Ethan Jones

5 September 2019

Tori Halbert

Dear Tori,

I will say my name again in case no one knows. I am Ethan Jones and I’m from Montgomery,

Alabama. Two things I want everyone to know about me is that I’m determined and I love

music. I love and appreciate the process that goes into making a piece of music. I actually have a

keyboard under my bed in my dorm room because I like to produce and make music. But the

academic habits of mind I plan on focusing are: be open to new ideas, be creative, engage, and

take responsibility. I plan to utilize these things the best way I can this semester.

I would not say I have had a great deal of experience of writing, but more or less composing. Of

course I have written numerous essays and papers for school, but not anything major. The

majority of my composition history is music composition whether it being arranging different

parts for instrument ensembles or original music and projects on my computer. I actually started

out by messing around with GarageBand on my phone. Then, in the 10th grade, I received an

opportunity to write and arrange songs for my school’s pep band. When the season was over I

continued to write and put together projects. As I began to grow and progress my skills I started

getting friends to rap and sing over my music for just fun. I started to take this more seriously,

and reach out to older artists and producers for their expertise on things I may or may not have
known at that particular time. As of today I am more confident than I have ever been in my

music skills, and I would like to take them to the next level.

I do not feel any one way about writing. I enjoy the creative thinking of ideas that go into

writing, but I feel the opposite when it comes to actually writing and drafting the paper. I would

like to think that I am a creative person and that it shows up in my writing. The main

improvement I want my writing to have is being able to develop ideas much quicker than what I

do and to be able to do it efficiently. I also would like to be able to illustrate and interpret my

ideas in a more creative and different way.

The academic habits of mind, or goals, I plan to focus on are be open to new ideas, be creative,

engage, and take responsibility. I would like to use these and build them off of each other. I most

definitely plan on becoming actively open to new ideas and ways of thinking; that is simply why

most people go to college. In order to do that I feel as if I would need to meet as many and

diverse people as I could, and be accepting and willing to work their ideas and be able to think

from their point of view. The next step is to be creative, which should not be hard for me, but I

would absolutely like to continue to grow because complacency is the enemy to success.

Building off of the first habit and being open to new ideas, is great way to be creative in my own

right by sharing and implementing different ideas. In order to follow the first two habits the next

step I must take is to engage. Without engaging and putting myself out there I will never give

myself a chance to grow and expand as a writer and a person in general. Once I am open to new

ideas, being creative, and engaging the next step is to take responsibility. I am basically an adult

now, and taking responsibility goes beyond more than just academics, but in all aspects of my
life. I also need to take responsibility because if I follow the three habits then I would need to

own up and take credit for my decisions, whether good or bad.

I write this letter not as something I hope to do, but something I will accomplish. I am setting my

goals and ambitions high for not just this semester but this year. Until then, I will keep working

and striving towards my goal and beyond!

Roll Tide,

Ethan Jones