Out of a close knit set of seven friends that all acel in their grades, some better than others, I am the only one invited to try for this honor. I have no idea how this happened. I don’t completely understand why I made a better canadate than some of my other classmen, but my teachers seem to understand it well. When I went to them for the reconmendations sheets the “I knew it” and “I’m so happy you did it” bombarded me. One teacher, bless her, chastised me about not being modist while writing this exact essay, that I really need to sell myself for “all that I’m worth”; when I told her that I couldn’t think of anything that really sold me for this perfect student that I’m competing against and she told me to come to her one day and we could …show more content…
Anyone who knows me is aware of how much I love books. I’ve been reading fantastical stories since I was five and writing them since I was seven. They’ve played an important role in my life and my shaping as a person. Which is why it isn’t hard to believe that I feel comfortable in the library. I volunteered at a library this summer not because I wanted to be prepared to write this (I never even thought this was something in my reach). I didn’t volunteer for the credit. I didn’t volunteer because my parents made me. I volunteered because I like books. The librarian thought I was insane. Every evening on Thursday I would go to the YA section and clean the shelves. When I couldn’t make it on a Thursday then I would be there Friday morning. When I finished all the YA shelves, I went back to the start and cleaned the covers of the books. I cleaned for almost three hours, not counting the times I stopped to look at a book, for every week for two months. Even before I volunteered at Seaford (Island Trees wouldn’t accept me because my only reasoning was that books are neat) I would go to our schools own library for lunch and any given free periods. If I had nothing to do I would ask Mrs. Marshall if there was anything I could help with. I don’t do these things to make myself look good. I do them because it’s something that I want to
If my origin story was a movie, the opening scene would be my discovery of books. It’d be a wide shot of me as a roley, roley toddler, as I reached out to one of my brother’s old picture books. And as I grasped the cardboard cover open, I was swallowed up by a moment of true epiphany. I can only imagine such a dramatic beginning as being dignant about what would be my lifelong obsession. As I grew up, I ate through books quickly, always craving that fantastic feeling of being completely absorbed into a world outside of my own.
In a world dominated by technology, reading novels has become dull. Instead of immersing into books, we choose to listen to Justin Bieber’s new songs and to scroll through Instagram posts. We have come to completely neglect the simple pleasures of flipping through pages and getting to finally finish a story. Sherman Alexie and Stephan King’s essays attempt to revive this interest in books that has long been lost. They remind us of the important role that reading plays in our daily lives. “The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me,” for instance, demonstrates how being literate saved the narrator from the oppressive nature of society. The author explains that even though he was capable of reading complex books at an astonishingly young
Community Service is a great opportunity to make a difference in the area you live in. There are so many ways to volunteer. Some people are given chances to do community service when they need to pay off fines for tickets. Most people simply do because they love getting involved. It’s their way of making the community a cleaner, healthier place.
My earliest memories can be found at the hands of paperback novels. Books were my escape from the world around me. The thrill of being able to leave behind the world and it’s baggage and enter another that books provided captivated me, and left an impact on me. The emotion I experienced solely from taking a small step into another person’s story was unlike any I had felt before. I desperately wanted others to feel what I had felt, and love whatever I had become entranced by with the same passion as I did.
Ever since I was a child, I've never liked reading. Every time I was told to read, I would just sleep or do something else instead. In "A Love Affair with Books" by Bernadete Piassa tells a story about her passion for reading books. Piassa demonstrates how reading books has influenced her life. Reading her story has given me a different perspective on books. It has showed me that not only are they words written on paper, they are also feelings and expressions.
My dad taught me that books could be my teachers, my mom taught me that our backyard could be my classroom, and my sister showed me that you could bring books into the swimming pool. I did not know it when I would spend hours in the pool reading a book that my parents weren’t encouraging it in vain, but my family life, for good reason, was centered on books. We were the planets orbiting around one sun that was the bookshelf. Little did I know that books would be the catalyst to academic success in my early life, and I owe it all to my family. Although a life with a book in your nose might seem boring, I was never bored. Living through the characters vicariously, I explored Narnia with Lucy, attended Hogwarts with Harry, and rode dragons with Eragon. Of course
I began by tutoring at the Boys and Girls Club (BGC) and eventually became a teacher at the boys and girls club. The focus of my continued volunteer work was to enrich the children’s after school experience whether they needed help with homework or busy work. During my volunteer work the issue that stuck out in my mid continuously was social class or classism. The BGC emphasizes many different issues and points such as “creating aspirations for the future,” “Helping youth become responsible, caring citizens and acquire skills for participating in the democratic process is the main thrust of these programs and also to develop leadership skills and provide opportunities for planning, decision-making.” BGC encourages kids to engage in healthy and positive behavior as well as to help the youth build and discover creativity in the arts “Club programs help develop fitness, a positive use of leisure time, reduction of stress, appreciation for the environment and social and interpersonal skills.” (bgca.org)
I still search to this day, three years after first opening the cover. Since then, I have been a god, a tribute, and a witch. I am divergent, a rock star, a time traveler and a hero. I have travelled more in my books across worlds fantastical and beautiful and terrifying all at once, more than I ever could hope to travel in this world. In my passionate stand against the banning of books, I close my essay with a question.
ALEXANDRA NGUYEN 8/29/2017 English 101 Prof. Stefanie Torres I enjoy reading because it allows me to explore my own imaginative world. I keep the hobby of reading at least one hour every day. I usually read books at home, in my room, at my office or on the transportation. On my free time, I can spend hours reading and thinking about facts described in each kind of books. With me, reading is one of my parts.
Up until a few years ago I never thought that one of my grandparents would be in a nursing home. I had always been lucky to have them healthy. However, this changed about a year ago when my grandfather had a mini-stroke, which caused him to require extra care my grandmother could not provide. Watching my family deal with my grandfather made me aware of the care and services the elderly need and has made me realize how important it is to volunteer at a local nursing home.
Now that I’m older, people meeting me after a long time come up to me and exclaim that we remember you, you were the little girl who always had a book in your hand. As I grew older, my love for reading also grew; my interests extending to every kind of book, except for schoolbooks.
Volunteering enables a person to develop new skills that he or she would otherwise not have been able to develop. Unlike most other organizations, a charitable organization is happy to give positions to passionate, though inexperienced, individuals who desire to help others and benefit the community. Therefore, an individual with little experience in a field of work can gain meaningful skills that he or she can use in the future. For example, while I volunteered at the hospital this summer, I learned about the daily work lives and professional duties of doctors and nurses. Had I not volunteered, I would not have learned about these things. I was always interested in the medical field, but volunteering at the hospital let me explore my interests and en...
A common misconception about volunteering is that it only helps the cause. Often times that aspect is the only part that is highlighted when the topic of donating time comes up. There is a different side of volunteering though. Many volunteers donate their time to help better the community they live in and the people that live in it. When they choose to do this they not only help others but they are also helping better themselves. Volunteering benefits a person by building connections with peers, improving family life, expanding career skills, overcoming self doubt, having lasting life impressions, and creating new opportunities.
Just like waking up in the morning and inhaling my first conscious-breath of the day, reading is something essential to me. As I child, I used to dream of having my own and private reading place where I would sit and spend my whole day reading my favorite books without any disturbance. Thanks to my dreams, I now have a wonderful private library in my house. This place is not similar to any other ordinary library but a mini place where you can find a massive number of interesting books of different varieties.
"I have found that among its other benefits, giving liberates the soul of the giver."