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Eng - Literacy Narrative
Eng - Literacy Narrative
Eng - Literacy Narrative
Kayli Buchli
English 110
Olivia Stoltman
Those Boring, Required Essays…
Sometimes when you are forced to do something that you don’t enjoy and that feels like a
burden, you can receive life-changing and rewarding results. I’ve always loved writing, don’t get
me wrong. My parents have told me that ever since I could hold a pencil, whenever they walked
past my room, I was writing something, whether it’s listing my top favorite animals or writing a
letter to my brother so we could play ‘mailman.’ But when my junior and senior years of high
school came, I absolutely did not have the tolerance or patience to do any form of writing
assignment. So many scholarships and applications were going on during the same time, and I
just wanted everything to be over with and happen already. All my classes and sports practices
were much more important to me than the millions of 250-word essays where I had to write
about ‘the greatest aspects of my hometown’ or ‘my strongest trait that no one knows about.’ It
seemed like every day that I had to stay up until midnight going back and forth from studying for
I needed motivation. And I knew I had that motivation. Coming into college, I wanted to
be in the best position I could be in, financially and academically. A big way I could accomplish
this would be to get these scholarships and applications done, and with great quality. I found this
new level of literacy in me that I never knew I had, and this new kind of literacy that I developed
will be engrained inside of my brain for the rest of my life. This new type of literacy I found
allowed me to really think deep and critically to express myself and understand life in more
complex ways. I started out just writing to get things done, fill the requirements, turn it in, get a
good grade, make the teacher happy. But all these scholarships and applications made me realize
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that I should not be writing all my literacy pieces primarily just to please others and move
through life in a robotic manner. I should be writing for the purpose of moving up in life and
going to higher places. These required essays, I could have just sloppily put together 250 words
in three even paragraphs in 10 minutes if I wanted to only please my parents and tell them, “I just
finished 6 scholarships in an hour!” They would be proud of me because of the quantity. But I
realized scholarships and applications are not about quantity, they are about quality. I found a
sort of competitive drive in me to get out of my comfort zone and think more deeply about the
essay prompts.
I applied for as many scholarships as I could find through my school (and there were a
lot, not going to lie). While I was writing these essays, I could tell that I was improving. Every
essay got done faster and faster because I finally found the type of writer that I am: a writer who
thinks and writes for the purpose of learning more about herself and her surroundings. “Wasting”
all my time writing these required essays was just another unenjoyable task, but looking back, I
am more than happy with what I accomplished. I learned how to write for myself and for a
different purpose than just going through the motions. And I learned that all of the hard work that
The WIAA Scholar Athlete essay stands out as the piece of writing that was the turning
point in my writing style and my drive to complete a quality piece. I remember being so excited
when my school’s athletic director came up to me with a big smile and said, “Kayli, could I talk
to you in my office for a second?” I went home and told my mom and she seemed even more
excited than I was. I was the female representative for my school, and since only a couple dozen
people in the entire state receive this honor, I knew I had to channel my competitiveness and
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passion for writing. Achieving this was one of my top goals. So, even though the essay was just
250 words, I spent a lot of time on it. I could have written something like “oh, sports were good
to me and they mean the world to me and have shaped me so much” and I could have been proud
to be nominated, put “nominee” on my resume, and be done with it and continue with school.
But I wanted to make it to the next level. To achieve this, I spent a lot of time thinking about
Going through this process, I learned so many new things about myself, and that
translated over to my writing. I spent hours going from thesaurus to paper to sample essays to
deep thought to paper then finally to bed at midnight. I ultimately finished it, I had my mom
check it, I had my dad check it, I fixed some things, they checked it again, I finalized it, took a
deep breath, and submitted it. After all this, I unfortunately didn’t receive the top honor, but I did
become a finalist. But that feeling that I gave it my best effort was there, so I have no regrets
Doing all these essays allowed me to really step up my writing game, however I am not
saying I didn’t succeed at past writing assignments. The junior term paper was great, I got a good
grade, but that’s all I cared about. I didn’t learn anything about myself as a writer and I wrote my
essay on a subject that my teacher was interested in. But these scholarships and applications have
caused me to evolve out of this fixed position, like a horse finally busting out of its fence to
When you are doing something for yourself, you produce more quality work than doing
something that doesn’t seem meaningful to you. Furthermore, when you are forced to do
something for yourself, you become inclined to become better at the task at hand and you are
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given more incentive to produce the best product that you can. This literary experience makes me
excited about the future, that I can become better at anything if I really want. This experience has
not only made me a better writer, but it has also opened up my eyes to the kind of potential that I
have. I can become a better athlete. I can do everything I can do be accepted into the radiation
therapy program. I can become a better friend, daughter, and sister. I can achieve these things by
going out of my comfort zone, exploring the unknown, and simply just learning more about