Jessica Polina

May 25, 2019

AP Literature

AP Lit Capstone

Throughout the years that I’ve spent in high school, I enjoyed writing just about anything

such as in journals, letters, appreciation notes, and poems. For a long period of time now I’ve

tended to write on past experiences. That’s how I started journaling during my freshman year.

As a writer, I am inspired to write from past experiences or to give something out to my

reader that will allow them to visualize whatever I would like them to visualize. Past

experiences whether they are good or bad come in handy when you’d like to give

advice to others. A lot of things that I write about for example, in my journal, I write

about my past experiences. I consider every past experience a life lesson. And I like

allowing people to hear my stories, whether they can relate or use my advice in the

future.

In my sophomore and junior year, I have grown mentally and physically especially

through my writing. I have become more organized especially​ being able to reach my

own potential and becoming a better writer by having required practice in and out of
school. I began to write a private journal for myself just like I do now in AP Lit. My

journal has allowed me to go back and realize my growth and go back through good

and bad memories. For my 20 Time project, I had options to write either a short story,

poems, and etc. I chose to write a memoir about my childhood with my best friend and

how the time went by so fast that everything changed unexpectedly. While writing my

memoir, I let myself open up and tell the story of how my life had changed and the

passing of a loved one who I considered my best friend.

B​efore this year, I could never be so thorough and detailed with any past event

that I have experienced. Being able to write about any topic and continuing to practice

allowed me to improve my writing with what I had learned from class such as the use of

figurative language, metaphors, and repetition. Presenting my writing to a few of my

peers had me be able to get them to understand my mindset before and after when I

had someone that I had loved so much and lost that person unexpectedly.

My goal while writing my memoir was being able to have my audience either

relate or get a portrayed image of what my story was about. Now that my class and I are

working on our magazine for our best writing from the year, we’ve been able to realize

how far we’ve come and the improvement that has been demonstrated in our work. I am

proud of how much I have improved because this will help me in the future while in

college and studying into becoming an English teacher for my future career.
 I only hope to grow more in college and shape myself as a better person as well

as learn more in order to become a writer.