25, April 2019

Dear to whom this may concern,

On this day two glorious things happened in Hailey Hamrick’s timeline of life. She was born and
she also completed her Comp two class. Although, you are allowed to have your own opinion,
one of them is a much bigger accomplishment than the other. Comp two was not the easiest for
me. I have not found my educative strengths yet in my first year of college. I definitely am not a
excellent math superstar, I leave biology lab feeling less intelligent every time, and when I think
I did good on a piece of my writing, I usually ended up doing poorly. In spite of, if I had to pick
my writing strengths and weaknesses they would be, I am well at picking topics I am passionate
about and I am unfortunately not the best with my vocabulary skills. I can normally pick a topic
that I feel strongly about, which makes it easier for me to crank out the essay as a whole but that
can be a weakness because if I am required to write about something I am not passionate about, I
struggle. My vocabulary skills are not my strong suit because I seem to struggle with wording
things and using good word choice. I know both of these good and bads of mine are things that
are fixable and will get better with time and effort. Therefore, my writing has changed as I have
caught onto my pros and cons of my writing assignments. In highschool, I did not write many
essays, maybe two. In my past two courses in Comp one and two, I have learned for my style,
outlines are beneficial to me as a writer.

Continuing, I chose these four pieces of my work for various reasons. The first piece of writing
was because this essay is a life principle that I live by, I pride myself in being happy most of the
time. Although, I am not naive to think that everyone can be in a happy mood 24/7, but I believe
happiness is a mindset and we should all strive to complete that mindset to the best of our ability.
I found this certain piece of writing important to put in my portfolio because it represents what I
believe in and who I am as an overall person.

My second essay is the Gigla-Bass piece. I chose this particular one because it was one of the
harder essays I have had to write due to me struggling in this class. I do not find ancient arts and
cultures very interesting and I struggled to find which topics to choose from to start this essay. I
ended up cranking it out once I got it started because I incorporated one of my favorite tv show
characters from one of my all time best loved television series. As stated previously, one of my
strong suits is writing about things I am interested in. Even though this class was not my most
adored subject, I still found a way to involve something that I love to make it more enjoyable for
me. I appreciated this assignment more after it was completed because I had fun comparing two
characters from completely different time areas and subjects. It is interesting to view how two
lives can be so similar as well as opposite.

Another one of my pieces was the Roman Inventions piece. I have always been fascinated with
the Roman Empire and that era. I have had two history courses that have covered the Roman
Empire and I enjoyed learning about them and their fascinating discoveries. It was at a time that I
had been struggling with an overabundant work load of homework and was not looking forward
to it. I ended up getting a upright grade for that essay and I was pleased with pushing myself with
getting out of my comfort zone because I have not completed many history essays and was not
expecting a good grade on this piece at all. This outcome just proves to my first piece of work,
that happiness is a mindset. If I would have had a better mindset about this topic, I might have
even done better than I did. Overall, this essay brought me out of my comfort zone and taught me
valuable lessons.

Nextly, my final piece was the letter of higher education. This piece is dear to my heart because
I am wanting to be a teacher in the future. I have always despised state testing and the ACT. I
dreaded testing dates every year. I know what it is like to have test anxiety first hand. I still
remember when I was in eighth grade, my English teacher let me eat animal crackers while
taking the state test for that particular subject. She understood how much I disliked testing and
how it made me feel. I chose this piece because I feel passionate about the education system. I
also adore letters. My grandma and I write letters back and forth to each other every week even
though we talk on the phone once a week as well. I have always received getting mail and letters
since I have been a child. Writing about my passions and views on this subject that I care dearly
about, made me feel like my opinion matters. Even though, I do not know if my letter was read
or not, it still gave me a clear mind that I got my thoughts on paper and gave it to someone who
can potentially do something about it.

In conclusion, I have been shaped into the writer that I am because of these four pieces of my
work. This portfolio reflects on me as a writer because I have learned from many mistakes such
as not procrastinating until ten to start an important essay that is due at midnight and learning
different, little but important mistakes such as the proper way to do a works cited page. I have
never excelled at any math course since the fifth grade and I have also never been the greatest at
writing either. Although, writing is a better subject for because because there is no special
formula to getting an A. I personally have to write from the heart. I enjoy writing about things
that I am passionate about. It is a way to express myself in any type of form. Even though, I
chose four pieces of my writing that are completely different they still all are from me. A Hailey
Hamrick original. These four pieces were apart of my passions, dreams, interests, and time. In
writing, you may be given a rubric on what that particular professor wants and is looking for, but
you will still be able to make it your own, to make your mark on that paper. I am currently
furthering my studies in the fall at Oklahoma State University and my major is elementary
education. I plan to teach kindergarteners, despite that five year olds do not write annotated
bibliographies or four page essays, I will use the lessons and tips I learned in my further career. I
will be taking creative writing in the summer, and will have to put forth my knowledge of what I
have learned in composition one and two, and ancient arts and cultures into that class as well.
This class overall has prepared me for my future writing skills that I will need to have. I enjoyed
this course and look forward to receiving feedback on the things I need to fix for my future
writings.

Thank you for taking the time to read this,

Hailey Hamrick
615 N Monroe St 
Stillwater, OK 74076