Narrative Nonfiction Research Paper

to become a veterinarian, nothing has deterred me; not even the eight years of college that loom ahead

As I placed the car into park, turned the key off and stepped into the crisp cold winter air, I begin to feel my pulse raise. With each step we took drawing us closer to the door, I felt my heart beating faster. With a quick turn of the ice cold door knob, I found myself standing in a whole new world. The food, the music, the faces, the language, everything was different than what I knew. For the first time in my life I was the minority in my small home town of Winamac, Indiana.

I grew up in California where both of my parents were involved with gangs and drugs by the time they were in middle school. They grew up like this, getting involved with the wrong people, getting into fights for dumb reasons, even getting in trouble with the authorities. Of course, that was normal for them because they were surrounded by it through friends and family. They continued to live that life style even when they met each other at the ages of 18 and 23. They didn't like each other at first, but they eventually started dating. My mom ended up getting pregnant later that year and tried to take a break from all of it, but my dad didn't stop and that caused some tension and arguing between them.

Have you ever had something you were “super passionate” about be stripped away from you? Roughly one and a half years ago I started my sophomore year of lacrosse. The lineup of students on the lacrosse team this year promised us a spot in the championship. Throughout fall practices, the majority of the sophomore class played amongst the varsity team. As the season ramped up in the spring, we waited for our first game against Saint John Paul’s Christian Academy. First game of the year, we enveloped ourselves into the game and became one as a team. Running downfield with a clear, open shot on the goal “whoosh” I shot the ball bottom right, a bare miss. Suddenly “crash” I was hit from both sides and struggled to stay standing. As I came to my

In the future, I am determined to develop a career in the field of biology. I love animals, and working with them would be the most amazing feeling in the world. I strive to reach that goal at the top of the mountain, and I won't cede for any obstacle that stands in my way.

Technician. A few years later, I decided it was not the career that I saw myself in

When I was eight, my family took a trip to Africa. Our first day there, in one of the poorest neighborhoods in Ghana, I threw up. A month later I was enrolled in a high school on Ukerewe Island in Tanzania. Sophomore year is the first year that is taught completely in English, so my sister and I went to class. Every morning our family walked two miles, picked up bananas on the way, pet the cow we named Jim, and got to class in time for the worst part of school. We sat in the back of the classroom while each student waited in line to be told of their mistakes, and then beat with a stick. We didn’t have to participate because our parents were volunteering at the school. At tea time, the replacement for lunch, we grabbed tea and found a place to sit. I made the mistake of choosing a large pile of dirt, which was

In March, I found out the one of the worst things a teenager could hear; my parents were getting a divorce. How was I supposed to handle that information. The two people who came second in my life next to God, the two people that promised they would always be together, were now ripping our family into two broken halves; instead of one solid whole. Most people might pray to God, and ask him for healing but how could I; God was supposed to protect our family, and he let us fall apart.

The dark wolf looked up from his coffee, his mind snapping back into reality. The warmth of the paper cup felt soothing upon his paw like hands. His thoughts had drifted elsewhere from the conversation thinking about alternative realities in contrast to the one he lived in.

My experience with literature begin in kindergarten when reading the Magic Treehouse books. These books were the first in my life that I would actually read willingly cover to cover. Before I would begin to read a book just to quit after I deemed it boring or dull, but these books were different I actually liked them. This would continue until the 3rd grade where I would read different books like don’t you know there’s a war going on, it was a World War II book that was centered on an elementary kid like myself. After that, I read historical fiction consistently mainly involving wars Civil War, WWI, WWII, Vietnam, etc. I also felt like if I had to read for an any assignment it was forced and I would skim or do little actually

I remember the fall of 2007. On that specific autumn morning it was “take your child to work” day at my dad’s workplace in a retirement home. My father walked my younger sister and me around the gargantuan, sterile white building, introducing us to the elderly residents and workers, holding our hands as we shyly waved with a meek “Hi,”. I distinctly remember meeting one lady that stood out among the others: one of the laundry maids, Caroline. Caroline was, in a word, great. In several words, she was about 21, excited, sweet, and hilarious. Moreover, she spoke with a foreign and strange new accent that very appealing to my eight year old ears. On our way home, I specifically remember mentioning to my dad that she was easily my favorite of all the people I met. Several months later, she and my father were married.

This Christmas, when I first walked into my grandparent’s house, I noticed something I hadn’t before: the house’s familiar smell. Describing it is difficult, but it smelt like comfort and childhood and all the wonderful things I love to reminisce about on cross-country car rides. Realizing I have smelt, heard, or experienced something before is undoubtedly one of my favorite sensations.

Ray stared at the exit. He doesn’t like only having one escape. Of course Ray knew what hid in the dark corners of the courtyard. Which was why he was so anxious. Ray of course knows that Ryan will be back soon, but still can’t deny that anxious feeling that something happened. Of course they had a system in place. But they’ve never had to use it, well until maybe now.

The school year has officially taken off. Schedules are solidified and I am getting semester long projects, so it is set in stone now. A freshman at BHS. I knew I’d get my start here but I thought I’d stay until graduation. I’m now going to Bentonville West. The Class of 2019 that I’ve been with since sixth grade will be split. BWHS looks promising, I’ll have most of my best friends there with me. My freshman year feels like it is going to go by really quickly. I’m not entirely sure what to think about this year yet. It has its ups and downs, but mostly ups. One good thing is that I seem to be handling workload okay thus far. People were telling me that it was going to be a ‘hit the ground running’ type of year but I am managing perfectly fine.

No that 's not right, I thought as I backspaced time and time again. My brain felt dryer then Arizona, and Arizona is pretty dry. It was the last couple of weeks of the school year and I had to write a reflective speech on what I learned then I had to present in front of a big design board. Taking pieces of what I learned this year and outlining them were hard. I started with the first, a song lyric I made. A wave of emotion spilled over me similar to water falling from Niagara. The air around me became cold and stiff. I got goose bumps from the thought of a central idea I could write my paper on. I suddenly knew how to go about this speech.