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Bryan Sandifer

Ms. Jizi

UWRT 1103

19 February 2018

Past Authoring/Personal Essay

I joined the FFA my freshman year of high school. As a freshman I did not know much

about anything, even if I thought I did. The FFA was a welcoming place that I could feel at

home. By the end of the first year I felt as though it was my family, I knew everyone, and

everyone knew me. The FFA was not just a family but also a place for opportunity. I was eager

to see what else the club had to offer.

The leadership opportunities that FFA offered were life changing. I was lucky enough to

become chapter vice-president the beginning of my junior year of high school until the end of my

senior year. Being vice-president was one of the biggest character building opportunities I had

every ben a part of. My junior year, every officer on the officer team was new. This does not

happen very often because a past officer would run again, this did not happen that year. My

fellow officers and I had a lot to learn and we were on a mission to do so. We are had a passion

for agriculture and wanted to do the best we could. The biggest learning curve for us was how to

work together as a team. This was the first leadership team I had ever been on. My good friend,

Ethan Sprinkle, was president at the time and was dedicated to make us the best officer team we

could be. Throughout the year we worked through many struggles. Our biggest struggle was

scheduling. All the officers were very academically inclined individual with busy lives outside of

school. This caused a lot of problems when we tried to schedule something. The most
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memorable event where we had a disagreement was when we were making the schedule for the

upcoming school year. As we sat on the bus on the way back from FFA camp, we discussed

when people could do what. One officer was seeming to disagree with everything we said. She

had her phone out looking at her calendar and as soon as we would say a date she would say she

could not do it. This continued for quite some time until we told her that she would just have to

miss the event. There comes a time when you must put aside your own needs and look at the

needs of the club. The rest of the time we were very productive, getting most of the years

activities planned out. Some event had to wait to be added such as the dates for some Career

Development Events (CDE). As we completed this task we are had a good feeling about the

upcoming year.

The upcoming school year with my new officer team was one for the books. We were in

charge all the members, about 100 students. This was one of the most rewarding parts. I got to

know many wonderful individuals. One that still sticks in my mind is a kid named Kody. He

suffered from a mental illness, but he did not let it stop him from participating in everything he

could. Kody would attend every FFA meeting, sitting on the first row and jumping on any

chance he had to take part in an activity. One meeting we had to pair up for the team building

activity, Kody did not have a partner, so I had the privilege of being his. The activity was to draw

a scene on your paper then turning your back to your partner and have them draw what you did

but only by you describing it to them. Kody, being the creative guy, he was, drew a dog and a

tree. I got pretty close to what he drew but he was not the best with giving directions. Kody had

the best heart, he was not the best listener in the world, but he would try his best. Kody had a

heart we all wish we could have.

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Having opportunities through the FFA have really helped me build my character. I am

thankful for the way that FFA influenced the way I look at life. The people, experiences, and

friends I made will stick with me forever.

Peer Feedback - UWRT 1103- Jizi-Spring 2018

Date: ____________________________

Reader’s Name _____Ashley Quiroz_______

Writer’s Name _______Bryan __________

Three Step Response

1. Velcro Words/Phrases:
“one for the books”
“feel at home”
“Character”
“leadership”
“privilege of being his”
“ had a heart, we all wish we could have”

2. Feelings:
Curious; glad; warm

3.Questions:

What is FFA? Why did you take the jump to join the FFA?
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Criterion-Based Response

Highlight examples of each of the four elements of the personal essay using the following colors:

Personal presence of the author

An engagement between self and the world

The Author’s Exploration and Self-Discovery

The Need to Both Show and Tell

You can access details about Peer Feedback in this Google Presentation.

Copy and paste this document to the bottom of the essay you are reading and then upload when you
have completed the peer review as directed by Canvas.
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Work Cited