Prompt: Influential event or person that made you change something about yourself
Idea #1: I chose this topic because this trip changed my entire outlook on life. It changed my materialistic mentality, the way I treat others and my tendency to have an ungrateful heart. I also keep in touch with most of the people from this trip and I miss them A LOT. I feel like writing about the trip will be a fun way to reflect on how much fun I had and how much I learned.
Topic: My service trip to Dallas Texas in 2017.
People to Interview:
Savanna: Savanna is now one of my closest friends. She’s from San Antonio, Texas. I met her on the first day of my trip. We went through alot during our experience their including many adventures and tears. I would like to interview her because we got each other through the tough parts of the trip in Dallas.
Katherine: Katherine was my 6 year old mentee who lived in the inner city projects of Dallas, Texas. She was the most inspirational part of the trip for me. She had such a mature and positive view on life. At the time, she lived in a ONE ROOM apartment with her parents. This did not stop her from being the most giving and loving little girl that I have ever met.
My Writing Strategy: I have 3 major sub topics that I would like to talk about. I’m also going to include the idea of covering throughout my essay. Instead of talking about covering I am going to talk about how many people on the trip did not give into the temptation of covering.
Topic 1: The camaraderie that the entire group of kids who started as strangers had. (Savanna) (There was an incident on the trip where one of the group members lost his father in the middle of the night in a tragic car accident. It was on one of the last nights of the trip and everyone had to help one another during those crazy last days. I may talk about Hallward and how being vulnerable is extremely important.)
Topic 2: Katherine and the kids we worked with for 2 weeks. (I have a story about her where she decides to not “cover”)
Topic 3: How this event changed me.
Potential Interview Questions:
How did the trip impact you?
How did you feel about the last few days of the trip?
Did you feel like you learned about being vulnerable while you were there?
Idea #2: My bestfriend Ashley and her fight with lupus.
I chose this topic because Ashley and I got through alot together and her selflessness and positive attitude really impacted me. In 2017 she was going to the hospital for chemotherapy treatments every month. During this time I had an incident where my apendex almost burst and I had to get a surprise appendectomy. She was in the hospital the same weekend for a treatment so we facetimed while we were both at the hospital and kept each other company.
My Writing Strategy: I want to find a good balance between Ashley’s story and how it changed me. I have a few subtopics for this idea.
Subtopic 1: Ashley’s story. Here I would talk about when Ashley got diagnosed with lupus and how strong she was during this time.
Subtopic 2: Ashley and I getting each other through tough times. This is when I would talk about us keeping each other company while in the hospital.
Subtopic 3: How Ashley’s story changed me and my attitude towards difficult challenges in life.
Potential Interview Questions:
How did you feel when you found out about having lupus?
What got you through that time?
What do you remember about when we were in the hospital at the same time?
