20 June 2019

Portfolio Committee
Northern Oklahoma College
English Department
1118 West Hall of Fame
Stillwater, Oklahoma 74074

Dear Mrs. Davis,

I present to you a collection of writings selected from class assignments that I have completed
over the past year. Each piece that I have chosen to include in my portfolio was written for either
Composition I or Composition II. To me, they are more than just assignments that had to be
completed and turned in for a grade. These artifacts offer insight into my beliefs, life
experiences, and college-level writing skills. They represent an opportunity that I was given as a
high school student to get a head-start on my college career and be challenged by more advanced
courses. They are a product of my determination, my eagerness to learn, and of the knowledge
and understanding of English Composition that I have gained from this experience. The topic of
each work was based on my own interests and passions in order to efficiently convey a
thoughtful message. Although you have previously reviewed two of the following pieces, I hope
you delight in reading over each one.

The first artifact that I chose to include in my portfolio is a narrative that I composed for my
Composition I class. This was my first ever college writing assignment. It narrates the series of
events leading up to the unexpected loss of my aunt. This piece demonstrates my ability to write
a story based on personal experience in chronological order. While writing this essay, I was able
to reflect on the situation presented in the story and connect it to a lesson that I learned from it.
The second writing sample is an argumentative essay, which was the last assignment I did for
Composition I before my final exam. The topic of public education in this essay is one that I am
very passionate about, as far as its correlation to unauthorized immigration. Since this subject
affects my family directly, I was completely devoted to my research. I chose this piece to
accompany the first artifact to demonstrate my growth as a writer throughout my first college
course. It was an essay that truly challenged me, as it was my first time constructing a research
paper and citing sources. I overcame the challenge and completed an essay that leaves me
astonished when I read it to this day. It demonstrates my ability to make a claim and defend my
position with reliable facts and information. The third writing sample is my “This I Believe”
essay that I wrote for the Composition II proctored exam. In this piece, I presented my previous
idea of success and explained how it has changed over the years. I decided to incorporate this
essay in my portfolio because it demonstrates my ability to compose an essay with the added
pressure of a two-hour time limit. It also shows that I can express my ideas and effectively, and
offer a meaningful perspective of success. My fourth and final selection is my letter to a person
of authority, written for Composition II. In this letter to President Donald Trump, I addressed the
increase in college dropouts over the years, offered reasons as to why this is occurring, and
proposed solutions to the problem. As a high school student who intends to pursue a college
education, my goal is to graduate from college, not drop out of it. With this letter, I wanted to
ensure that students who aspire to earn a college degree, and have the potential and drive to do
so, have everything that they need to get to where they want to be. This piece shows my ability
to write to a person of influence and authority and to construct a letter in the correct format.

I have grown tremendously as a writer in the past year, and it is partly due to the fact that I have
also grown as a literate person. I have discovered that the more I advance in my education, the
more demanding my teachers and professors are about reading textbooks, articles, or even
novels. I used to question why this was important, and why the mastery of literacy mattered in
subjects like Science, History, and even Composition. However, as Dr. Seuss once said, “The
more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places
you’ll go.” I have found this to be very true! It is not only about obtaining knowledge from the
content that I read, but it is also about learning a variety of sentence structures, construction of
paragraphs, use of vocabulary, grammar, and punctuation. With this in mind, I have been reading
much more than I used to, which has allowed me to become more familiar with different writing
styles and more confident in my writing abilities.

If I had a writer’s toolbox, one thing that I would store in it would be a thesaurus. While it
stresses me out to obsess over word choice, I will occasionally review my papers and replace
“dirty words” by using a thesaurus. Another tool I find important to have is a fresh set of eyes. I
do not mean this literally! I am talking about a person to proof-read my paper and give me
suggestions that will help me improve it. It does not even have to be a person that is physically
next to me! Submitting my papers for review on Tutor.com was so much help throughout this
course, and I will definitely keep that in my toolbox.

Before jumping into this course, I recall one of our first assignments being an email that we sent
to you, introducing ourselves. In said email, you asked that we tell you about our strengths and
weaknesses as writers. I remember mentioning to you that my weaknesses were mainly
overthinking and writer’s block. For this reason, I was extremely nervous about the proctored
exam. Before entering the exam room, I was worried that I would not finish within the time limit
that was set. One of the goals I set for myself when beginning this course was to overcome
writer’s block, stop overthinking, and simply enjoy the writing process. Upon completing that
proctored exam, I realized that I had accomplished that goal! I finished with time to look over
my essay and make the changes necessary. One thing I hope to continue to improve on is my
vocabulary and learning to let go of my perfectionist mindset. Writing is not enjoyable for me
when I stress over making every sentence and paragraph perfect. I plan to take Stephen King’s
advice and first write for me before worrying about the audience.
All in all, I conclude this course with a content heart and renewed confidence in my writing. My
skills have improved significantly and the time I devoted to this course was worthwhile. I am
convinced that I will build upon these skills with time, as they will be beneficial in my journey to
become a Pediatrician. From now and all through my career, writing will and must be a priority.
Awaiting me in my future are research papers, reports, letters, emails, books, and more! While I
am not fully prepared for that yet, I eventually will be! However, I have been told that my
writing is quite advanced for a person my age, which is encouraging to hear! By the time I reach
that season in my life, I hope to be more than ready! And finally, thank you, Mrs. Davis, for
investing your time in us this summer. I appreciated your willingness to answer every single one
of our questions! You organized this class in a way that was more delightful than I expected!
God bless you and enjoy the rest of your summer.

Sincerely,

Vianney Orozco