Link to final draft of showcased essay: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1bGom4Jtb5DJZ-nYsheUIFeAGES4kTYWDssO2lPeBkfo/edit

Generally, I used my sources to build a conversation between myself and the authors, later relating that conversation back to my thesis. For example, on page two of my essay, I referenced a quote from Brooks’ article about Dorothy Day engaging in random acts of kindness. I paraphrased the quote, and discussed its implications, then related the implications to an experience from my own life, as a sophomore high school student. The story I included built on the ideas from Brooks, and contributed as evidence which I related back to my thesis. I enjoy this conversational style of writing more than the purely academic style of writing I did in high school, which exclusively analyzed texts because I feel as if I have a lot more to say about experiences from my life,. I have more to say about my own experiences than the experiences described in a book about someone else life and picking out the specific points made to support my argument. I feel as if solely analyzing a text is not truly making a larger overarching statement about humanity as well as the conversational form of writing we do here because humans are not robots without feelings or true experiences. We have our own experiences that are legitimate and real, and can definitely be applied to what we read in academic texts throughout our lives.

Example of relating my experiences with what is discussed in the article written by Brooks from this essay:

She felt that, “No human creature could receive or contain so vast a flood of love and joy as I often felt after the birth of my child. With this came the need to worship, to adore” (Brooks 3). Brooks went into more detail about her drastic change saying that she “opened settlement houses for the poor and lived among the poor, embracing shared poverty as a way to build community, to not only do good, but be good” (Brooks 3). Dorothy Day performed these actions following a disorganized period in her young adult life, engaging in risky behaviors. Brooks included this information to describe the vast extent of her positive change in developing her into a well adjusted, more selfless individual. When I was a freshman in high school, from weaknesses came success and greater times of happiness. I did not feel as if I belonged to any particular social group, I sort of just wandered around aimlessly with a few friends, each from a different friend group. I never felt a sense of belonging until my sophomore year when I figured out what I wanted to do in college and began to run cross country. I attribute finding my friend group to joining the cross country team, but my happiness to discovering that I wanted to dedicate my life to helping others. After engaging in extensive online research and discussing options with family and friends, I came to the conclusion that I wanted to major in nursing. The decision gave me a purpose, which seemed to be just what I needed in order to focus on my academics and made me feel a sense of urgency to do everything I could to prepare for my end goal, a career in nursing. Everything I did felt like it had weight. I could relate any academic, athletic or social task or achievement to bettering myself in preparation for college or my career in nursing. It all also felt justified because I knew I would eventually be doing the right thing through helping others and healing the sick. There seemed to be nothing malicious in what I wanted to do. I agree with Brooks on his idea that a major life event such as having a child or in my case, deciding what I wanted to do with my life can lead to drastic change and happiness. I ended up finding my friend group and finding meaning in everyday academic and athletic tasks because I found ways to relate it to my profession which made me feel satisfied with myself, as well as ultimately more happy.