Artifact one is from Freshman year of high school.

I wrote an essay for National History Day about a topic I was

very passionate about. I found an obscure man to do research on, named Claude Bernard. He was a scientist
who practiced experimentation on animals in harsh ways. This paper came out to be nine pages long (with the
annotated bibliography included). I used several images as primary sources in my essay. I placed third in my
category with this essay.

Artifact two is from Sophomore year of high school. This is another essay I wrote for the next year of National
History Day. This topic is different, but I liked to stay with the darker themes for National History Day for
some reason. My topic this time was Edgar Allen Poe and his struggles with depression, substance abuse, tragic
family deaths, and abandonment issues brought on by his foster father. This paper came out to be eleven pages
long (with the annotated bibliography included).

These two papers are very similar to one another. They were both written for National History Day and both of
them have dark themes. I used these papers to compete in National History Day and it ended up damaging my
spirits in regards to the passion I have for writing. The Legacy of Claude Bernard (Artifact 1) paper was
submitted because my teacher and parents encouraged me to; I had no real desire to compete. However, I placed
third with the paper. This paper was riddled with extreme bias and there were certain things in that paper that
had no correlation to the point I was trying to make (such as the images; the images were used in order to hit the
primary source requirement). If I could place third with a paper I thought wasn’t very good, I was sure I could
place better with a paper the following year. Edgar Allan Poe: The Beginnings of Modern Day Literature was
written with much more care. I spent a lot of time finding sources that were fit for the paper and I made sure I
didn’t have a biased paper this time. I had several people help me edit it and I produced something I was truly
proud of. It was a major achievement for me. I didn’t place with this paper and I remember it breaking my
spirit. Eventually, I got over it, but it took some time. Looking back now, the feedback the judges gave me on
Edgar Allan Poe: The Beginnings of Modern Day Literature was a lot less critical and I scored better. There was
clear growth here. This ended up being all that mattered to me in the end. Just because I didn’t place does not
mean achievement and growth did not take place.