Reflective Pieces

Hello Everyone! My name is Tiffany Bennett and I am 27 years young. I have experienced much, I would say too much, in my young life. This is my first quarter at Everett Community College and it has involved overcoming many obstacles to get to this point. I was a good student in high school, when I actually tried, but I became pregnant at 15 and a mom at 16 which lead to me dropping out when I was just a few credits shy of graduating. Before I dropped out, I was in the running start program at Edmonds CC. I enjoyed it, but because I dropped out of high school, I had to drop out of college. I then spent the next 11 years of my life working no less than 40 hours a week and working my way up the management chain at various fast food restaurants and eventually a video store until being laid off at the end of last year. In 2006, I had a beautiful daughter named Lily. She was the light of my life, but tragically passed away 11/30/2008. Since then, my perception of life has taken a drastic change, I believe, for the better. Before, I wanted to spend time with my family, but didn’t try hard enough to make that my number one priority. I often spent more of my time working than anything else. I now want to focus primarily on my family now and in the future. So after my tragic loss and me being laid off from my job, I decided now was the perfect time to go to college so I can get a career that will allow me to work from home or at least not work so many hours. I have always been an analytical person and I love math, so that has lead me to study to get a transfer degree to Central Washington University in Computer Information Systems. I have faith that my daughter is smiling down on me and is happy that I’m trying to make a better life for myself.

Before starting this course, English 98, I was hesitant because I have never been a fan of English, but I had a bit of hope being that I always seem to do well at it anyway. I surprised myself this quarter by the ability of my writing, especially after being out of school for 11 years. I thought I wouldn’t do so great because of not being in school so long, but I ended up getting good grades on all my assignments which gave me more confidence. It was a rocky start to being able to write with a good flow, but it soon came easy. But I learned that I had a lot to learn when it came to punctuation….that dang comma! The comma has been a persistent challenge throughout this quarter, but I am slowly getting better. Another thing that I have learned is how to write in third person. It was a challenge at first but as time has passed, it has become second nature while writing essays. I also have discovered that I am pretty good at summarizing, something that I have never tried before.

A fact that may astonish you is that I have not read a book since I was 15 years old! But just in this first quarter, I have read two for this class. The book, Three Cups of Tea, was an interesting read at first, but I lost interest toward the end. The book just became semi repetitive and boring. Even though I did not enjoy the second half of the book, I cannot deny how much it changed my point of view on people of the Middle East. I have a new found respect for different cultures. The second book we read was The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. I found this book to be an interesting read, and again it widened my perception on different cultures. Prior to reading these books, I didn’t know much about the Middle Eastern or Indian culture. I now am somewhat knowledgeable about them, which results in a better understanding of people and their differences.

During this English class, we were asked to partake in what is called Service Learning, which is kind of like community service. I chose to help out with a program called Community Meals through First Baptist Church of Everett. Almost every Friday night I would go down to the church and help prepare their Friday Dinner for people in need and then help serve the dinner. It was a good opportunity to experience different walks of life. It definitely increased my thankfulness for what I have and how fortunate I really am.

So as my first quarter of college comes to an end, I have gathered four of what I would consider to be my best pieces of work from English 98. These pieces show my ability as a writer, as well as my growth. My first piece is our first major writing assignment, a compare/contrast essay, which I did about fast paced work environment compared to slow paced. I feel I did a good job especially being the first essay of the quarter. My next piece is our second essay, a definition essay, in which I defined what the word ‘Success’ means to me. This one was close to my heart. My third piece is a summary of “Two Ways to View a River”. It was the first summary I have ever done, and I discovered I do well at. My final piece was the very first assignment of the quarter, An Inventory of Being, which was like a poem about who I am and my likes and dislikes. I really enjoyed this one because it let me express myself in a way I have never done before.

I have learned a lot from this class and I now feel more confident as I go on to Eng 101 & 102. Thank you for taking the time to read my thoughts, and I hope you enjoy reading my writing pieces!