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Reflective Essay

            I began Florida State University as a freshman in the summer C semester. The first two classes I took were an introduction to psychology and ENC 1101. ENC 1101 was a wake up call for what the curriculum for a college English/literature class would be like. I have always struggled in English class throughout high school and I strived to change that as I began my new college life. Eventually, I overcame the odds and revised multiple ENC 1101 assignments many times and received an A at the end of the semester. Therefore, I expected to receive an A in my next English course at Florida State University. But, when I enrolled for an English class for the fall semester I ended up in ENC 1145 Writing About Community Action. I had no clue what this special topic class entitled, nor did I know how much harder it would be than the ENC 1101 class I took over the summer.

           ENC 1145 Writing About Community Action challenged me in a few ways that I could have not imagined before taking the class. First and foremost, I did not expect to have to volunteer at Leon County’s homeless shelter. This experience caused me to become a more productive and active member in society. I have done a lot of volunteering in high school, but I have never volunteered my time with working with homeless people. The occurrence expanded my tunnel vision to the lifestyle of the homeless in my community. Additionally, in the ENC 1145 class there was a lot more work than the ENC 1101 class. The assignments, in my opinion, were also graded harder and I found the assignments were also more difficult to write about since I did not officially choose to volunteer my time for the class at The Shelter. I originally wished to volunteer at the Boys and Girls Club.

            My reading and writing has evolved over the semester thanks to ENC 1145 Writing About Community Action. Now, when I read about any topic, I think more critically and more carefully about the given topic. I ponder about how it can affect my local community, the nation, and even the world. Additionally, I feel as if I voice my opinion more since taking this class. For example, our research paper that was assigned to the class caused me to think critically about how I can make a difference to the lives of homeless people. After personal observation and a plentiful amount of research, I made the strong statement that drug addiction is a main cause for homelessness and in many cases is what keeps people who are homeless, homeless. Before this class, I would probably have never thought about the lives of homeless people and drug addiction. Also, I would have never presented such a strong personal opinion/statement on this subject and how the community can help resolve this problem.

            I have learned many valuable life lessons throughout this course. The most important thing I have learned in this course was honestly about myself. I learned that I am stubborn about volunteering with homeless people, and that I should change that so I can be a better member in society. Lastly, I recall the first day of this course very well. The first day of this course set the tone for how I will live the rest of my life. Ms. Lang assigned us to write as much as we can on a notecard and the question we had to answer was, who are you? At first this questioned honestly shocked me because I am the type of person who does not advertise the nature of who I am. For me, writing down who I was, my characteristics, and what I aspire to become gave me the confidence to go after my goals at exponentially mentally harder manner than from how I have been going about them. I never ended up turning in this card but I kept it in a designated location in my backpack and I read it often. I wrote that I am tough (mentally and physically), that I aspire to help the community and nation by becoming either a Navy SEAL or an E.R. Physician. Thank you Ms. Lang for helping build the confidence to broadcast to myself and my peers the fortitude that I have, and will keep on developing and building in order to reach such prestigious goals. 

ENC1145

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