Graduation Speech : My Writing

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

As this course comes to and end, it was very interesting to see how my writing has changed over the course of the semester. After having taking multiple English classes and writing multiple essays throughout my academic years, I have always been trained to write a certain way. Quite the opposite of being concise, instead I was trained to over explain and analyze the points I was making in my written assignments.

When composing an essay, or journal entry, or just plain writing, I struggle as a writer with avoiding awkward or wordy phases in my written work. This struggle is yet again based on last year’s experience and feedback from my English class. Improvement with this struggle can be made by the following strategies: reading over my paper more carefully, avoiding the use of words that sound intelligent but don’t flow with the paper, and editing my paper with peers. Recognizing this struggle and following these strategies would improve my writing.

It is strange to think that my first semester of college is almost complete. It seems like just yesterday that I was introducing myself to the new classmate. And this writing assignment has give me a good opportunities to reflect on this past year of composition in English 105 class. I have to admit I have grown a substantial amount as a writer by participation in this class. However, upon my completion of this semester I have not only gained many friendship, knowledge, and learned different writing techniques. Although I have many writing area still needs to improve, I have learned variety of things by participation in this class.

Over the course of this past semester, my ability to write has improved tremendously. Prior to undertaking this course, my expertise in writing was not as fine-tuned as it should have been. I had never previously been enrolled in a class specifically tailored to writing-- which was quite clear. Upon reading my past works, it becomes apparent that my writing style consisted of fluff, small words, and inconsistently structured sentences. These problems have, for the most part, been remedied with the coursework I have tackled in College Writing. Rather than long, drawn out papers that take an eternity to reach the primary point, my recent work is much nicer in terms of composition and grammar. I credit these improvements to the three primary

When I first applied for this class at the end of my junior year of high school, my

I put on my bright orange life jacket and stood up. "You want me to go in and push the boat?" I asked my mom. "Yes." She responded. So I climbed out of the boat and into the water. The water was rushing dragging me away, so I grabbed onto the side of the boat and it was then that I realized this was a terribly stupid idea.... It was June fourth of 2016 and the day started out as any early normal day would. My family and I had been invited to go rafting, by my moms best friend Holly. So my mom agreed. She woke us up early so we would be there on time and when we had gotten there we met up with Holly. After that we boarded a bus with our cooler full of water and food. The bus ride was approximately fifteen to thirty minutes. Yes, I was

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”.

"…I am a reader, I am a writer, I am a historian, I am a mathematician and I am a scientist. I am great! I am Greenvale great!" All the students at Greenvale elementary school chanted these words each morning along with the staff. Then they were told morning announcements by the principal. At P.S George F. Bristow preschool, students began their day by entering the classroom and having breakfast with their classmates and listening to morning announcements given by their teacher. At Bronx Studio School for Writers and Artist, the students would walk through the entrance where they were met by the principal and greeted with a handshake. They would then swipe their identification cards and head upstairs swiftly as they listened to

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.

Lights flashing day and night, cars and taxi’s stuck in the day rush and the night to endure the spotlight, but in North Brooklyn there was to girls, two girls who were friends since 6th grade. They went through many hardships but still always managed to come together. They never let anything completely disable their friendship. They were the ideal friendship at minimum, at most they were like a friendship you could only pray for. Natalia and Roxanne were inseparable.

was going to. I got to have a fresh start, in a different Town high school, in which i did

Princeton was my Paris not Nolan. My parents talked to each other and asked me more questions about Nolan. They couldn 't believe that I finally had a boyfriend. "Boyfriend" and "Nolan" in the same sentence made me lose my appetite. Mom and dad told me they wanted to meet him soon.

It does not matter how slow you go as long as you do not stop. -Confucius

(Francisco gets ready for school looking as if he still isn 't awake. After he walks downstairs to Mrs. Mendoza cooking breakfast)