get things done. Chong explains this as “executing from a place of abundance and joy,” which is the opposite of stressing your reports out by projecting the pressure you feel onto them.

“Our thoughts create our reality, so choose positive thoughts and emotions,” says Chong. Then take action from that emotional state. This can be easier said than done, of course, but that kind of self-mastery will develop you into an excellent leader during difficult times.

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Challenges and Opportunities Created by the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic is an unprecedented challenge with immediate impacts on public and economic health. It has radically changed relationships across the globe. Our personal relationships have been radically altered as we've learned to socially distance ourselves, wear face masks when walking or shopping, smile more with our eyes, and nod or wave our greetings. We're holding Zoom meetings and classes and forming exclusive social “pods” of quarantine buddies and sharing meals virtually.

Our relationship with food is changing too. In a matter of months, COVID-19 has brought about a change in behavior many nutrition educators view as critical to public health and sustainability: cooking. I dearly hope that the current surge in home cooking spells a long-term reversal in the overall decline home cooking that stretches back to 1965. 1

A recent Hunter survey 2 suggests that it may. More than half of the respondents said they were cooking more than before the pandemic. Of particular interest to nutrition educators, three-quarters of respondents claimed they had become more confident in the kitchen, and 51% said they will continue to cook more after the crisis ends. 2 As people around the world have adjusted to COVID-19-driven stay-at-home guidelines, family meals—not just dinner—have become part of the new normal . For some, the shift to family meals may be one of the few good things to come out of the pandemic. 3

Not all changes are positive, however. Sales of processed and “comfort” foods such as potato chips, cookies, popcorn, pretzels, candy 4 have taken off since early March. 5 Scoffing at nutrition standards in the midst of a pandemic is understandable. As nutrition writer Bettina Elias Siegel points out, stress often increases desire of highly palatable, yet unhealthy, food. 6 While crushing stresses of “job insecurity, cramped living spaces, poorer sleep, a dearth of childcare, and lack of assured access to medical care” 6 are new for many Americans, for low-income families they were a way of life well before COVID-19. The opportunity for nutrition education is to advocate for nutrition quality and access to healthy food for all, in the best and worst of times. Now is the time ensure our food safety net is adequate for the purchase of healthy food to cook.

The pandemic is changing our relationship with food well beyond the kitchen. Driven perhaps by increased uncertainty about the food supply, increased reliance on the emergency food system or simply by a need to control something basic to survival, home gardening is on rise at rates not seen since the Great Recession of 2008. Whether on a patch of lawn converted to vegetable beds, in containers on apartment deck, or in window boxes, more of us are growing some of our food. At the time of this writing, local suppliers are reporting seed shortages and consumers are starting their “pandemic gardens.” 7 The timing couldn't be better to integrate garden-based learning with nutrition education programming. 8 Further, SNAP-Ed practitioners can remind recipients their benefit can be used for vegetable seeds.

Reports of breakdowns in conventional food supply chains andCOVID-19 hotspots among frontline food workers particularly in large industrial meat packing plants have exposed food system vulnerabilities, inequities and ethical breaches. 9 The crisis that unfolded in big meat's supply chain shines light on yet another opportunity for nutrition educators to work at policy, systems and environmental change levels to create change.

As the food system policy director at the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future, Bob Martin, suggests, “This virus is a warning shot, and it provides us with an opportunity to change our food system in ways that are less susceptible to disruption.” 10 As nutrition educators, academics, researchers and advocates we can help bring this change by helping less concentrated, more diverse, locally controlled and resilient food systems emerge and thrive.

The opportunities and challenges of digital learning

Subscribe to the center for economic security and opportunity newsletter, brian a. jacob brian a. jacob walter h. annenberg professor of education policy; professor of economics, and professor of education - university of michigan, former brookings expert.

May 5, 2016

Twenty years ago this week, one of my very first writings on education policy appeared in print. [i] It was an opinion piece I wrote while teaching middle school in East Harlem, in which I described my school’s struggle to effectively use classroom computers. Two decades later, as a professor of economics and education policy, I am engaged in several research projects studying the use and impact of digital learning. [ii]

Much has changed since I taught middle school. I am struck by the extent to which recent technological innovations have created many new opportunities to better serve traditionally disadvantaged students.

First, increasing speed and availability of internet access can reduce many of the geographic constraints that disadvantage poor students. Schools serving higher-resourced families are often able to recruit better teachers and administrators—perhaps the most important school resources—even without additional funding.

Unlike teachers, however, technologies have no preferences for the schools in which they work. The resources available on the internet, for example, are equally available to all schools with the same internet access and internet access costs the same for all schools in the same area, regardless of the student population served. Students can now access online videos that provide instruction on a wide variety of topics at various skill levels, and participate in real-time video conferences with teachers or tutors located a state (or even a continent) away. [iii]

Second, the evolution of touch-screen technology has enabled very young children to engage in technology-aided instruction. Prior to tablets, it was difficult for pre-school, kindergarten and even early primary grade students to work with educational software because it required use of a mouse or keyboard. Now there are a hundreds of applications that can effectively expose children to early literacy and numeracy skills.

Third, advances in artificial intelligence technology now allow teachers to differentiate instruction, providing extra support and developmentally-appropriate material to students whose knowledge and skill is far below or above grade level norms. The latest “intelligent” tutoring systems are able to not only assess a student’s current weaknesses, but also diagnose why students are making specific errors. [iv] These technologies could enable teachers to better reach students who are further from the average within their classroom, potentially benefiting students with weaker academic preparation.

And these technologies scale easily so that innovations (or even good curriculum) can reach more students. Much like a well-written textbook, a well-designed educational software application or online lesson can reach students not just in a single classroom or school, but across the state or country.

While technologies such as virtual instruction and intelligent tutoring offer great promise, unless the challenges that are associated with implementing them are fully understood and addressed their failure is almost surely guaranteed. To date, there is little evidence that digital learning can be implemented at scale in a way that improves outcomes for disadvantaged students.

Hundreds of thousands of students attend full-time online schools, [v] but a study released last year found that students of online charter schools had significantly weaker academic performance in math and reading, compared with demographically similar students in conventional public schools. [vi] Computer-aided instruction has been studied extensively over the past twenty-five years and the findings have not been encouraging. Consistently, programs that are implemented widely and evaluated with rigorous methods have yielded little to no benefit for students on average. [vii]

What are the key challenges?

Let’s start with student motivation. If technologies can draw in otherwise disenfranchised students through the personalization of material to a student’s interest or through gaming technology, they could benefit disengaged, poorly performing students. However, these technologies often reduce oversight of students, which could be particularly detrimental for children who are less motivated or who receive less structured educational supports at home. It is also possible that these technologies will be less able to engage reluctant learners in the way a dynamic and charismatic teacher can.

Moreover, approaches that forgo direct interpersonal interaction completely are unlikely to be able to teach certain skills. Learning is an inherently social activity. While an intelligent tutor might be able to help a student master specific math concepts, it may not be able to teach students to critically analyze a work of literature or debate the ethics of new legislation.

The experience of Rocketship, a well-known charter school network, illustrates this concern. Developed in the Bay Area of California in 2006, Rocketship’s instructional model revolves around a blended learning approach in which students spend a considerable amount of each day engaged with computer-aided learning technologies. The network received early praise for its innovative approach to learning and, most importantly, for the high achievement scores posted by its mostly poor, nonwhite student population. In 2012, however, researchers and educators raised concerns about graduates from Rocketship elementary schools, noting that they had good basic skills but were struggling with the critical analysis required in middle school. [viii]

More broadly, it is important to realize that technologies can be either substitutes for or complements to resources already in the school. To the extent that they are substitutes, they are inherently equalizing forces. For example, well-designed and structured online content might provide critical support to a novice teacher who is too overwhelmed to produce the same coherent and engaging materials that some more experienced teachers can create.

However, in many cases it may be more appropriate to think of technologies as complements—e.g., when they require skilled teachers or students with strong prior skills to be implemented well. In these cases, technologies must be accompanied with additional resources in order for them to benefit traditionally underserved populations.

Perhaps most importantly, systems that blend computer-aided and face-to-face instruction are notoriously difficult to implement well. In recent studies of the popular Cognitive Tutor math programs, teachers reported trouble implementing the program’s instructional practices that revolve around collaborative work, making strong connections between computer-based activities and classroom instruction, and maintaining the expected learning pace with many students who lacked prior math and reading skills. [ix]

Finally, even with the best implementation, digital learning is likely to benefit students differently depending on their personal circumstances and those of their school. For instance, non-native English speakers might benefit from online instruction that allows them to pause and look up unfamiliar words. Likewise, we might expect an online course to be more advantageous for students attending a brick-and-mortar school with very low-quality teachers.

Indeed, some recent research finds exactly this type of heterogeneity. A large IES-funded evaluation of computer-aided instruction (CAI) released in 2007 found that students randomly assigned to teachers using the leading CAI products fared no better than students in control classrooms. Several years later, then graduate student Eric Taylor, decided to reanalyze the data from the study, focusing on whether the impacts of these technologies varied across classrooms. His analysis suggests that the introduction of computer-aided instruction had a positive impact on students in classrooms with less effective teachers and a negative impact on students in classrooms with more effective teachers. [x]

In recent years, the worlds of online learning and computer-aided instruction have converged to some extent, morphing into what is often referred to as blended- or personalized-learning models. There are a number of interesting projects underway across the country, including pilots supported by the Gates Foundation’s Next Generation Learning Challenge, and the emergence of charter networks with a goal to provide truly personalized learning for every student, such as Summit Public Schools in California and Washington. [xi]

In order for these new endeavors to be successful, they must overcome the challenges described above.

[i] http://www.edweek.org/tm/articles/1996/05/01/08jacob.h07.html

[ii] In a recent publication, the International Association for K-12 Online Learning defined digital learning as “any instructional practice in or out of school that uses digital technology to strengthen a student’s learning experience and improve educational outcomes.”

[iii] This technology has even expanded opportunities for the long-distance professional development of teachers, enabling novice teachers to receive mentorship from master teachers regardless of distance.

[iv] http://www.apa.org/pubs/books/4311503.aspx?tab=2

[v] http://www.inacol.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Keeping-Pace-2015-Report.pdf

[vi] https://credo.stanford.edu/pdfs/Online%20Charter%20Study%20Final.pdf

[vii] http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1747938X13000031

http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/edu/105/4/970/?_ga=1.79079444.1486538874.1462278305

http://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/features/edu-a0037123.pdf

http://rer.sagepub.com/content/86/1/42.abstract

[viii] http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2014/01/21/19el-rotation.h33.html?qs=New+Model+Underscores+Rocketship%E2%80%99s+Growing+Pains

http://educationnext.org/future-schools/

[ix] http://epa.sagepub.com/content/36/2/127.abstract

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19345741003681189

[x] https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=5LXmfylL6JAC

[xi] http://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR1365.html

Economic Studies

Center for Economic Security and Opportunity

Mark Schoeman

May 16, 2024

Charles Asiegbu, Chinasa T. Okolo

Nicol Turner Lee, Natasha White

May 15, 2024

Essay on Opportunities and Challenges Faced by Organizations Today

Organizations face challenges and opportunities in the digital age faced with contemporary issues such as cybersecurity, authenticating information, online ethics, and cyberbullying. For a digital organization to operate effectively, its leaders and employees must have basic digital confidence, curiosity, and competence level. The push to undertake digital transformation creates a lot of opportunities for organizations to grow. Syncona Limited, a company driven to build leaders in life science, can take advantage of digital technologies to achieve its goal. However, Syncona Limited should consider challenges associated with contemporary digital issues such as the threat of data security, privacy issues, and lack of technical skills.

Opportunities

Digital platforms and technologies can reduce transaction costs for organizations and make it easier to acquire new customers. These technologies can completely change how a business operates. Digital organizations can apply digital technologies to remake their business to more profitable and more efficient. For instance, suppliers relying on e-Commerce can be able to reduce delivery costs (UNCTAD secretariat, 2019). Also, e-commerce can help Syncona Limited with financial opportunities and learn methods of building verifiable online transaction records. Such a reputation can help the company to attract new business partners and customers. Enhanced data collection is another opportunity associated with contemporary digital issues. Syncona Limited aims at building global leaders; therefore, it must have a more enhanced platform to research various companies in healthcare. Digital technologies can make it easier for the organization to gather the correct data and fully incorporate it for business intelligence (UNCTAD secretariat, 2019). Also, they can help different departments within the organization to convert raw data into useful information.

Digital technologies provide an opportunity for greater resource management (Hinkelmann, 2019). Syncona Limited is a company that requires greater utilization of all resources meant to build and fund companies in life science and healthcare. Therefore, digitalization will help the company’s management to track the utilization of resources in every functional unit. However, it is not advisable for Syncona Limited to invest in a company with a bad reputation. Therefore, tools such as social media can help the company to read some of the customers’ reviews to determine whether an organization is worth the investment. Social networking provides opportunities of the organization to connect with customers and potential partners (Hinkelmann, 2019). It is through the social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram where a company can mine information on customers’ needs and preferences.

Some of the main challenges associated with technology include threats to data security, privacy concerns, job insecurity, and digital media manipulation. Digital technologies may lead to data tampering, unauthorized access to stored information, lack of accountability, and data theft. For instance, AI has intensified data security, but it has helped attackers improve their tactics. AI tools can be used by hackers, thieves, and phishers to execute a cyberattack. Also, the growth of smartphones and tablets threatens the security of the company’s data. Today, people spend most of their free time online, whether at home or at the place. Therefore, this addictive behavior causes employees to use the company’s computers to log in to their social media accounts. Social media engages users to share their ideas, information, and thoughts through web-based applications. Therefore, cyber attackers can easily obtain the company’s information by hacking the computer used to log in the social media accounts. As a result, the company may lose important information that competitors can use against it.

Privacy concern is another challenge posed by digital technologies. For instance, today, one can easily identify the location of a company using Google Maps. Also, it is possible to obtain other information about a company on the internet. Therefore, overreliance on technology can expose the company to attacks. Information privacy is a social consideration and an important policy. Privacy of information can be achieved by using passwords. However, it has become difficult to secure information in the digital era without exposing it to a third party. Unless a company uses hard copy information, it needs to hire individuals with great computer coding and hacking knowledge. However, there are very few individuals with the ability to conduct basic tasks such as storing data and setting up a firewall.

Contemporary digital issues affecting business organizations

Cyberbullying

The internet comprises a system made up of groups, cliques, and communities (Bawden-Davis, 2018). However, not all individuals on the internet are positive; some engage in harassment or intimidation. Syncona Limited has gained a positive reputation for the past few years, but it should be warry of cyberbullying since it is a considerable problem in business. Cyberbullying in business can cause a reduced employee morale, loss in revenue, and reduced customers. Cyberbullying on businesses is very sophisticated and professional, and cyberbullies can destroy the company’s reputation by creating public confusion about the company causing a serious threat to the brand. Cyberbullies can be customers or even competitors planning on destroying a certain brand. These bullies may post negative reviews, comments or create a fake and negative story about the company (Bawden-Davis, 2018). For instance, they can associate the company with sexual harassment issues, employee discrimination, and poor-quality products and services.

Cybersecurity

Most digital organizations use digital devices to store employees’ information, financial data, and company strategies. Cybersecurity is an important tool to protect a company’s information from damage and theft (Thames and Schaefer, 2017). However, without a cybersecurity program, a company cannot defend itself from data thefts. Also, digital technologies such as AI and big data have made companies vulnerable to malware and phishing attacks. Cyber threats can originate from any level of the organization. For instance, employees with limited knowledge about data security may jeopardize the company’s data. It is always challenging for all employees to avoid identity theft, frauds, scams, and spam while navigating the web while using the company’s computer (Thames and Schaefer, 2017). Therefore, Syncona Limited may face serious data breaches, theft, and damage. A single breach in the company’s system can lead to the loss of huge amounts of private information into the hands of business rivals, criminals, and other malign entities.

Online ethics

Online ethics requires companies to conduct their businesses without violating ethical behavior. The most digital organization has less knowledge about online ethics, and all they are focused with is wining more clients and making profits. The top online issues include lack of trust, confirmation bias, and data theft. Many companies have failed to win customers’ trust in digital platforms. For instance, Syncona Limited has provided brief information about itself on the internet. Therefore, customers or potential customers may not be fully aware of important details of the company. Data theft has become so common among digital organizations. Some market players use illegal means to obtain important information about a certain company. Therefore, they fail to promote integrity and transparency, the core values guiding professional behavior. Also, it is unethical for a company to destroy the name of another company.

Authenticating online information

The internet is a source of a wide range of information published by various individuals, groups, organizations, and governments. Syncona Limited may face a challenge in obtaining accurate information about a company or a certain region. This company aims at building global leaders in science and healthcare; therefore, inaccurate information may make Syncona Limited invest its resources in the wrong company or region. However, this remains a challenge since it is very difficult to determine whether it’s biased, relevant, and true information from the internet.

Digital tactics and strategies are undertaken by business organizations to address the issues.

Digital organizations need to function as a learning organization, be experienced in transferring, acquiring, and creation of knowledge, and modification of behaviors to reflect new insights and knowledge. Learning organizations are skilled in experimentation with new approaches, systematic problem solving, and efficient and quick knowledge transfer throughout the organization. Digital technology poses a lot of challenges if not used in the right way. Therefore, companies need to first research more about these technologies before implementing them. The best way to escape cyberbullying is by being proactive and have customers and allies at the ready (Bawden-Davis, 2018). Syncona Limited, for instance, has garnered a lot of positive feedback comments, and reviews on social media platforms. Therefore, a few negative reviews cannot have a big impact on the firm. Syncona can have customers and allies available to respond quickly to negative reviews by posting rebuttals.

Most digital organizations have installed a firewall to prevent the company from data breaches. Storing information behind a firewall has been very effective in defending the company from a cyberattack (Thames and Schaefer, 2017). A firewall system blocks brute force attacks targeting the company’s system before they do any damage. Digital organizations often ensure that their systems and software are up to date. Most cyberattacks happen when a system is not fully up to date; thus, it is weak. Therefore, organizations invest in the patch management system to manage all system and software updates and keep the system resilient. Organizations have been training their employees on cyber-security and digital technology (Thames and Schaefer, 2017). Most companies lose data to cybercriminals through employees. Therefore, training them on cyber-attacks prevention has eliminated the threats of cyber-security.

Some ways businesses maintain online ethics include following online selling laws, web accessibility, and giving a piece of true information about the company. Some online selling laws include online marketing laws and data compliance and privacy laws. Understanding and practicing these regulations keep the firm from violating ethical business practices. Syncona Limited allows everyone to use and access their websites without any limit. This is an ethical practice but also helps to learn more about the company. Web accessibility ensures that everyone can use the website with or without disabilities. The last practice is to provide true and accurate information about the company and the product it deals with. For instance, Syncona Limited gives all its detail, in summary, to give potential customers and partners to evaluate the company and as a part of observing online ethics.

Bawden-Davis, J., 2018.  Protecting Your Company From Business Cyberbullying . [online] Business Class: Trends and Insights | American Express.  https://www.americanexpress.com/en-us/business/trends-and-insights/articles/protecting-company-business-cyberbullying

Hinkelmann, J., 2019.  Digitalisation: opportunities and challenges for entrepreneurs . Roedl.com.  https://www.roedl.com/insights/digitalisation/opportunities-challenges-entrepreneurs

UNCTAD secretariat., 2019.  Digital development: Opportunities and challenges Note by the UNCTAD secretariat. United Nations Conference on Trade and Development .  https://unctad.org/system/files/official-document/tdb66_d5_en.pdf .

Thames, L. and Schaefer, D., 2017.  Cybersecurity for industry 4.0 . Heidelberg: Springer.

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COVID-19 pandemic opportunities and challenges Essay Samples

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Updated on 13 April, 2023

Mrinal Mandal

Study abroad expert.

IELTS , or the International English Language Test System, is a famous test designed for students who want to study, migrate or work abroad. This test assesses the candidate's ability to read, write, speak and listen in English.  COVID-19 pandemic opportunities and challenges is a common IELTS essay question that needs a better understanding of the situation to write and score well.

Table of Contents

Describe some of the covid-19 pandemic opportunities and challenges: essay 1, talk about your experience regarding covid-19 pandemic opportunities and challenges: essay 2, frequently asked questions, important ielts exam resources.

The COVID-19 pandemic affected economies and societies across the globe in a way that wasn’t predicted. It has permanently reshaped our way of living and continues to do so as it unfolds.

In the whirlwind of extraordinary opportunities, challenges, uncertainties, and numerous tragedies, leaders were forced to make decisions that would impact the world for years to come. One such challenge was the emergence of the online mode of learning worldwide.

The most significant obstruction in e-learning was the unavailability of electronic devices for every student. In e-learning, an electronic presence is a must for a meaningful learning and interactive experience. Students from rural areas and poverty-stricken regions did not have access to electronic devices. They were helpless and had to drop out unwillingly. 

I remember when Mr. Ram, our neighborhood cobbler came to my father in the early months of lockdown to ask for a small loan. Mr. Ram has a daughter who dreams of becoming an IPS officer and making her family proud. Due to the pandemic, the local schools had to shut down. Consequently, his daughter could not keep up with her studies because they did not have the means to buy a smartphone. So, Mr. Ram came to our house in the hope that we might be able to help him.

Seeing such an unfortunate event unfold in front of my eyes made me aware of the loopholes in the online learning mode. However, there was a silver lining in this crisis as well. This incident brought to the forefront the flaws of the present prevailing system, which leaders can use to build a more equitable, sustainable, and prosperous world.

Tentative band score: 7 , Total Word Count: 274

More Essays Topics to Explore:

COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the entire framework of the education system in 150 countries, affecting more than 1.6 billion students. I, too, being a student, wasn't left untouched by the difficulties of remote learning.

I remember being unenthusiastic and unable to focus on my classes at home. I found adjusting to the new routine with all the unnecessary distractions at home that was quite challenging. Moreover, in the absence of a routine, I found myself overwhelmed with too many backlogs and the inability to decide what to do first. 

Although slow and steady, I started developing a flow to complete my daily tasks. To do so, I sought the counsel of my teachers and peers, who were facing the same issues. When I discovered that I wasn't the only one struggling with these issues, I felt less overwhelmed and motivated to overcome them.

Thus, to the credit of my hard work and persistence for a few weeks, I could seamlessly adapt to the new circumstances. I intentionally designated a separate space to study at home. Gradually, I increased my studying time, which helped me complete my classwork diligently each day. I also took breaks in between studying and classes to enhance my focus and ability to grasp. 

Doing this exercise allowed me to combat the frustration and monotony of tasks. So, despite a considerable decline in the performance of several students, I managed to keep my performance stable with a little extra effort and discipline.

This enriching experience offered me the opportunity to learn values like discipline and integrity, which are essential professional skills.

Tentative band score: 7 , Total Word Count: 264

Explore More Resources About IELTS Essay:

Download IELTS Preparation Guide For Free

Get to know about the latest updates on the IELTS Exam, Eligibility, Preparation Tips, Test procedure,  Exam Pattern, Syllabus, Registration Process, Important Exam Dates, and much more!! This guide is a one-stop solution for every IELTS Aspirant who aims to crack the exam with an impressive band score.

Should you add an explanation to an IELTS essay question?

Yes, you should. Adding a personal experience or opinion to an IELTS essay question can fetch you additional marks. Such experiences allow the examiners to understand your critical and logical thinking ability.

How to explain challenges faced during the pandemic in an IELTS essay question?

To explain your challenges in an IELTS essay question, you must follow a mix of normative and positive statements.

To put it simply, you first need to introduce the problem. State your stance or opinion and offer an ‘ought to be’ scenario. Then, justify your argument, the ‘ought to be’ statement with facts and claims. 

You can also draw from instances from your personal experience and propose a solution. However, remember that the solution should be beneficial and well-suited to counter the problem's ill consequences.

IELTS Exam Overview

IELTS is required to be taken by international students and workers who wish to study or work in a country where English is the primary language of communication. Know the complete details.

IELTS Exam Syllabus

With the right knowledge of the IELTS exam syllabus and pattern, cracking the popular English test won’t be difficult.

• IELTS Exam Pattern

The IELTS exam pattern encompasses four major sections, i.e. listening, speaking, writing, and reading.

Register For IELTS

IELTS is the most popular and crucial test for evaluating English language proficiency throughout the world. Learn how to register for the IELTS exam.

IELTS Exam Eligibility Criteria

It becomes necessary for candidates to meet the eligibility for IELTS exam and demonstrate their language proficiency while being assessed on four parameters, namely, Writing, Reading, Speaking and Listening.

IELTS Exam Fees

The IELTS exam fee in India varies based on the types of IELTS tests. The link below shows detailed information on the IELTS exam fees.

IELTS Exam Dates 2022

The IELTS exam dates are allotted on a first-come and first-serve basis. Choose your date and timings beforehand to avoid the delay. You can register for the test both in online and offline mode.

IELTS Test Centres in India

Fully aware of the growing popularity of the language test, we bring to you a list of IELTS exam centers in India. The list will enable aspirants in better planning before registering for the test.

Band Score for Reading

IELTS reading band score decides the knowledge and proficiency of the English language of the applicants.

IELTS Listening Band Score

The listening section evaluates the comprehension level of candidates. The scores also depend on the understanding of different accents and dialects.

IELTS Score Validity

The IELTS score validity for General and Academic is two years across the globe. The IELTS result validity for Canada is two years.

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Picking the best IELTS books for preparation is essential for scoring well. It may seem tough at first but cracking the examination successfully is not impossible.

IELTS Writing Task 2 Topics

Writing task 2 in IELTS is descriptive essay writing. The applicants are supposed to write an essay in response to the statement or situation given in the essay.

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Before appearing for the test, let’s take a look at the below-mentioned IELTS writing tips and tricks to score well in the writing section.

Reading Section IELTS

Reading is the second part of the IELTS test and takes 60 minutes. It consists of three or sometimes four reading passages to increase difficulty, and there are a total of 40 questions to answer.

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Please note that your performance on the speaking test is assessed based on the following criteria- fluency and coherence, grammatical range and accuracy, lexical resource, and pronunciation.

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There are many phrases for IELTS speaking that a candidate should practice beforehand. If you aim for band 9, you should know these phrases.

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IELTS is one of the most used English Language Proficiency Tests. The exam is scored in bands. Your IELTS band score determines the performance level of your test.

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Understanding the IELTS band score is not difficult. The results of the examination are reported on a scale of 9 bands.

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To book the IELTS exam, the candidates can either visit their nearest test center or book the slot online by visiting the official website of IDP. If they choose to go with the second option, they should follow the steps given below.

IELTS Academic Writing Task 1

IELTS Academic writing is meant for students who are applying for top-ranked universities and colleges in English-speaking countries. The writing task one is an academic summary writing based on diagrammatic and graphical representation.

• IELTS Writing Task 2

Writing Task 2 is the second part of the writing section of IELTS, where aspirants are presented with a point of view, argument, or problem and asked to write an essay in response to the question.

Writing Task 1 IELTS

In IELTS Academic Writing Task 1 starts with a diagram, a visual representation of information. It can be a table, map, graph, process, diagram, or picture.

IELTS Essay Samples

The essay for IELTS is part of Writing Task 2. It is the same for the General Training and Academic of the IELTS. You will get a topic and have to write an essay on the same.

IELTS Cue Cards

The IELTS speaking cue cards come into play for the second part when the candidate will be choosing cue cards and then speaking on a topic for two minutes at least.

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Important ielts essay resources, get free consultation for ielts, trending searches, university ranking, university acceptance rate.

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Home — Essay Samples — Social Issues — Immigrants — Immigrants Coming To America: Challenges and Opportunities

Immigrants Coming to America: Challenges and Opportunities

• Categories: Immigrants

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Words: 535 |

Published: Mar 8, 2024

Words: 535 | Page: 1 | 3 min read

Table of contents

Challenges faced by immigrants, opportunities available to immigrants.

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Urbanization Merits and Challenges Essay

Introduction, benefits of urbanization, challenges facing urbanization, reference list.

Urbanization is in most cases associated with the human movement from the rural to the urban areas. This movement is usually motivated by lack of employment and scarce resources especially land. This results to the areas affected by the influx becoming densely populated and pushing the cost of living in those areas to higher level. The results of urbanization have a dual effect; while the urban centers receive great wealth of labor and specialized skills, the rural areas are deprived of labor resources. This creates an imbalance between the rural and urban areas. Urbanization is also caused by environmental factors. This occurs especially in region where environment does not favor agriculture and people have to seek employment in industrial areas.

Urbanization is profound mainly in the third world countries. This is as a result of increased population in the rural areas in relation to the lands and housing. Urbanization is beneficial to these countries. It has been noted that, in the future, more than 80 % of all economic developments in these countries will mainly be concentrated in the urban areas. Some of the benefits associated with the urbanization are:

• Centralization of housing

Availability of apartments in urban areas that houses a great number of residents reduces the resources (land) required in catering for their accommodation. This is in contrary with rural areas where the houses are fragmented and accommodates only a small number of people; usually a family. The cultural diversity within the city centre also helps fight ethnicity as people living together learn to respect other culture (Berg and Hager, 2007, p.79).

• Concentration of resources

The urgency to meet economic demand of the diverse urban dwellers contributes to availability of ranging products within the urban centers. Due to the influx of people with different opinions and ideas, people are able to come up with new ways of improving their lives. Demand to improve their livelihood coupled with technological advances results in a growth of a highly skilled labor.

Most of the industries are located within the city center. These industries obtain the raw materials from the rural areas and process them to finished goods. This requires labor force to ensure the production is sustained. This results in creation of jobs and an overall improvement in economy and an in crease in the GDP (Wagner, 2008, p. 59).

• Improved transport and communication network

Due to mass production of finished products which requires transportation to the end users, there are better roads in the urban areas as compared to the rural areas. This is also instigated by the availability of administrative offices within the city centers that requires improved transport and communication facilities

Although urbanization is characterized with lots of advantages it has its shortcomings especially if it’s not properly managed. Some of the challenges that face the urbanization include:

• Global warming

Though global warming is profound in the developed countries, third world countries also contribute to the depletion of the O-zone layer. According to research, 80% of carbon dioxide comes from urban centers through emission from industries and motor vehicles. This has a detrimental weather effect. It is raising concern that, if burning of carbon fossils continues in a direct proportion of deforestation, there might be a complete depletion of o-zone layer, thereby exposing human being to the poisonous ultra violet rays.

Another challenging posing on urbanization is increased crime (berg and Hager, 2007, p.46). Industrialization had seen sprouts of many industries offering jobs to the people and consequently reduced unemployment. However this was short lived because technological advances saw the introduction of machines in the industries. This meant downsizing the number of employees working within an industry. For instance a single robot could handle a job done by hundred men. This has led to unemployment. This has resulted in a number of youth resulting to crime to earn living.

• Accelerated population growth

Population increase in the urban areas has been triggered by two reasons which are interlinked. The first one being lack of requisite education to secure places in the industrial areas. The second factor that has led to population growth is lack of education about family planning and lack of contraceptives. This is a challenge to the urbanization because the local government is not able to supply even the basic necessities like water and sanitation. Evidence shows that most of people in third world countries live in slums areas with no clean water and lack of latrines. This exposes them to communicable disease like Cholera

The UN has been at the centers for rewarding institutions that have been exceptional in addressing the plight of urban and rural poor. Some of the rewarded institutions include, SEWA India (A women’s self-help organization for poverty alleviation in India). This group has been uplifted the living standards of the self-employed women by forming a bank that extends loans to the members. The surplus deposits made by the members are used to provide essential commodities like water. A Cote D’ivoire institution on Institutionalizing Community-Based Development- the institution was rewarded for addressing issues affecting people. CDQ neighborhood committees were established by the committee with the mandate of engaging resources and energies from the society. These resources and energies were later to be channeled with an aim of improving the living standards of the communities. Another institution that was rewarded is The Banana Kelly Community Improvement Association. It revitalized 300 block section of the south Bronx. Other activities of the project were cultural issues, education, development human services as well as health, transportation and issues to do with housing. Project of lots and services for those people in the north zone who receive low incomes were also rewarded, as well as shelter renovations in morocco.

Urbanization can have devastating effects if measures to check its limits are not put in place. It can lead to social adversaries and degradation in environment an overall ecology. However, urbanization can help in ending ethnicity and uniting people. With urbanization there is also great exchange of ideas that can help in improving the standard of living.

• Berg, L. R., & Hager, M. C. (2007). Visualizing environmental science. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons.
• Wagner, L.N. (2008). Urbanization: 21st century issues and challenges. Berlin: Nova Publishers.
• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2021, December 24). Urbanization Merits and Challenges. https://ivypanda.com/essays/benefits-of-urbanization/

"Urbanization Merits and Challenges." IvyPanda , 24 Dec. 2021, ivypanda.com/essays/benefits-of-urbanization/.

IvyPanda . (2021) 'Urbanization Merits and Challenges'. 24 December.

IvyPanda . 2021. "Urbanization Merits and Challenges." December 24, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/benefits-of-urbanization/.

1. IvyPanda . "Urbanization Merits and Challenges." December 24, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/benefits-of-urbanization/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Urbanization Merits and Challenges." December 24, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/benefits-of-urbanization/.

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