Top 5

 At the beginning of the year we learned how to properly write and prepare a college essay. Learning this was imperative if you planned to use the common app. Not only was it necessary to fill out, because of Covid preventing many kids from having a normal academic year, the essays were studied extensively compared to the small number of test scores that colleges typically study the most. Having a solid and well written essay increased your chances of getting accepted into college significantly higher. I believe that because of the time we spent learning about writing the perfect essay, my chances of getting accepted into my schools was higher, and it showed when I was accepted to 4 out of the 5 schools I applied to. 

Many of our essays and projects were uploaded to our individual blogs. Before this class, I had never used a blog in my life, so learning how to use it was very important for this class. I also learned that people still make money from blogging and can make a full career out of it. Having a blog for a class allowed us to see each other's work and get ideas and feedback from each other, which in return allowed us to write better essays. 

Throughout all of the plentiful essays we wrote in this class, I practiced a lot of time management. Although I may have not “learned” it directly from this class, practicing managing your time helps you with life in general. Essays such as the unit 2 essay and the final argumentative essay required lots of time doing research and writing, but sitting down and doing little pieces at a time helped me get through them while still putting out my best work. 

Seeing different perspectives through the opdoc assignment opened my eyes. In school we don’t typically learn things about different perspectives, however my opdoc, which explored the life of an impoverished 9 year old girl living in South Africa, allowed me to see a perspective that I would’ve never been exposed to. Additionally, my topic for the unit 2 final essay about sports and disabilities, opened my eyes to different experiences regarding how sports positively benefit people with disabilities. 

Finally, this year we expanded on many current situations and how they affected us, or what stake we had in that particular topic. I felt personally connected with the topic of remote learning, since it was and still is a relevant topic that I was experiencing personally. Understanding your stake allows you to write a better essay because you have a personal connection to the topic.