UWRT Pin

This semester I feel that this class will require an equal amount of dedication, creativity,
and self-improvement. I believe that I will have to be willing to do all of the work required and
do it to the best of my ability. Weather making the portfolio or writing a piece, I will have to be
able to apply my all of my creative ability to achieve success. Through this class I feel I will
need to be able to explore new ideas and concepts to better myself as a writer and as an
academic. Since I have always been a below average writer, I feel somewhat intimidated by the
volume of writing I will have to do, but this is good because the only way to get better is to
practice. I have no doubt that I will enhance my writing skills and become a more adept learner.
Upon entering this class, I feeling rather nervous because throughout my past writing
experience I have known nothing but failure. I have written many essays and papers, and failed
about ninety percent of them. While trying to actively improve my writing in high school, I
would always seemed to do worse when I thought I was getting better. I think I only received one
or two passing graded on essays in high school. This failure is something that I have just always
been accustomed too. Having said that, I have a desire to get better at writing because I have
come loathe failure, which is all I have known when it comes to writing.
Critical Reflection Pin
When I was sixteen years old, I had fallen extremely hard for a girl that was in my class.
We met at camp on one fall weekend and I was instantly hooked on her. At the time I was just a
stupid kid who had never felt that way about a girl, it was a feeling that I cant describe to this
day. We started out just talking like two normal people, and not long after that we couldnt even
go an hour without sending each other a text or having a conversation. She was beautiful, smart,
and from a well-respected family. I had found everything that I could ever want in a girl. She
knew that I was into her and for a while she was really into me, but like I said I was a stupid
sixteen year old kid who didnt know how to finesse in the situation I was in.
As things escalated we ended up spending almost every moment either hanging out or
talking on the phone. Once I thought I had it in the bag, I found out that I was very wrong. We
went from phone calls that lasted hours to fighting, I guess too much of one person can be
exhausting. Eventually she told me that she never wanted to talk to me again and that she hated
me. I spent a year chasing a girl, and ended up hurt and confused. The adventure was full of ups
and downs, just like any relationship.
Looking back I would have done many things differently. First, I should have let her win
the arguments, but I was too stubborn at the time to let that happen. I hadnt fully comprehended
that the woman is always right, and I learned that lesson the hard way. Secondly, I should have
given up my bad habits, such as drinking and tobacco use, because she was pure and didnt find
my actions attractive. This would have also benefitted me in the long run, but I was too stubborn
to give up my guilty pleasures. The third major change I would make is the most important
lesson I learned throughout this entire experience. Looking back I realized that I made her upset
more than I made her happy, this is probably because I thought I was omniscient. I would have
treated her completely different, she meant the world to me. When I say that I mean that I should
have treated with the proper respect and love that a girl like her deserved, but instead I did what I
wanted, and put my thoughts and feelings before hers, which resulted in my loss.

Knowledge of Conventions Pin

In high school I took Latin, and it was the hardest class I have ever taken in my
education. The one thing that I loved so much about Latin was this it was a regular language,
meaning that all nouns were set up the same, and all verbs were set up the same too. There were
very few irregularities, which was appealing because I am logically based thinker. When I first
started taking Latin my sophomore year, I thought I would be able to get by without applying
myself, by the time second semester came I was failing but I had already developed a plan with
my teacher to ensure that I pass. I got down and dirty in learning noun cases, essentially word
endings, like nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, ablative, and vocative cases. To make
matters worse, those cases were then separated into five declensions, which is just the separation
of forms, which is specific to vocabulary words. On top of that I had to learn the difference
between masculine, feminine, and neuter ending. Its safe to say that it took me a while to get
nouns down to a science.
Verbs were very similar but much easier to manage. Similar to nouns, the ending of verbs
would tell me tense, person, and number. They were broken down into six tenses like present
tense and imperfect tense, and also indicated active and passive voices as well. It was at this
time, during junior year, when I learned more about English grammar than I ever had in my
entire schooling up to that point. I was never good at grammar, but many topics that I had
learned about in the past had finally began to make sense. It is actually sad that most of my
grammar knowledge came from Latin class, because most would expect one to learn grammar in
elementary and middle school.
Thankfully, my teacher was a complete nerd who had a true passion for teaching and an
unprecedented love for Latin. This made everything a little more manageable because he
understood my struggles and he was willing to help me no matter what. I really struggled to get
through the class, but by the end my only deficiency was my knowledge of vocabulary because I
didnt care to learn them.
Composing Process
In middle school, I had developed skills that many will never obtain. I was a gamer and
big one at that. I started playing Call of Duty when I was in third grade and became addicted.
While I was still in elementary school I would watch YouTube videos of people playing Call of
Duty. I became infatuated and decided that I wanted to do the same thing. I started off as a
player, I would record myself playing Call of Duty and post commentaries of my gameplay.
Once I received enough hate for having a high voice I decided that I would start making
montages of my kills with a sniper rifle in the game. After a while, I started to develop a decent
viewer base, my channel ended up with over one-thousand subscribers. To get a large viewer
base you need to not only have good gameplay, but also good editing and graphic design. Most
of the editors and graphic artists would charge money to have work done and this aggravated me
because I didnt like having to pay some random guy money for work that couldnt be
guaranteed. I then decided that I was going to start doing my own editing and designing. With no
knowledge at the time, I obtained the proper programs and began learning, through YouTube, to
make awesome pieces of work. After some time, people wanted me to do work for them. It was

about this time when I got tired of being a player because I was not living up to the expectation
of the gamer community, so I turned my focus to graphics and editing. Editing was difficult
because it took a great amount of time to produce work that was considered worthy. A basic
gameplay clip was the starting point, then I would start by synchronizing the clip with the
selected music. Later I would add effects such as flares, twitch, text, and color correction. After a
short time, I gave up editing, because of computer issues, and began focusing solely on graphic
design. I became exceptional at producing logos, channel backgrounds, and anything having to
do with still images. Eventually I had become well known because of the work I had done for big
YouTubers, which resulted in the making of a decent amount of money. People would email me
specifics for the work that they wanted done such as color, style, and any other details. I would
begin with a blank canvas and work from the bottom up. Usually I would start with the text that
was requested, making the name of the client look appealing was the most important part. I
would do this in a program called Cinema 4D, a program that creates three dimensional text. It
was important to get this step perfect because lighting and materials were critical to producing a
professional and appealing piece. Once I was happy with the text, I would import the file into
Adobe Photoshop where I would add effects like flares, color correction, and any other requested
specifics. Most of the time, clients would be more than pleased, which was a gratifying felling
because people loved what I had created.
Reading Critically
During the summer before junior year in high school, my best friends and I decided that
we wanted to build a treehouse. One of my good friends had saved over five thousand dollars to
invest in the project. Both of his parents are engineers who had plenty of experience building, so
we had help when needed. On day one we all sat around a table and drew up plans to build
essentially a teenage palace ten feet in the trees. We decided to build a twelve foot by ten foot
room ten feet off the ground. At first, we didnt really know where to start because we were just a
group of sixteen year olds trying to do something special. We decided that we needed a material
list of all of things that we would need to successfully build the treehouse. The parents had
advised us on what kind of wood, screws, and other building materials that were required to
build a safe and amazing treehouse. Once the building process started we ran into many difficult
problems that we needed to solve. We could have asked the engineers but we wanted this to be
our project. Anyone with building experience knows that problems are inevitable. One problem
that we encountered was determining how to make the roof. Our first design originally used the
roof as a deck where could all hangout up in the trees, but there were many problems with this
design like determining how to keep the rain from collecting on the roof and ensuring that we
had enough support to keep the treehouse standing. We decided to eliminate the roof deck and
use a tin roof that was slanted at a fifteen degree angle to allow for rain runoff. Another major
problem that we needed to answer was how we were going to keep the interior comfortable
during the hot summer months and cold winter months, so we did what every homebuilder does,
and insulated the walls. Thankfully we had built the walls to standard code, meaning that we had
studs every sixteen inches in the walls. Next, we had to be innovative with this decision because
the type of exterior and interior materials would play a crucial role in the structural integrity of
the treehouse. We had to keep moisture out of the walls to prevent mold and mildew buildup in

the inside the walls. For the exterior we decided to use cork board as the base layer because it
was cheap and light, making it easier to get into place. We later decided to make exterior
paneling, which would cover the cork board, out of pressure treated plywood cut into strips. For
the interior we knew that dry wall could cause problems if a leak were ever to be formed, so we
decided to use to cheap interior paneling made of wood. Those were the biggest and most
frightening challenges that we would incur, because if we chose the wrong material the entire
structure would have been compromised. So far, the treehouse still stands, and provided us with
many good memoires.
Rhetorical Knowledge
As a sophomore in high school, I overcame many adversities academically. By the time
winter break had arrived, I was failing two classes and not doing well in the others. I had also
just been suspended for writing a curse word in my personal book. The school administration had
told me that I should prepare to retake the tenth grade, it was only December. At this time I had
already lost all motivation to keep pounding, and the thought of dropping out and giving up was
rather appealing. I remember sitting on the bench outside of the principals office when my Latin
teach came up and sat down next to me, I was failing Latin but my teacher knew that I was
overwhelmed and not handling the stress well. When he sat down he told me I was one of the
most capable students in the school. It was no secret that I was not doing well in school, I would
hardly sleep, eat, or socialize, and all I would do work and complain about doing work. I was
confused about where he was taking this conversation but I finally caught on when he had told
me that I needed to change my strategy. First, he stressed the importance of sleep, which was
something that I was barely getting at all, I averaged about three to four hours every night.
Secondly, he told me that I needed to have a planned foray for every assignment, basically a plan
of attack to obtain the highest grade possible. The third piece of advice was the most important
of all advice I have ever received in my life, he looked me in the eye and said that the word
impossible said Im possible. He said this because he believed that I possessed the knowledge
and skill to be successful even though I did not believe it myself. This conversation changed my
life, changed the way I look at work, and changed the way I carried myself as a student. I was on
the bottom with a long and painful climb back to safety. Once second semester came around, I
was a new man ready to do whatever it took to achieve success. I continued to not get much
sleep, but I was at least being productive and doing great work rather than mediocre work. I
changed my approach when faced with copious amounts of work from becoming overwhelmed
to taking only a bite at a time. This experience redefined me because I learned the importance of
never quitting and getting done what I needed to.
Football Pin
Freshman year of high school meant that my high school football experience, or glory
days, were about to begin. My coach, also the coach of my eldest brother, put me on the
offensive line even though I did not fit the criteria. Coach did this because I was very similar to
my brother his freshman year, but he became great and contributed the victory of two National
Championship titles for the University of Alabama as an offensive lineman. At the time I was

approximately six feet tall and one-hundred thirty pounds. That first season consisted of
grinding, learning, and discovering my inner beast.
Once sophomore year came along, I was ready to be in the starting line-up on the JV
offensive line. I had grown about three inches and gained maybe fifteen pounds, give or take.
Unfortunately we had a new offensive line coach, but still the same head coach as the previous
year. I was denied the starting spot solely because my new coach didnt think I had what it took. I
was beat out by a junior who had about one-hundred pounds on me, I cant blame my coach for
his decision. This enraged me because living in the tall shadow of a National Champion was not
easy, I had an expectation to live up too. As the season kicked off, I was benched for the first two
games. Then something incredible happened.
On the weekend of the second game, I had officially accepted Jesus Christ as my savior. I
prayed that I would live up the standard that my family, my coaches, and most importantly my
teammates held for me. Something happened during that third week; my technique, aggression,
and heart all came into sync. I had spent hours practicing my footwork, shooting my hips for
power, and driving the opponent beyond the line of scrimmage. Anger ran through me, I wanted
to be great, but I didnt know how considering I didnt have the physical tools the rest of my
teammates had. Ever since I was little I watched in awe as my brother and his teammates steam
rolled their opponents, it was my dream to be just like him. My love for my teammates was
great, they were my brothers fighting savagely by my side in the trenches. By the time the third
game came around, I was the starting right tackle. Before the game started, coach came up to me
and told me that I was going to be a captain, the pressure was daunting. I played timidly that
night and got my butt handed to me on a silver platter. I was pulled out of the game at half time. I
remember shedding a tear, because I knew that I had let down my parents, my coach, and my
teammates. I did not want that one game to define me, more importantly I wasnt going to let it
define me. The next game, I found myself back in the starting lineup. I knew I had to dominate,
and I did just that. We began to blow our opponents out week after week. Once the big game
came around, against the top team in the state, I knew I had to show up. The nerves were flowing
rapidly through my body. I was up against a rather big and athletic defensive end, he laughed at
me when I walked up on the first play and asked if I was second string. I was enraged. He got
what he was asking for though, I dominated him that night. After we beat them handily, coach
came up to me then hugged me and said that I had done something that my brother could have
never done at my age. I had finally felt that I had lived up to the expectations. We went on to beat
every team except our rivals, which was the last game of the season. We had twenty-five yards to
concur on the last play of the game and we needed a touchdown to win. I got beat that play, even
though I stayed on my man, I got pushed back about five yards where my quarter back tripped
over my back foot. That was the last snap I would ever take, I didnt know it at the time, but I
would never play in black and gold again. That season I learned the importance of work ethic,
passion, and having faith in myself.

Drums Pin
Ever since I can remember my dad and my eldest brother have been playing drums. I
knew that is was in my blood to be a drummer and when I was about three years old I began
hitting random drums to try and make sense of it all. It was about this time when my brother sat
me down and taught me my first beat. It was a basic four-two beat that consisted of four hi-hat
strokes with a bass stroke on one and a snare stroke on three. I remember very vividly him telling
me this is as basic as it gets, and now you just have to learn to add things in to make more
complex beats. I didnt know it at the time but I had just found my favorite hobby. I did exactly
as I was told and began trying for more complex beats and fills as I got older. When I moved to
Charlotte, most of my friends were impressed that I had obtained a skill that was so unique.
In fifth grade, one of my friends and I started a band with the goal of stealing the talent show at
our middle school. We tried out and made it using an original song that we had written. Other
bands had tried out, but didnt make it so we assumed that we were going to be rock stars. We
were the last act of the talent show that night, and we instantly became rock stars of our school
once we accomplished what we set out to do. The faculty, parents, and students were astonished
that two kids could produce music. Unlike my friend, I was an autodidact, which gave me a great
deal of glory among my peers and their parents. The teachers were so impressed that I was
invited to play drums at our fifth grade graduation.
I loved the rush of playing in front of an audience, it truly is an amazing feeling when all
eyes are on you and you just happen to kill it, well at least for a fifth grader. I continued playing
into middle school and did one more talent show in sixth grade with a different guitarist. Again,
we stole the show, but luckily for me there was also another drummer who was in eighth grade at
the time. People were chanting for a drum off and I was not about to back down from the
challenge. The drum off happened and I am still confused on who the winner was, I like to think
I did.
When I was in eighth grade, I was invited back by my elementary school to play drums
for their fifth grade graduation. People remembered me even after three years. Many graduates
and parents came up to me and told me how impressed they were with my skill three years
previously. From then on I didnt play any other shows other than a talent show my senior year
where I basically winged it. During high school I got very good, I had developed a skill that
would allow me to listen to a song twice and then be able to sit down and play it with little flaw.
I used drumming as a personal hobby rather than a source of entertaining. I do look back wish
that I had done more shows because I was the only one who truly knew how good I really was.
Life isnt over yet, so maybe one day I will be able to do what I should have done earlier in life.