Luc Santos

9-8-2019

English 0990

Professor Stanford

Reading to Success

My earliest memories of reading always seemed to be sitting in front of the fire at the

ranch with my Family. I distinctly remember all the sights and smells that went along with those

evenings and the family. The crackling of the fire, the smell of pine, all of us coming together to

enjoy the evening and of course all of the dogs gathered together with us enjoying the family

time. It was often that my older sister and father would read to themselves, while my mother and

I would work on my reading and literacy.

This was around the second grade when I began to become much more intrigued in

reading and the huge variety of books there is in the world. I remember like it was yesterday

when I discovered the book series “Hank the Cow Dog”. I distinctly remember my mom bringing

them home one evening around Christmas time and she began to read them to me by the fire on a

cold snowy winter night. After about the first couple pages I was so intrigued. Grasping at every

word and detail I felt as if I was watching a movie in my head that was so fascinating yet funny. I

immediately took over and began to read out loud for my mother as she was coaching me

through it every page. I would get so excited I would find myself reading faster than I could even

pronounce the words. She was always helping me by correcting me, slowing me down, helping
me work on the pronunciation of words I was stuck on and becoming more fluent throughout

each and every evening.

It was during this time that I discovered I didn’t hate reading; I was just simply reading

the wrong books and I hadn’t found what interested me. I began to indulge myself in the whole

series of “Hank the Cow Dog” which helped me grow my literacy base while finding the love of

reading. This was the start to it all for me as I began to discover many more books, I enjoyed

reading, and would find myself staying up all night reading a variety of new content as I just fell

into every book completely devoted. It soon began to spiral as my love and interest for learning

increased therefore, I was more devoted at school. My comprehension of the material grew, and

this satisfaction pushed me to find new books in different genres.

As I continued to get older and work through all of the milestones in life, I began to

realize how important it was for me to expand my literacy and grow a bond with the feeling of

learning and where that can take you throughout life. I seemed to notice the schoolwork I had to

get through became easier as I was applying myself more, my grades skyrocketed from the

devotion and my overall intelligence was growing rapidly.

This all really came to fruition during my junior and senior year of high school which

was a huge milestone for me, and a lot of reflecting was done. These two years I was

homeschooled, and the pressure was on for me to get good grades and complete all of my

schoolwork while being on the road traveling for races. I was racing motocross full time; ping-

ponging all over the U.S for Amateur National Motocross races while doing my best to keep up
on all of my schoolwork and get good grades. Looking back, I was so thankful I responded to the

pressure of becoming a better reader. I was able to apply that daily to my studies on the road with

the limited time I had to accomplish all of the work.

Now, nearly 17 years later I apricate my literacy that much more. I am constantly reading

and writing for all of my classes here at SLCC. My comprehension of material is wonderful and

therefore allowing me to learn so much. I have applied these attributes to my business which I

specialize in communication between customers from the United Kingdom. I am constantly

communicating with them, writing invoices and different packages, and of course numerous

liability waivers that I need to make sure are spot on keeping us both safe.

My business is doing terrific for its first year up and running and I truly do not think any

of this would be possible without having a high level of literacy and communication skills to

address problems and take care of customers.

Literacy is something used by all of us and all at different levels. Each of us have a

different route at which we take to achieve it but our appreciation for the ability to read and write

cannot be denied by any. I am extremely grateful I found a way to love and respect the need for

literacy that has now turned into a lifelong love for reading and writing on top of a huge asset to

my personal bank of knowledge and allowing me to excel in an entrepreneurial business.