Graduation Speech : College Writing Course

Writing is something we have been used to since childhood. Beginning to write with just a few words and activities to improve our pendmanship. From easy sentences we all gradually improve our writing, as expected from higher levels of education. However, throughout all this time, many of us have been writing blind. Only writing what is seen an necessary, oblivious to the true skill and precision it takes to actually write quality work. Through the use of Anne Lammott’s article “Shitty First Drafts” and personal experiences, I will advice you, my fellow freshman, on certain a aspect of writing that you may not have known prior to joining the college world, as well as offer some life advice.

Nine years ago, I never could have imagined I’d be writing this essay. I was a senior in high school, and, like the rest of my classmates, I was apprehensive about the future. Unlike my classmates, I felt like I had missed the proverbial “you need to get your life together” message. I watched my classmates apply to colleges, their majors already decided and their future careers mapped out. While I was an above average student, I felt I lacked the decisiveness my classmates seemed to have. I did not feel passionate about a career or even a field of study. I felt defective. This was compounded by the financial strain I knew attending college would have on my family. It seemed wasteful to try to “find my passion” at school while squandering

I have always enjoyed writing, and I believed writing was a subject I was naturally good at. I turned in papers that were still rough drafts, I did not evaluate my sources, nor did I ever take the time to fully understand the prompt. It was not until my first semester of college, in my writing composition course, I realized that I had a lot of work ahead of me to be as good a writer as I thought I was. In the writing course, the students were required to compose several essays using different methods to help progress on the course objectives. The work in this portfolio demonstrates that I have used the methods of synthesis and evaluation of sources to advance my critical thinking skills and develop personal responsibility. Though I have

Throughout the course of DE, I have truly learned a lot and my writing skills have truly improved tremendously. Taking this class has helped me become a better writer and has helped my grammar grow extremely. Another thing that I have gained in this class is stronger sense of vocabulary words. While writing these papers I have learned the variety of different papers there are. I have learned how to write these papers for future purposes so I will be successful in the long run.

The pencil lead was wearing out fast, and I barely knew what to write down on my paper. The proctor announced, “5 minutes left! Make Sure you all check your work.” My hands began to sweat and my mind was completely silent. I could only hear the loud tick of the clock as the hands moved along every second and every minute. I scribbled down on my paper what ever came to my mind. It was a horror filled experience, and even after I finished the test, my lips were dry solid as if my saliva was completely cold and arid. I could see the dark days ahead of time as I rumored to myself, “This is one test, that I’m sure I failed.”

If I had a phrase that I based my life off of, it would probably be "I 'll burn that bridge when I get to it." Instead of going to the library and getting a start on my résumé, I decided to stay home and continue to do absolutely nothing.

By the time that Landon and I arrived to his mansion, the party had already started. Crazy, intoxicated teenagers were swaying their hips and doing every provocative move they could think of to the beat of the horrid, meaningless music.

November 20th: a lovely cool-weather-ed day, without much worry or fear in the air; the day after my sister, who had been living at college, celebrated her birthday with us at her workplace. Overall, it was a wonderful day. It was nearing the winter holidays, after a long-needed break during the beginning of eighth grade. I was staying after school, playing in the Middle School ‘Jazz Band’, having a great time. Everything ended, and I packed my instrument away. Overall, the band was able to learn, and practice, many new pieces for the upcoming concert. I couldn’t wait to go home, relax, and do homework for the next school day! My grandfather picked me up in his white van, and started towards my house, not too far away from the middle school. We were about halfway to my house, when I noticed a drawer on the sides of the road, which looked extremely similar to the one in my house. I didn’t think much of it. It was just a strange coincidence. My grandfather and I were approaching my house, and I noticed one of my indoor-cats, named ‘Rocket’, running around outside, on my front lawn, frantically. There must be something going on. My grandfather, driving his van, reached the top of my driveway. I rushed out of his van to notice my front door wide open, with its wooden frame smashed. Something had to happen, and it wasn’t good.

It was a bright and beautiful summer day in May. I will never forget anything about this day and the remarkable things that happened on this day. The birds were chirping and you can smell sunscreen in the air. School had just gotten out about a week ago. I was finally considered a sophomore. My best friend Angel at the time had stayed the night at my house the night before. She was constantly at my house, it was almost as if she lived there. My phone vibrated and woke me up, it was about 12 o 'clock in the afternoon. There was a text from my mom saying that her and my dad were going to Charleston, South Carolina to look at new furniture to get for our house. Then I got a separate text from my Dad saying to clean the house to keep us busy and if we were going to go anywhere to text him or my mom and let one of them know. Of course I responded saying “okay I will.” But if you know me, you know that I’m pretty lazy especially during the summer when it’s hot outside. So I really wasn’t in the mood to be cleaning. It was something I knew I had to do though so of course I forced myself to get the motivation and get out of bed.

As I grew up I constantly spelled out my brother’s name backwards, instead of CHRIS I spelled it SIRHC or I would say things such as, “noodles spaghetti”. I assumed it was standard for kids my age. A few years later, during my first few years in school, my teacher explained to my mom that there was a high possibility that I was dyslexic. Due to this, that same teacher moved me into a slower class; a class intended for intellectually disabled students. Although the students in the classroom were lovely, I was furious that I was branded as “incompetent” or “sluggish”. After a few hours of analyzing this unexpected change, I panicked and decided that I needed to construct a plan that would get me back into the “regular” classroom. As soon as I got home that day I sat at the dinner table and read book after book. I read everything from my school books to cereal labels; I was determined to be placed back into the “regular” classroom. It took a few months, but after studying hours and hours with my helpful and optimistic mother I was placed back into the “regular class”.

When second period finally ended I was starving, I rushed out of the classroom and straight into the cafeteria. It was full of hungry teenagers, I slowly push myself through the crowd, to buy my lunch. Unlike most schools, this school seems to have a decent menu. I went to the counter and ordered myself a plate of spaghetti and coke. After I paid for my lunch I looked around the cafeteria for an empty seat.

The morning was as clear as glass. The sun shined through my window, waking me up from my sleep. The air tasted like water, as if I was tasting the Earth. I sat up to put on my slippers and walked to the bathroom. I brushed my teeth, washed my face, and dressed to get ready for summer school today. I recently started, so I don’t especially know my way around. At the same time, I never wanted to go to summer school, but my teacher said it is mandatory to go, or I will get held back from grade level. Now that I finished getting ready, I walked out from the bathroom to the kitchen.

Today is just another normal day in seventh grade. I get to my Christian school, open my locker, and find all my stuff has been removed. There is a bright green post-it note that says “Get a life, loser...And if you want your stuff back, have a fun time looking for it,” I turn around when I hear snickering that sounds all too familiar.

Entering college introduces students to several challenges that go further than high school academics. First- year students are to understand a new social environment they are in, try and fit in with other at the new institution, adapt to new things and responsibilities, comprehend the distance from hometown friends and family, involve yourself in the career of your choice (Credé, & Niehorster 2011). Students struggle with the transition from high school to college. Many students do not believe that the transition is hard from going to high school then to college.

English class seemed to be the most dreadful to take within school. Writing essays for most of my grade in a class is not what I was looking forward too. When I entered college I knew that it would be one of many challenging classes I would have to take. Starting from the lowest English class to moving on up, the writing assignments became longer and more thought out. The time came when I got into this class that I knew more work was going to have to be put into essays and thus brought out what I had not seen before in my work progress.