Letter to Me

November 2, 2012

Dear Sixteen Year Old Amanda,

            You love being challenged and learning new things. Take on your junior and senior year in a way that will make you proud of yourself because you only get one chance to do it right. Start with a better attitude, do not make excuses and realize your actions have consequences. Follow the steps below and when you look back you will be free of any kind of regret.

            First of all, it is important that you get yourself into the right frame of mind in order to be successful and happy during your last two years of high school. Improve your outlook on things and be less pessimistic and you will automatically produce better outcomes for yourself. Having a bad attitude and being negative about situations you encounter will only stunt your success. Similarly, listen to your mom’s advice and do not take her words for criticism; she knows what she is talking about. This is the time to realize your actions have consequences and some of the decisions you make today will have lasting effects. Stop making excuses and being lazy, and always remember that anything worth having is worth working for. Think of a goal and work towards it with everything you have. Most of all, enjoy your senior year. Try complaining less and appreciating what you have and all of the people around you more. Take advantage of the time you have right now so you do not have regrets about time that you wasted later on.

            By the same token, your study habits are something that needs your attention. The most important thing you can do as you begin your junior year is to study for the ACT. Your scores need to reflect what you know so that you can go into the correct classes during your freshman year of college. In March, when you take your ACT, do not forget your calculator at home. The test is timed and it is the best tool you can have there with you. When you get your first ACT scores back, work to improve them. Find time in your busy schedule and take an ACT preparatory course. Re-take the test when you are ready. A close second in importance to the ACT’s are your online classes. Take those classes even more seriously than your regular classes. Do not rush through the assignments you are given just to finish the class. Read everything you are assigned and complete your work for understanding. Now is the best time to realize that an A in the class does not mean anything, unless you have learned something. The grades you receive will come and go but what you take away from the class is valuable and will stay with you through the years. Flashcards will be the best study tool for you to utilize. Writing things down and repeating them helps you to understand concepts and memorize facts that will come in handy on your final exams.

            Above all, follow my advice regarding your senior year. Whatever you do, avoid coming down with senioritis. Build up your immune system with motivation, goals and hard-work. Do not wait until the end of the school year to start thinking about how you are going to pay for college. Apply early, complete your FAFSA on January 1^st and submit an application for every scholarship you can find. Get in the habit of planning ahead now so that your freshman year of college is not a shock. As a side note, you do not have to be a people-pleaser. Do not be afraid to tell people you are too busy to do things because you have to study. Make time for yourself and do not feel guilty about it. Avoid stress and drama whenever you can. As a rule, focus on your future.

            In the long run, hard work always pays off. When you start your freshman year of college you will be well-prepared for the task ahead of you. The academic accomplishments you make can never be taken away from you. 

Sincerely,

Your Older Self 

Reflection of the Advertisement Redesign Assigment

Redesigning the Simon G. engagement ring ad was a fun assignment that I learned a lot from. Initially I was worried about how I was going to accomplish such a big overhaul in only one week. I felt overwhelmed at first but the redesign paper ended up being a great way for me to learn how to be creative and analytic at the same time.

I looked through three different magazines that have mainly female audiences before deciding on the Simon G. engagement ring advertisement in Cosmopolitan magazine. A lot of advertisements that I was considering at first were really well-designed and used all three rhetorical appeals effectively. On the other hand, the Simon G. advertisement was very simple and direct. As I began to plan out the project in my head, I came to the conclusion that redesigning a more complex ad that was effective at selling their product, and used the three rhetorical appeals well, would be very difficult. I thought I may have a stronger analysis and an easier time reconstructing the ad if it was basic.

Organization was the most difficult challenge I faced while writing my essay. Unlike other papers I have written in the past, it was hard for me to determine what order the paragraphs should go in. At the time I felt overwhelmed because I had so much information to include, in specific detail, but the flow of the paper did not come naturally. To overcome my initial challenges, I visited the Writing Center to get advice on how to organize my paper in a logical way while using professional language that would appeal the intended audience of the essay. The writing center was a helpful tool that allowed me to better grasp the assignment guidelines and see the organization of the paper objectively.

My favorite part about the assignment was allowing myself to be creative but analytical at the same time. I enjoyed the challenge of writing my paper in the third person voice while explaining what the new advertisement would look like. The extra credit opportunity, which was also a challenge to begin with, was another fun part of the assignment. I do not consider myself to be a creative person but I was surprised and pleased with the redesign that I came up with and was able to execute using Photoshop.

When we first learned about the rhetorical appeals as a class I was confused by them and how they are used in everyday life. It is important for things that I learn to have a logical use otherwise I lose interest quickly. The advertisement redesign project gave me an opportunity to better understand the rhetorical appeals and use them to create my new advertisement. The best thing that came from the redesign paper was being able to practice applying the rhetorical appeals to something common, like an advertisement. I was not only able to see the logical use of rhetoric but I was able to apply my newly learned skills and practice them while I created a fun new advertisement.

If I was able to rewrite the essay I would choose a different advertisement. The ad I chose was so simple I ended up being unable to meet the length requirement. There was little content from the original advertisement to analyze so I came up short in the end. Although my analysis was thorough, it was simple like the ad. If I was able to rewrite the paper, I would surely pick something that had more to analyze and that used all three rhetorical appeals. Looking back on the assignment it would not have been more difficult to redesign an advertisement that was already a strong showcase of the product because the point of the redesign was to gear it towards a different audience altogether. I am happy with the final result of both my essay and the redesigned advertisement but in hindsight a more complicated advertisement would have better suited me.