Discuss how your range of academic interests, personal perspectives, overcoming obstacles, leadership amongst diverse populations, and life experiences add to the educational mix of the uco community. response should be no more than 1000 characters. i just need a general guideline on how to answer this. i can personalize it later. (i suck at essays)

It sounds like this is for an application for entrance into something. What they are looking for is going to be a snapshot into who you are and what you have to offer UCO. Before writing this take a look at their website and learn about the communities' goals. You want to make sure the information you give in your answers aligns with them. For example if the UCO community is one of engineers, make sure your academic interests mentioned align with those. 
Make each topic a new paragraph and start it with a clear topic sentence: My range of academic interests varies from designing abstract patterns for quilting with my grandmother to learning about ways to harness solar power in areas with little sun exposure. After, take a few sentences to explain your interests. It's key they align with the community you wish to join.
The personal perspective piece is about who you are as a person. What is something you care about? Why do you care about this particular issue? 
Overcoming obstacles is usually more about how you reacted to a problem or issue. How did you handle it? What did you learn from it? They probably want to make sure you won't crumble in the face of adversity or pass off the problem to someone else to fix. 
Leadership for diverse populations - talk about different leadership opportunities you have had. Focusing mostly on how it is to be a leader for groups of people who don't always see eye to eye or get along. How did you bring everyone together?
The last question is really asking about why you would be a good fit for their community. What events in your life have shaped you and given you knowledge and experience you can offer the community.