Reflective Essay: Freshman Year

In the summer of 2015 I received a full scholarship to attend Jonathan R. Reynolds Young Writers Workshop at Denison University, an opportunity that shaped a simply hobby into an enduring passion. As a writer, I am highly critical of my work, however being accepted to the eight-day program merely by my own literary merit definitely served as an example that not only am I capable of writing something worthy, but that I have the power to achieve any goals laid before me. While I attended the program I greeted 35 peers from California all the way to Zimbabwe, South Africa. My core classes consisted of Fiction and Poetry, where I was taught by award winning authors and poets. To be honest, I felt entirely inadequate the first few days. Here I was

I think Vassar first came on my radar because of my Latin teacher. Along with being my eclectic Latin instructor, Mr. Gnolfo was also my softball coach for two years. After observing that he wore his Vassar baseball cap almost every practice and listening to many of his anecdotes about his old days on the baseball diamond on the way to the field, I just felt like I had to research the school a bit. Now, I come from a very small, independent school in Rhode Island. With only a total of thirty-four kids in my graduating class, I’ve certainly learned the benefits of a small school community. Obviously Vassar has much a much larger enrollment, but still I believe that the small community and class sizes that your college offers would be very beneficial

Incoming Freshmen reflecting on my first semester, some things that you might want to think about when coming into the High School. Teachers are one of the main concerns that I had when coming into the High School. Some people are nervous about oh are these good teachers or are these bad teachers. I do have to say there is a very wide variety of teachers here that have different standards. Also the schedule I advise that you try and memorize it as quick as you can. Once you memorize your schedule you are able to navigate the hallways much easier to navigate. It really helps when you want to get from point A to point B without getting a tardy. If your nervous about the work your going to be given wether its harder or if you given a lot more

It was a miracle that i got through that those essays and the class. My sophomore year came around and so did english 2, i was prepared to dread that class more than anything else. I remember feeling uneasy when getting an introduction to the first written assignment. It was noticeable that the teacher was motivated to get familiar with a new type of outline the english department had came up with since it seemed like the one before was of no support to us students. The outline seemed bearable at first glanced but at the back of my head, the question of “how do i put my thoughts into words” still remained a mystery. I was aware that for my writing to improve, my way of organizing my thoughts in words had to improve too. The teacher used the outline and showed us how to write a proper essay including how to phrase our thoughts in the direction of our writing. In that class i had an awakening and was enlighten to what was the begining to my first real writing. I remembered writing that first assignment with interest and comprehension. My thoughts formulated its way into my writing. My writing constructed into a well written essay about the universal idea of the book ‘Of Mice and

I am particularly interested in the 1st STEP program because of the opportunity presented to acquire advocacy, persuasion and presentation skills that are fundamental not only in the court room but also in all areas of lawyering. As a continuing J.D. student, and ranked 86 (47%) of my class, I wish to engage in the fundamentals of litigation so as to better serve possible clients. Because I was pre-admitted into the program upon my acceptance letter, I choose Golden Gate University to learn and grow and hope this program will further my education.

As a writer my essays have varied in many different ways. My stronger essays, in my opinion, were the ones that had topics I could connect with. While writing about a topic I am passionate about or familiar with, writing comes easy to me. Writing seems natural when I can connect with the topic that it just flows right out of me, like I am telling a story. I love to write and I love to learn new things on how to improve my writing. Throughout my entire life I will need the skills to write correctly and I have learned many this year.

I took anatomy and physiology course to get a better understanding about the human body. I became a teachers assistance in biochemistry course which helped me solidified the chemical and biological pathways in our body. I started volunteering at copper point church which better helped me with my communication skills and increased my sense of belonging in New Mexico. I gained more clinical experience by continuing shadowing at Innovage. i started working at highland compounding pharmacy which also gave me a different experience than retail pharmacy. I gain more knowledge about compounded medications and their use. I became the DAT( Disaster Action Team) responder for the night shift at red cross. I started volunteering at joy junction to help

Two years ago, when a professor suggested that I apply to the Honors Program, I was hesitant. I had previously entertained the idea of applying, but allowed anxiety and insecurities to prevent me from doing so. When I explained this to the professor, she encouraged me, stating that she believed the Honors Program would make my time at UH more rewarding by granting me access to a community of likeminded peers, and advised me to further reflect upon my decision. I am indebted to that professor; without her encouragement, it is unlikely that I would have embarked on this journey that has greatly enriched my undergraduate experience and given me the opportunity to grow academically.

Lately, I have been in search of a new beginning; one that will provide comfort, resources, and a supportive environment. In the recent past, I have begun to feel trapped - experiencing unhealthy amounts of stress, anxiety and discomfort. The institution, and the environment where I reside, matriculate and carry out day-to-day activities has been unsatisfactory in regards to my needs. To my understanding, a positive environment will facilitate positive experiences. I have been working constantly, and unrelentingly, searching for solutions, developments, advancements and innovations in hopes of aiding the ever-advancing human race. By nature, I am indefinitely curious, and so I am continuously researching subjects that I do not understand, which leaves me constantly contemplating the world around me. I

Overall, I’ve had a rather decent experience with writing; in high school, it was never something I found myself looking forward to, but even despite my general distaste for essay-writing, I always managed to get through it with at least a decent grade. I’ve always considered myself skilled in the usage of grammar and generally capable in the art of sentence structure; however, I can’t toot my own horn for much else. Even with acceptable grammar skills, I tend to have a difficult time coming up with what to write. I struggle to get inspired and even when I do discover the occasional bout, it only tends to last about fifty words before I, yet again, hit another unsurpassable wall, followed then by me getting distracted. Because of my generally

Before returning to college to finish my degree, I called myself a decent writer. Over the years, I have completed several reports, papers, and even charging documents that were used in courtrooms. Recent papers that I sent to Paperrator.com during this course came back with lackluster results, subsequently, this unit’s reading showed that my writing skills can and will improve. I typically write and organize my thoughts on paper before writing any documents of any length, which is one of the ideas in the reading. Now, I am learning to give a clearer thesis statement, record evidentiary statements about that thesis, and organize them for an effectively written paper.

Science grows and evolves just as my inspiration for it does. I have furthered this interest of mine by deciding to dedicate my entire future towards impacting both science and others with my biology major. I have been impacted by science since elementary because since my first time completing a lab in school, I have always been intrigued by the fact the I get to make a hypothesis and later discover if I was correct with my prediction. Although I never won any science experiment event at my school, I never gave up and I was always curious about the way living organisms function everywhere. As a result of always winning a participation ribbon, I was not interested in winning any sort of prize for my science experiments and I decided to complete

Since we were an honors class, they were typically harder and more though-provoking books, such as Ender’s Game and The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. I don’t think we ever once talked about writing and how to develop our own writing styles, unlike what I experienced in sixth grade. This continued into the next year, too. To this point, I still don’t understand how grammar can be the main curriculum taught throughout two years, but I do know that I strongly disliked that class. I went from having a teacher that encouraged me to write for fun and whatever I wanted, to one that only made writing a priority when we needed to do a project over it. The ONE writing project I remember doing during those two years was a research assignment, in which we were expected to write 10 pages about a topic we researched individually, as eighth graders. By then, I hadn’t written creatively to express myself in a while, so to go straight to a 10-page research paper was hard. I received very harsh feedback from my teacher, with little to no encouraging words. I felt awful after that, of course, because I was use to my writing being so highly

I have had some difficulty adjusting to college writing but some new areas of strength in my typing are: I am getting better with my transition and I did a better decent job with my conclusion but I still have more weaknesses than strengths and some weaknesses of mine are using too many fragments and moving on from thoughts without completing them.

For all of my life everyone knew me as the kid who payed attention in class and evidently did the most of his learning in class.First one in, last one out was my principle and it was a philosophy I followed for the majority of my life until March 2017. The date more specifically was March 28st, this day was especially important to me because I was able to learn that I had an interest working with kids. Prior to this day, I thought I hated kids, with the exception being ones that I knew. Knowing that I would have to deal with a bunch of energetic kids for the duration of Spring Break if I chose to volunteer at a day camp, was tough to swallow and it really made me question if I truly wanted to graduate. Did I really want to spend 2 weeks