While other Barstow classes jump into material as school starts, senior English classes hold off on it. Instead of discussing their summer reading or new books like previous years, seniors have been focusing more on their personal essays in English class. Centering the curriculum around personal essays for the first month ensures that the class’s essays for college applications will be strong.
“It’s been really helpful having a lot of teachers open to the editing process,” says Senior Brett Gieras (‘23). “I had Mr. Luce look over my essay, and he helped me a lot with just making sure that it looked good before I sent it off to my college of choice.”
The college essay process started at the beginning of the school year. The first draft was due the second week of school. Students then read their college essays in class, and their peers gave them feedback. In the following weeks, students met individually with their teachers to talk about their college essays and how they could improve them.
These are also called personal essays, and most colleges require them in a student’s application. These days, it seems that everyone has strong academics and curriculars. Thus, these personal narratives are important now more than ever. The writing sample can not only give colleges a good idea of a student’s writing skills, but also let colleges know more about the student’s character, beliefs, and experiences.
Unlike most essays students have written in their high school career, these essays really have no set prompt. People can write about anything. The essay should just tell colleges what they should know about you. Since this can be the factor that sets them apart from other applicants, students are encouraged to choose topics very unique to them.
Senior Anita Mohan (‘23) wrote about how she eats peanuts only when she peels them herself. She tied this habit to how she compartmentalizes her life and reduces anxiety.
Mohan says, “I wrote about something weird that I do that other people don’t do, and I thought, ‘Oh, yeah, I only eat peanuts when I pop them open myself.”
Some students tied their personal essays to what they want to study in college. For example, Gieras wants to study art history in college, so she talked about the art of cross stitching in her essay. She has been involved in cross stitching since middle school, while the average cross stitcher is 66, three times her age. Gieras tied these unique aspects to her academic journey.
“I didn’t want to make it a sappy story because I feel like that’s what a lot of people do,” says Gieras. “I think just making it more happy is going to be a little different.”
Indeed, many people write about their painful experiences in their essays. This is understandable since pain does shape our lives. However, this does not mean that it is a good essay topic. The English teachers heeded students to avoid certain topics related to pain, such as generic sports injury stories.
“Students often miss the forest through the trees. Students will talk about an event rather than giving a personal story,” warns Dr. Jonathan Root, senior English teacher. “We need to know something about the person writing the essay.”
Although students will not work on the essays in class anymore, teachers are still available to help them individually with their personal narrative and supplemental essays. If you are a senior, you can email Ms. Ganter, Mr. Luce, Dr. Root, or Ms. Zimmerman to schedule a conference to discuss your essays.
“I think they do a good job, and it’s nice having someone tell you if your ideas are bad,” quips Mohan.
