Lilly Lasarsky

English III

Professor Williams

11 December 2019

Reflective Cover Letter

Before taking English III, I never looked forward to writing. I think the main reason for it

was that I never felt confident in my writing, I did not know what to expect coming into this

class because I normally have not enjoyed previous English classes. Throughout this class, I have

gained confidence in my writing, but I have also found a love for writing. Writing both informal

and formal assignments during this class has shown me a love for something that I never knew I

had.

For this assignment, I decided to revise the formal assignment “The Stranger In the Photo

Is Me”, which is the comparison of two pictures of myself and how I have changed between the

two photos. When I originally wrote this assignment, it brought back so many memories of my

childhood. I immediately had so many different stories and thoughts that I wanted to incorporate

in the essay. After brainstorming and writing out an outline, I had a clearer view of what I

thought would best flow in the paper. I then began writing my rough draft and for the most part,

felt confident with what I had brainstormed. I finished the rough draft and read over it again

before sharing it with my peer reviewer. After I shared it with my peer reviewer I got back very

good feedback and felt happy with my work. I fixed the minor errors and was ready to turn it in.

I felt very confident about my paper and was happy with myself.
 Fast-forward to now when I first read the final assignment I immediately knew that I

wanted to revise this paper. The reason being that this paper meant the most to me out of all of

the formal assignments from this class. I began revising my paper by reading it through to get a

quick refresher on everything that I wrote about. Then, I went to the introduction and kept the

sentences that I felt were crucial to the essay. I then changed around some of the wording so it

would better appeal to the reader. Next, I went to the second paragraph and immediately thought

that I should change some of the wording. The reason being that from when I originally wrote

the essay to know, I have changed the way I write. Throughout the next two body paragraphs, I

took out some sentences that I felt were not necessary to the purpose of the essay. Once I got to

the paragraphs about me in my current stage of life, I wanted to change the main points that I

made. I wanted it to show through my writing that I now choose quality over quantity with

friends. The final two body paragraphs I revised to how I feel right now, rather than how I felt

when I originally wrote this. This was very important to me because I feel that even from the

picture of me when I was sixteen to now I have changed tremendously. Lately, I have been very

interested in learning things solely to have more knowledge.

Throughout this class, I have learned an extensive amount about writing, but also about

the world. Before taking this class, I would have never imagined that this is how I would view

this class after it was finished. Currently, I feel very thankful that what I have learned in this

class will help me in the future in many ways, and for that I am thankful.
Lilly Lasarsky

English III

Professor Williams

29 September 2019
The Stranger In The Photo Is Me

Me at 6 years old Me at 16 years old

“Children must be taught how to think, not what to think” (Margeret Mead). This quote

explains that children are growing people. Children are constantly growing and learning in their

younger years. It is important to realize that what a child is taught when they are young will most

likely stick with them throughout their whole life. Over the past 11 years, I have changed

significantly. Though, the knowledge I have gained over the years has most definitely shaped me
into the person I am today. Today, at 17 years old, my priorities are my friends, my family, and

getting into a good college.

In the left picture, I was six years old. At six years old, my time was mainly spent with

friends and family. This specific picture was taken the summer before first grade, at my family’s

lakehouse. When I was young we would spend the whole summer at the lake with family

swimming and playing in the water. During the school year, I always looked forward to it

because it brought me so much joy. At this stage in life, I was extremely outgoing and talkative

around people I was close to. Whenever I was around people who I was not overly close to, I

was more reserved and shy. During this time of life, I loved to have fun and had no worries. My

best friend was my sister, Grace and my cousin, Mason. We did almost everything together. The

three of us also spent a lot of time with my cousins from my dad’s side. I enjoyed being with

them more than anything in the world.

Just like most six-year-olds, I did not have very serious priorities. I had three main

priorities, school, cheer, and my friends & family. School was very new to me at this time. I had

only finished kindergarten but still felt so picky about everything I did. I never wanted to do

anything wrong that would result in me pulling a tag. I also was focused on getting good grades,

so that I was able to do fun things. A second priority that I had was competition cheer. This

priority was also something new to me. I one day decided to try it for fun and eventually fell in

love with it. I was extremely motivated and did not want to miss a single beat. I constantly was

trying to learn new skills and improve. Another priority and probably the most important was my

friends and family. These were the people who I enjoyed being around because they brought me

so much happiness. My friends at both school and cheer were equally important to me. It was
super important to me that they were happy and healthy. One specific story that sticks out in my

mind is when my friend Reagan and I were having a sleepover, during Christmas break. It was

originally supposed to be only one night, but we kept asking our parents for another night, then

another. Eventually, we ended up having four sleepovers. During the four days, we went to the

movies, made desserts, watched countless tv shows, and made so many memories together that I

will cherish forever. My family was also very important to me. Spending time with my family

made me extremely happy. My sister and I were constantly playing different games. Though,

there was one specific game that we normally played. That game was school. Both of us would

pretend to be teachers and we would make our American Girl dolls the “students.”

Just like every other young girl, I had so many big dreams when I was younger. My

biggest dream was that one day I would go to one of the most prestigious gyms. Also to be on

one of the best teams in the whole cheer industry. Additionally, I dreamed of cheering until I

aged out of it. None of my cheer dreams ended up how I thought. At this age, I also thought that

certain things were true, but I later learned they were not true at all. The first thing is that some

of my closest friends would be in my life forever. I also thought that there would never be any

tough decisions to make with school or cheer. Lastly, I believed that what my older sister said

was the truth and nothing but the truth. The reason for this being that I looked up to her so much

that everything coming out of her mouth seemed to be pure gold.

In the picture on the left, I am sixteen years old. At this point in my life, I spend the

majority of my time with my friends and family. This specific photo was taken the summer

before sophomore year, in Banff, Canada. Now, during the summers I am mostly traveling and

exploring new places. Three summers ago I traveled to Europe for the first time. The trip was
absolutely eye-opening. Since then, I have traveled to the UK, Ireland, France, Italy,

Switzerland, and Spain. I am extremely thankful for both of the European trips that I was able to

go on. It made it even better that I got to travel with my family. My personality has also slightly

changed. I am now very outgoing and talkative to most people, even if I don’t know them

extremely well. I now spend more time with my friends than my family these days. The main

reason being that my sister is in college three hours away. My cousins are also just as busy with

life as I am, so we don’t get together as often. Though, this makes the times we do get together

even better.

My family, friends, and school are all still major priorities for me. The priority of school

has changed slightly then how it used to be. Now, I prioritize learning things that will help me

succeed on both the SAT and ACT. This way I will be able to get into the colleges that I want to

possibly go to. My friends are still a priority to me because spending time with them is what

makes me the happiest. My family always will be a priority to me because they mean the most to

me. A priority that I lost between the two pictures is the priority of cheer. This was very hard for

me to deal with but it was necessary as I got older.

Today my hopes and dreams are very reasonable. My main dream is to go to a successful

college and earn a good degree. This will hopefully put me on the right track to get a well-paying

job after I graduate. I also hope to have a little family and have a job where I love what I am

doing. In life, I believe that you should enjoy every moment because life goes by way too fast.

To me, it is also important to remember that everything happens for a reason. This is extremely

important to me because even if something horrible happens it shows that something good must

be coming. I experienced this on a major level last year. I have had headaches my whole life and
never knew why. Finally one-day last year, my mom decided to take me to the doctor. I ended up

getting an MRI and found out that my brain was growing outside of my skull. I ended up having

surgery to remove that part of my brain so that my spinal cord did not get impacted. After going

through this surgery I was able to play soccer, and now I rarely have headaches. Lastly, my

beliefs on other people have changed. Now, it seems most important to me that I know other

people’s true colors. The reason for this being that knowing the real parts of people is what truly

matters. This way you can decide who you want to surround yourself with.

From the picture on the left to the picture on the right I have grown into a completely

different person. When I was six, my goals and priorities in life were different. At the point in

life, I was focused on getting good grades in school and hanging out with my friends and family

often. I now have grown to be independent, hard-working, and driven. Now I focus on retaining

knowledge that will help me in the future. Though, I also focus on myself and self needs. I also

know that in the coming years I will change even more than I already have. Currently, I look

forward to the future because I feel that greatness is ahead. Over the past ten years, I have

tremendously changed. All of the change that has happened was completely for the good. I

wouldn’t change where I am today even if I could. It is extremely important for me to remember

that everything happens for a reason. Also, that change is not always a bad thing, and that it can

lead to some of life’s greatest moments.