Teen Years

My teenage years were a time of maturation for my literacy skills. I took different English classes, giving me a new look at the many different styles and ways of writing besides just fiction and nonfiction. I also began to mature in my reading skills, reading epic books such as Dune by Frank Herbert and All Quiet On The Western Front.

Middle school and high school also marked a change in the type of writings I had to accomplish for school. Responses became even longer, and I began to have to do research papers on an alarmingly common basis. I also began to design various websites, and maintained my very own blog. And, as a typical middle school student, I wrote the occasional love note to Susie Q (names changed to protect parties involved) which then became public reading material as things went sour. So, you could say my writing was being read by more and more people....

The Links on the left are those events that marked personal milestones in my life, while the column on the right are those events and inventions in the world that eventually had an effect on my literary life.

• I take Creative Writing

• I take Research Seminar

• I apply to Xavier

• I become an Eagle Scout

• AIM is invented

• September 11

In eighth grade, I took an English elective entitled Creative Writing. The concept for the class was both simple and challenging: write essays, 2 or 3 pages in length, on any topic. The only catch: you could not write an essay on a topic any other student had used, for the entire year. This really forced me to become creative in topics for me to write about, as well as teaching me how to write a lot about almost any topic. This class totally revolutionized the way I write non-research compositions.

According to the AOL (America Online) website, AIM (AOL Instant Messenger) is invented in 1998 when AOL merges with Netscape. This internet program allows practically anyone to communicate with another user instantly, as long as they both have an Internet connection. I have communicated so much using this program, as well as vastly improved my technological literary skills, that it would be criminal to leave it out of my literary autobiography.

September 11, while an incredible tragedy, provided me with a large amount of experience and emotion to write about.  I wrote several letters to both our school and local newspaper, as well as an editorial, which provided me with valuable literary experience. Also, many of my later research papers focused on various aspects of September 11, or incorporated some part of it or the subsequent patriotism as evidence.

Research Sem. did for my professional writing what creative writing had done for the rest of my writing. Taught by the man who edited the University of Michigan's English Handbook annually and single-handedly wrote the Saline Schools Writing Handbook (I still have my copy,) Research Seminar taught me how to write in almost any research style, and at any length, about any topic. And it didn't just teach me how to do it; it taught me how to do it well. Leaving that class with a 3 inch binder, bursting at the seams, I was equipped to deal with any writing assignment college could throw at me.

Besides the fact that my subsequent acceptance at Xavier demonstrates my skill at answering the various essays I was asked to write, my application (and acceptance) at Xavier are the bridge that lets me further my literacy education. It is at Xavier where I will continue to develop my literacy skills as both a reader and a writer.

This is actually a more important literary milestone for me than one might think. When applying for the rank of Eagle Scout, there is actually an incredibly large amount of paperwork one must go through, including essays one must respond to and a written and oral presentation before a professional scouting board. My earning of the rank of Eagle signifies that I can write well enough to persuade a professional board, who can and often does fail other candidates.

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