“Michigan Essay #2.” October. 2011. (Application essay)

I couldn’t find my DSP essay (if I even did that), so I went with this. It was the essay for the University of Michigan application that pretty much said, “Why do you want to go to Michigan?” It was actually a pretty crazy thing to read, getting ready to graduate in a couple months. In the short essay, I explicated all the reasons why I wanted to go to this University – the academics, the tradition, the school spirit. I actually think it was one of the most convincing parts of my application, as I made it clear that I wanted to attend Michigan, and even more clearly why. Even though it made me somewhat sad, looking back on an 18-year old kid with my last five years ahead of him, it was comforting to discover I have gotten most of the things out of my college experience that I initially wanted to.

“The Strange Story of Dr. Heckel and Mr. Jyde.” Spring. 2009. (Outside coursework)

This was a short story I wrote my freshman year of high school. As I discuss in my essay, this was the first occasion I dabbled with creative writing and discovered it to be an enjoyable experience. Assigned to write some sort of parody, the story told the tale of a scientist who altered his physical appearance so he could have weekends away from his normal life. The plot twist comes when his wife cheats on him with his alter ego. It’s a pretty funny read actually, though I soon realized I took the assignment far more seriously than my fellow classmates.

“A Perilous Game.” April. 2013. (1st year writing requirement)

I consider this to be the pinnacle of my writing career to this point. During an LHSP class to “reassert our creative ambitions,” I wrote 30,000 words of a thriller novel (essentially the first half it). Having had the basic idea for a plot for quite some time, I thought it would be a good opportunity to actually try fiction writing. And I loved it. Setting an initial ambitious goal of 30,000 words, I remember being at only about 19,000 the night before it was due. I wrote the next 11,000 that night, in what was the most memorable all-nighter of my life. I still get the urge to finish it from time to time, and hopefully one day will get the inspiration to do it.

“A Necessary Vice.” December. 2013. (English 225)

Also discussed in my essay, this is the first paper I can think of where I used the newfound skill of narrative I gained from “A Perilous Game.” An ethical analysis of the ticking time bomb scenario – whether or not to torture a suspect with a nuclear bomb ticking in a major city – I presented the pros and cons of each side, as well as my personal opinion that torture in the situation is actually the most ethical course of action. In addition to using narrative as I discussed in the essay, this was also one the first papers where I learned to truly construct a persuasive argument. I addressed counterarguments to my position then one-by-one debunked them. This is an extremely effective persuasive strategy that I have used on multiple occasions since.

“The Last Resort.” October. 2014. (Writing 220)

For my “Repurposing Project” of my first Minor in Writing course, I took the above essay (“A Necessary Vice”) and turned it into a short fictional story. I mainly was trying to convey the same ethical argument I was making in the essay, and do so through a fictional means. The story came out okay, but probably not as well as I would have liked. I think it was difficult to reach the depth I would have liked with the characters I created. Was still a fun experience, however.

“Star Power.” November. 2015. (Major ULWR 1)

This is one of my favorite papers I have written for probably my favorite class (no offense). The class was about the evolution of sports in modern society, and our assignment was to compare the four major American hegemonic sports (football, basketball, baseball, hockey). This was one of my favorite papers, because I actually produced original research that nobody had done before. I hypothesized top basketball players would have more individual popularity than the other sports, due to specific aspects of the games. Using social media followers as a metric, I found this to be overwhelmingly evident. This was an especially interesting finding, considering football is far more popular as whole than basketball.

“Framing Catastrophes.” December. 2015. (Major ULWR 2)

Another one of my favorite players, I statistically analyzed the reactions of Rep. Donald Trump and Dem. Hilary Clinton to the Nov. 13 Paris terror attacks and Dec. 2 San Bernardino shootings. Results displayed candidates matched their political messages to the salience surrounding the catastrophes, and that the candidates significantly differed in their framing of issues relating to the same events. Trump was much more likely to frame the events as terrorism, while Clinton more likely to frame them as gun violence issues. I chose to include this paper in particular, as I believe it showcases how I have learned to create an original argument and support it through statistical evidence.

“Former Redskins Pro Bowler eyes potential NFL comeback.” Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic. 21, July. 2015. (Outside class)

As I discussed in the essay, this is the one story I wrote that really took off. Working for CSN Mid-Atlantic for the summer, Chris Cooley (a retired tight end for the Washington Redskins) discussed earlier on the day a potential return to football. I wrote up a quick article regarding his comments, mostly comprised of quotes, and it just absolutely took off. It ended up reaching over 400,000 people on Facebook, giving me the feeling for the first time of a mass amount of people reading an article with my name on it. I was an awesome feeling, and something I’ll definitely always remember.

“How 2015 Michigan could resemble the 2011 49ers.” TheWolverine.com. 25, August. 2015. (Outside class)

This is a replacement for the series of blog posts entry, as I feel it is much more relevant to the argument throughout the essay. I chose to include this article, because it is probably my favorite journalism piece I’ve ever produced. It makes the argument that the 2015 Michigan football team Jim Harbaugh was walking into was not so different than his 2011 situation with the San Francisco 49ers. It was my first published article with TheWolverine.com, and something I truly believed, which in the end produced an article I am very proud of.