How can I turn this into a college app essay?

Before you cut anything, my first question would be what prompt you're trying to address. It's very pretty writing, but without any context, it reads like a descriptive exercise, not an essay. Even if you start in media res, you want to be very clear from the outset what you want the reader to learn about you from this anecdote, and you want a conclusion that re-emphasizes that in some way.