Will Connor

Furan
English 12 Honours
May 6, 2016
Senior Writing Project
Progress. If there could be one word to describe mankinds short time on this planet, it
would be progress. Since the dawn of man as Neanderthals in the Stone Age, learning to generate
their own fire, to the scientist of the modern post-industrial world meticulously crafting
miniscule circuitry, every development more compact and powerful than the last. The first ingot
of bronze hammered to a point replaced by the complex powder forged super steels of today.
Huts of mud, sticks, and clay advancing with new materials and architecture to be replaced by
towering obelisks of glass and metal. Year by year humans have developed new and better
technologies and ideas through experience and learning. The individual is not so different. One
spends years of his/ her life dedicated to knowledge, spending hours each day to advance what
one knows or can do. We are each a microcosm for the persistence of mankind, never yielding
and questing for something greater. The four years one spends in high school is an exquisite
example of this. Students progress leaps and bounds each year as they move up through the
classes, each more demanding than the last. Looking back on my writing work from these past
four years has shown me just how big a difference those years can make. The times of simple
wording and grammatical errors recede into the past, and we begin to weave more complex
works of prose.

The depth of my vocabulary has flourished during my high school career. Reading my
older works the wording is somewhat repetitive and uninspired, displaying a previous lack of
knowledge. However, the rigorous vocabulary lessons administered in my classes, and the
introduction to higher levels of literature has built on this base, expanding my vocabulary to new
horizons. One assignment from my 9th grade year is an exemplary example of my undeveloped
vocabulary. The assignment required one to recount a previous life experience. This entailed
painting a picture in a readers mind, a task done most effectively with a plethora of detailed
adjectives to truly help one envision the experience. Despite this goal, there is a clear lack of
inspiration in the wording of the document. The descriptions of specific sights in this moment all
have a sameness about them, blending together and wholly failing to convey the awe and
grandeur I had experienced at that moment. This more developed vocabulary is not only
beneficial to school writing projects, but in applications it also helps to better convey ones ideas,
and on tests such as the SAT and ACT large portions are reliant on an individuals vocabulary.
Exposure to classical masterworks of literature, and the teaching received in class, has
also contributed to my writing ability. Learning from my teachers and absorbing prose and
poetry written by some of historys most influential authors, Homer, Thomas Hardy, and
Nathaniel Hawthorne, among others, has shown me what proper writing is. These great authors
were experts in fluid wording and projecting images into a readers mind, a skill anyone should
like to perfect. While nowhere near this level of skill, it has helped me develop smoother writing
techniques through proper sentence structure and grammar. Earlier argumentative essays are
pieces that would have benefited most from these skills, as they are meant to be presented. When
presented in an eloquent fashion the point of an argument can be made far more clear and
persuasive. Essays from my first year of high school do not display this, they are either too

choppy, with sentences failing to transition smoothly, and certain parts run on for far too long.
Striving to seem more like the aforementioned authors, my essays have become more seamless
and develop stronger arguments. Such as an argument wherein a fellow classmate and I debated
whether or not Gatsby, the titular character in F. Scott Fitzgeralds The Great Gatsby, turned out
alright. We each presented our arguments to the class, and one put to vote it was determined
that I had managed the more powerful argument of the two.
Despite all the advances I feel I have made, there is no doubt that I will progress further
yet. At the least, four additional years of schooling lie ahead of me and each is sure to build upon
the existing knowledge I have previously described. I have grown to quite enjoy reading, and
will continue to do so, learning even more from the works of professional and classical authors.
Even beyond my schooling there will likely be many opportunities to expand my writing
capabilities. As an individual I will never cease to advance myself, as it is the way of mankind to
continually grow and develop into something greater still.