Please answer this question in a clear thoughtful way and without repeating any information more than one time for each question. It is for my college application.

1- University of Virginia questions:

- College of Arts and Sciences - If you could create a college course that all UVA students would take, what would it be about and why? 110 words

- What's your favorite word and why? 60 words

- About what topic could you speak for an hour? 60 words

2- George Mason questions:

- What is your motivation for pursuing higher education? Why do you believe George Mason University is the right institution for you?400 words

3- University of Michigan:

- Everyone belongs to many different communities and/or groups defined by (among other things) shared geography, religion, ethnicity, income, cuisine, interest, race, ideology, or intellectual heritage. Choose one of the communities to which you belong, which is religion. So describe that community and your place within it. 100 min- 300 max

4- University of Richmond:

- Spiders are essential to the ecosystem. How are you essential to your community or will you be essential in your university community? 350-650 words

5- Stanford University: all short q 50 words

What is the most significant challenge that society faces today? 50 words

How did you spend your last two summers? 50 words

What historical moment or event do you wish you could have witnessed? 50 words

Briefly elaborate on one of your extracurricular activities, a job you hold, or responsibilities you have for your family. 50 words

Name one thing you are looking forward to experiencing at Stanford 50 words

after reading the article High Gas Prices Spur Companies to Give Workers Cash for Commuting Costs. Many employers say helping with gasoline bills is best way to keep their businesses staffed:

Rising gasoline prices are prompting more companies to offer fuel stipends, gift cards and other benefits, including continued work-from-home privileges, as they try to retain employees.

Though some executivesare starting to worry a recession could be looming, several said making commutes affordable is essential as workerscontinue to quit jobsand it remains challengingto fill vacant positions. Employers say the perks are critical to keeping their businesses open as employees grumble about rising gas prices and office return plans.

The national average price for a gallon ofgasoline recently topped $5,coinciding with U.S. office occupancy in major cities hitting 44% last week, its highest level since the pandemic began, according to Kastle Systems, an office-security firm that uses badge swipes to record workers' comings and goings. Employers say a lot of office chatter revolves around surging household costs.

"Everybody was just talking about how unbelievable gas prices were," said Cassandra Gluyas, chief executive of Thomas Instrumentation Inc., an electronics designer and manufacturer in Cape May Court House, N.J. of her 15 employees.

Ms. Gluyas considered giving out a one-time bonus to help defray gas costs, but ultimately gave 6% raises to her employees across the board. She thought a permanent raise would be better for household budgets. "Everything was getting tight for them," she said.

Other employers are also trying stipends and raises to retain employees.

Driftwood Garden Center, a retailer with 100 workers near Naples, Fla., started giving $50 and $30 stipends in each paycheck of full-time and part-time workers earlier this year to help with gas prices. In April, the company gave employees raises of between 20% and 30%.

"We almost had to do it or we risk losing a lot of very good employees," said chief executive Craig Hazelett.

Chase Griffin, a project manager at National Life Group in Dallas, said he hasn't had a full gas tank for a while but his company announced this week that it would give workers a one-time $300 gas-station gift card.

Mr. Griffin, who drives 40 minutes into the office two days a week, said a fill-up used to cost $55, but he recently put $40 of gas in his tank and it wasn't even half full. His insurance company wants workers to start coming in three days a week in July.

"Even though there were grumblings about having to go back to the office three days a week, it definitely lets me know they care about their employees," Mr. Griffin said.

The 35 field inspectors at Pittsburgh Mineral Environmental Technology, Inc. get reimbursed 58.5 cents a mile for work-related driving, but workers still complained about the high costs, said Randall Stremmel, the company's president.

In March, the company started giving a monthly preloaded $50 debit card to all employees for fuel, and Mr. Stremmel said he may bump that to $100 if gas prices keep rising. The company also started paying 100% of employees' medical benefits."Right now, every penny counts," Mr. Stremmel said.

Other employers are delaying or reversing back-to-office policies, encouraging more remote work where possible to cut down on commuting costs. At Cosmetic Specialty Labs Inc., a 60-person cosmetic and pharmaceuticals manufacturer based in Lawton, Okla., CEO Jennifer Ellis has told some employees who live more than 25 miles away to work at home an additional day each week. Some of those staffers, in departments such as sales and marketing, may now work three days at home and two in the office.

"That's directly related to gas," Ms. Ellis said. She is also considering buying gift cards from the gas-station chain Love's and distributing them to workers.

Leveraging remote work isn't always an option. Though some of SuperGraphics LLC's staff works from home two days a week, about 80% of employees have jobs that require them to be on-site at the printer's building in Seattle. The company developed a formula to determine how many gallons of gas each worker needed to get to the office each week and started adding a $1.50 a gallon stipend to each paycheck this spring.

Reid Baker, president of SuperGraphics, said the company also was looking into providing paid bus passes for workers who don't drive and has implemented a staff-wide cost of living increase in Januarywith another planned for July.

"We're certainly trying to create longstanding retention, but there's a limit to what we can compensate our employees at," he said.

Many executives worry about what a potential recession could mean. Evan Cohen, president of Quality Marble & Granite in Ontario, Calif., said sometimes employee recognition now takes the form of a gas card. But while the company has discussed providing gas assistance to all workers, he has held off for now to focus on avoiding potential layoffs should a recession hit and continuing to provide health insurance and 401(k) benefits while dealing with a nearly 50% increase in its own product costs.

"I'd love to give out money and bonuses all the time," Mr. Cohen said. "More importantly, I want to make sure people have a job to come to."

- Explain 2 key points from this article. (Minimum: one paragraph, 5 to 7 sentences)