Dear Reader

Hello everyone. To those of you who do not know, my name is Alyssa and I have been enrolled into Everett Community College for two quarters now. I also am enrolled into the U3 program, meaning I did not graduate from high school. I have lived in Arlington my whole life and for those of you who have been to the Arlington High School know that it is like a prison, literally. I finished my junior year there and decided that I was done and did not want to continue going to that school every day. I heard about the U3 program and ever since I have gotten enrolled and going to school. I am eighteen years old and have no clue what I want to do for a career. Right now I am just getting my general degree and furthering my education.

Throughout this quarter form going to my service learning site at the Stanwood/Camano food bank I have learned a lot about what the economy does to people. People that I had seen around down as just ordinary people I saw them at the food bank just trying to feed their family. It really opened my eyes and showed how everyone goes through a bad time. Going to the food bank led me to think about the human service programs and helping out the people in need. Hopefully as I continue this journey through college I will be able to find a career that will suit me and one that I love. This English 98 class broadens my horizons about writing and about the outside world, helping me be a stronger person today.

In high school English was always my best subject and I felt I did well in it. My English teacher for my junior year taught me so much that this English 98 class went over a lot of information that I previously learned, but not all. I still struggle with my excessive use or no use of commas and being able to explain in more depth about my writing. I have pick four pieces to go into my e portfolio. One being the first major writing assignment (MWA) and will be showing the weaknesses I had with it. Next will be my MWA three and still show some of my weaknesses that I still have, but more importantly the strengths I have made. My last two piece I am choosing is my inventory in being and my first and last of the seminars of Three Cups Tea. With the inventory of being I was able to express myself and let people to get to know me better. Throughout my high schools years I did not read very many books and reading Three Cups of Tea it was hard for me to get back into reading and look for those quotes. In my first seminar I chose quotes that were not as meaningful but something that I understood. In my seminar five worksheet I was now used to using more in depth quotes and was able to understand more about the book and follow along. In my English 98 class I have reviewed information that I already knew about but also was able to learn more and apply more teachings to my papers