Final Copy 1

Holczer 1 Aiden Holczer Wilson Period 1 3/6/2019

It's hard to express in words my disdain towards math. Not necessarily math in general, but more like the math that is part of our school curriculum. I felt as though what we were taught had no purpose but to lengthen the class. In hindsight I realized the only math I could fully comprehend was math involving money or feasible situations, but these types of lessons became few and far between. My grades began to reflect this change of topic from functionality to filler, and my previously held certainty of what career I would go into changed dramatically.

You see,all my life I thought I knew what I wanted to be. Or should I say I had a general idea of what I wanted to be. ​I was always building; if I wasn't building I was reading. If I wasn't doing either,​ you could find me writing. Even though I loved doing all three of those things, I believed building, whether it be engineering or architecture, was the most viable of the three. My parents agreed with me, and pushed me to pursue a career in the STEM field. By freshman year, I was convinced that I was going to be a biomedical engineer. My conviction caused me to take electives and classes focusing on the topics necessary to prosper in that career.

In the midst of summer break, my family took multiple trips up north to our family beach house. During these trips the house was constantly loaded with over thirty people, all eating, conversing, and having a genuinely good time.While catching up with relatives I was separated

Holczer 2 from by nearly five hundred miles was great. The task of answering questions about highschool, college choices four years to early, and possible career choices, were draining. Whenever I was faced with the question “so do you know what you want to be yet?” I would respond in fake confidence with “A biomedical engineer”. An answer I knew was a lie, yet one that prevented me from being chastised for not having a definitive answer. And so I stuck to that lie, never changing even when my parents asked me. My mouth spoke with certainty while my heart was undecided.

Fortunately for my conscience, this conflict changed in early December. One thing I forgot to mention earlier is how big of a sports fan I am. Diehard Dallas Cowboys fan raised in Jersey, and Brooklyn Nets fan far away from Brooklyn, you could say I have a thing for franchises outside of their glory days (If you consider the Nets having glory days). I was scrolling through Instagram one day absentmindedly, when I stumbled upon a post from one of the many sports pages I follow. The post posted a question, asking the viewer to compare two NBA players to decide who was better. I looked at the post made up my mind on who I thought was better, and began to scroll up. As the post disappeared to the top of the screen of my iPhone, my eyes glanced to the description, and began to read. It was an advertisement for an app described as a sports discussion forum. Seeing that I had nothing better to do, I decided to download it and see how good it was. My first impression was “sports twitter”. Complete with a trending page, home page, polls, articles, and the ability to follow others, I finally found the sports app I've always looked for. Naturally, after reading posts from other users on the apps I wanted to make a post of my own. My first post was a short paragraph and poll on a controversial and unpopular opinion of New York Giants running back Saquon Barkley. I wasn't expecting much besides people telling me my opinion was wrong. The response I received was

Holczer 3 beyond unexpected. My post received 600+ views over a 24 hour period, and while many uttered the sentiment of my opinion being asinine, others engaged in fruitful discussion. I was hooked.

I started constantly posting on the app. My format changed from short polls to fully fleshed out articles. I started to gain a small following, averaged 413 views a post, and accumulated 12,820 views over a 3 month period. It took me a while to realize that my love for writing op ed pieces on sports could lead to a viable career.Looking back it should have been obvious. I was constantly arguing with my friends over our respective teams. I started looking at sports journalism majors, reading books on sports radio and doing everything I could to figure out how to be the next Adam Schefter, Stephen A. Smith, Adrian Wojnarowski, or Skip Bayless.

In the end this experience not only changed my life, it gave my life a new calling. I can finally look family members in the eye when they ask me what I want to be and how I plan to achieve it. I can make money while doing something I have always loved doing. I am so thankful for this experience. If I didn't go through this I truly believe I would go to college to study something I don't want to do and then go into a job I don't want be doing.

Narrative Essay Rubric (Honors) Score: 44.5/50 W.9-10.3​. Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, well-chosen details, and well-structured event sequences.

Standard 3.a​. ​Introduction​ Engage and orient the reader by setting out a problem, situation, or observation, establishing one or multiple point(s)

Exceptional (10-9) ❏

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Effectively hook the reader with a creative, original, and compelling hook Effectively sets out a problem, situation, or

Proficient (8-7) ❏

Hook the reader with a compelling hook

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Effectively sets out a problem, situation, or observation

Emerging (6-1)

Not Evident (0)

Holczer 4 of view, and introducing a narrator and/or characters; create a smooth progression of experiences or events.

observation in a compelling and/or creative manner ❏

Establish an insightful, original, or creative point of view

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Introduce a ​complex and/or creative narrator, characters, setting, and main idea

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Utilize ​two or more (teacher discretion) narrative techniques with purpose: dialogue, pacing, description, reflection, multiple plot lines, etc…

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Establish an insightful point of view

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Introduce a narrator, characters, setting, and main idea

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Utilize narrative techniques such as dialogue, pacing, description, reflection, and multiple plot lines

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Develop experiences, events, and/or characters in attempt to convey theme

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Use appropriately techniques such as foreshadowing, dramatic irony, suspense, and/or flashbacks

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Create a smooth progression of experiences or events that is logical and engaging

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Use precise and detailed words, phrases, and sensory language to convey a vivid picture

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3.b. ​Narrative​ - ​Use narrative techniques, such as dialogue, pacing, description, reflection, and multiple plot lines, to develop experiences, events, and/or characters.

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Develop experiences, events, and/or characters and to clearly develop a purposeful theme

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Use ​purposefully narrative techniques such as foreshadowing, dramatic irony, suspense, and/or flashbacks in a ​highly effective manner​ ​to create an original plot structure

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3.c​. ​Organization​ - ​Use a variety of techniques to sequence events so that they build on one another to create a coherent whole. 8.5

3.d.​ ​Language​ - ​Use precise words and phrases, telling details, and sensory language to convey a vivid picture of the experiences, events, setting, and/or characters. 9

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Create a smooth progression of experiences or events that is logical, ​creative, and sophisticated ​and that uses ​highly engaging devices

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Use precise, detailed and ​sophisticated words, phrases, and sensory language​ to engage the reader ​and convey a​ ​vivid picture

Holczer 5 3.e.​ ​Conclusion​ - ​Provide a conclusion that follows from and reflects on what is experienced, observed, or resolved over the course of the narrative. 9

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Provide a conclusion that reflects on what is experienced, observed, or resolved

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Provide a conclusion that reflects on what is experienced, observed, or resolved

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Extends the meaning and purpose to connect to the audience ​and​ ​convey a complex and original theme

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Extends the meaning to convey a theme