Samantha Naso

Angela Miss
UWRITE 1104
1/31/17

The work you put in is the reward you receive. This common theme is apparent within

my college application essay. I began this paper stating that Sunrise Day Camp was never meant

to become a life changing experience yet somehow it drastically became one. I mention my

seemingly innate quality of humor had become my key to survival this past summer. (Naso

1) This was a very apparent that I use to surprise the reader with a statement of contrast.

Although humor and surviving seem to be very different concepts, I combined them to form a

complex idea of using a strength, no matter how bizarre, as a coping method. I had never realized

being funny would affect my life so drastically, yet somehow it allowed me to not only help

myself, but around 600 children each year. Within my essay, I tell a story about one of my

campers. He was diagnosed with childhood cancer a year prior and had asked for my help with

sunscreen before pool time. Within the essay I state, a little boy approached me and handed me

a bottle of sunscreen. Please make sure you cover my whole head! he informed me. As I began

to lather the sunscreen on his bald head, I found myself holding back tears.. Later, I realize the

purpose for including such a passage. It is to not only raise pediatric cancer awareness or to tell a

story, it is to inform the reader on the great differences they can make. This essay is about the

impact we unknowingly have on the lives of others.

I placed literary devices were strategically within this essay to help the reader become

aware of this message. Contrast is used to illustrate the conditions of the children before and

after working with them. Within my essay, I write, My stomach dropped as I began to notice all

of the markings on each of their bodies. Cuts, stitches, and scars, left as battle wounds. A

permanent reminder of their fight and desire for survival. Suddenly, I realized why I was hired in

the first place. It was my desire to make people laugh, to make them smile. (Naso 1) This is a
Samantha Naso
Angela Miss
UWRITE 1104
1/31/17
useful rhetorical device because it shows the difference once can make in a childs life,

especially in this case a child battling cancer. Although the quotation begins with negative,

disturbing imagery, as the reader continues reading they begin to find hope. Aporia is a second

rhetorical device used within the text. I used aporia to keep the text personable and truthful. To

be honest, I was originally very scared to work with these children based on their appearance and

reputation of being so fragile. Luckily, I proved that this was not the case by then explaining how

normal the camp began seeming. Within the essay I state, All of a sudden everything seemed

to make sense, why I was here and what I was supposed to do. Just as the clown appears in the

ring to distract the bull from the bullfighter, my job was to distract these young campers from the

pain, sadness and loss in their lives. To give them a summer of normalcy, whatever that could

be to a child with cancer. At that moment, I promised myself that I would commit every ounce of

energy that I had to give these children a wonderful summer. I remember giving piggyback rides,

leading group chants and diving into the freezing cold pool, just to make my group of children

smile. (Naso 2) I reveal how there was nothing to worry about at all. The children were at this

summer camp to be treated as normal children so it was almost wrong of me to think otherwise.

Although I explain how sick the children were, I also explain how lively and excited they were at

summer camp. This irony is important because it draws attention to how special Sunrise Day

Camp is within the lives of these children.

Within this essay, I also refer to the difference in discourses Ive faced. Last summer, I

willingly pulled myself out of my primary discourse to then assist those raised differently.

Referring back to my experience sun screening that child, this quotation allows the reader to

understand how normalized that task had become to that child. He has grown up within a world

where he needs assistance sun screening himself, especially due to his lack of hair and inability
Samantha Naso
Angela Miss
UWRITE 1104
1/31/17
to receive extra radiation from the sun. I describe this normalization as a shock and intentionally

began mushfaking my way through my job until it felt natural. I supply the text with examples of

my changing discourse and my newfound pride in my own ability to adapt and mushfake. Once

children with childhood cancer are brought up, the audience can tell that this paper will leave

them emotional and will contain elements of pathos. Contrast is also used once again within this

paper. I tell jokes and lighten the mood of the essay, only to then bring up images of sickly

children. This not only contrasts but evokes emotion and surprise within the reader. Shortly after,

I use this literary device to energize and encourage happiness. While writing this paper, I stayed

aware of the audiences feelings yet unafraid to change the mood to express emotion.

Towards the end of the story, I feel its apparent that I find my identity. I use the

motivational experience of working at Sunrise Day Camp to then allow the audience to

understand the benefits of volunteering and the effects they can have on others. I also uses pathos

as a way to persuade the audience in participating in similar tasks due to the rewarding

experience she had. From a rhetorically analytic viewpoint, I feel the I approached this lesson not

as a teacher but as a fellow student. Im not commanding the audience to go out and give back to

the community, but instead Im simply explaining the positive experiences Ive had. The

audience can be addressed as anyone who will listen. Since the purpose of this entire passage is

to inform others on the great experiences they can inflict onto others, anyone can be considered

the targeted audience.

This rhetorical analysis has given me a different view within my own writing. It has

forced me to step out of my position as an author and look at the work I create from a completely

different perspective. I feel it is always at first uncomfortable to review ones own writing but at

the same time, I understand why it is beneficial. For one to completely understand themselves as
Samantha Naso
Angela Miss
UWRITE 1104
1/31/17
a writer, they must be able to comprehend why theyve been writing in the first place. Looking

back at an essay I wrote, I realized what a reflection this writing was on my life at the time. I

remember originally starting this piece of work as a journal entry and then expanding upon it

until it had formed an essay. By transitioning from a personal journal entry to a public essay, the

audience of this text has changed immensely. Instead of just writing to myself, this essay now

addresses the public. The audience has become much more generalized and the purpose is left up

to the interpretation. One idea Ive taken away from this paper is that writing evolves and grows.

Although text can originally be meant for one purpose, as the idea develops the message now can

evolve.
Samantha Naso
Angela Miss
UWRITE 1104
1/31/17
Work Cited

Naso, Samantha. College Essay. College Application Essay. Northport High School.

Northport, NY. October 10th, 2015.

The Purdue OWL Family of Sites. The Writing Lab and OWL at Purdue and Purdue U, 2008,

owl.english.purdue.edu/owl. Accessed 23 Apr. 2008.