Shannon Molander

Dear Andrew
R. Andrew Brown
UWRT 1103
8/26/15
Dear Professor Brown,
Hello, my name is Shannon! I dont have a nickname so please call me Shannon or feel
free to make up a nickname for me. Im from New York, and most people think if you are from
New York then you live directly in the Big Apple. Sadly this is not true. I lived in Queens, New
York until I was about seven years old. There I had a park, friends, and thats all my seven year
old mind cared about. My ignorant eyes never realized the crime going on around the
neighborhood. There were no violent crimes happening, but my parents recognized the area was
becoming worse every day. With their three children in mind, my parents moved to the rural area
of Westtown. Westtown is a town nearby the state line of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and New
York. The town is still about two hours from New York City, so we could still go back to see
some family and friends when necessary. I have a corn field in the back yard and an old red farm
is my neighbor. My family has a small four acres of land that ends with a small creek just before
the corn field begins. This is not exactly what people expect to hear when I say Im from New
York. Ultimately, I have to thank my parents today, because I never would have made it to
UNCC if my family had stayed in Queens.

Westtown was a great place to grow up, but I wanted to attend a school extremely far
away. When the time came to apply to schools I didnt have a clue where I wanted to go. All I
knew is that rural New York was too boring for me, amd the Big Apple was too hectic. While
everyone around me was applying to schools nearby like Binghamton, Stony Brook, and East
Stroudsburg I was applying to schools in Florida, Colorado, Virginia, and North Carolina. I
found most of these schools through the online College match quiz, so I knew they would match
my purposes academically. Luckily I received acceptance letters from the majority of schools I
applied to, but the distance I desperately wanted from home stopped me from even visiting the
schools I had set my sights on. My dad and I visited George Mason in Virginia, Wingate in North
Carolina, and finally UNC Charlotte. My top two were George Mason and UNCC. Overall I
loved both campuses, and both schools offered great opportunities. My choice came down to the
overall feeling of the campuses. At George Mason I could feel the stress in the air, and I could
see the panicked unhappy students walking around campus. At UNC Charlotte, although there
were some stressed students, the majority of people on campus looked comfortable and proud to
be a Forty Niner. Many asked about the drive to UNCC but the ten hours in the car were
surprisingly relaxing. I enjoyed seeing the mountains of Virginia, and loved driving on interstate
81, because you see so many different state license plates. Overall, Im glad I picked UNCC,
because the weather and landscape are gorgeous and the people are much nicer than in New
York.
Honestly, I am surprised I had the option to take 1103 writing. At orientation they
explained if we had done very well on the reading portion of the SAT then our papers would say
1103, instead of 1101 or 1102. The day of the SAT exam I hadnt been feeling good and I
coughed all throughout the test. It was just a cold, but at the time I truly thought I was going to

fall asleep. I took the test in a sickly mental fog. Getting the results back was a pleasant shocking
surprise. I am anxious for this course to really begin. I took a college English course in my high
school through our local community college. It could be difficult at times, but I really enjoyed
the challenge. I never tried to transfer the credits because I was already placed in an advanced
course. Looking at the course syllabus I am excited for the group discussions about complex
issues (Brown, Syllabus). The books assigned to the class look interesting. Ive always loved
reading about gods so American Gods will hopefully be an easy read. Ive never experienced a
picture book as a learning tool, and Im interested to apply the pictures in the book to what we
are learning in class. Clearly, I am not a very good writer. I will continue to try throughout the
year to improve, but I have many weak points in my writing, including grammar and punctuation
usage. An interesting fact about me is that my right hand middle finger was broken a few years
ago, and it was never set correctly so it will be crooked forever.

II.
The syllabus has many inspiring quotes, but my favorite is by Rachel Platten. Her song
Fight Song is a modern hit, and I cant take a ride in the car without hearing it at least once. The
line I might have one match, but I can make an explosion is particularly inspirational
because its relatable in many ways. It relates to a teenagers because we dont have many ways to
make a difference because we are still seen as young, but even with limited ways to effect the
world we can still manage to. This is probably on the syllabus to help inspire student. Also, it

could relate to the class by saying we have one chance to get good grades and do well in the class
and to make it count.
III.
The Student Learning Outcome that I believe is most important is Critical Reading. If a
reader can understand the meaning of the text that the author intended then the overall message
can been passed on. I picked this SLO because it allows you to analyze and understand the
authors meaning.
IV.
Would you like us to format our papers in MLA?