The act of writing an essay has always been a kind of love/hate relationship for me. Like many students, I find the process to be either pure fun or incredibly painful depending on my view of the subject. It's something I think we all deal with at some point. During this course I realized that much of the pain associated with writing can be alleviated by understanding the skills and methods needed. The process of my growth in this class can be seen in my essays. It's almost hard to believe the journey I've made from my first essay in this course to my last. The feeling I get when I reread my writing assignments is the same feeling I would get if I looked at the developing photos of myself as a child. It's a feeling of distance. As if this whole process happened a long time ago. Despite only being completed months ago; the changes I have undergone while writing seem immense. Each essay, from first to last, reflects the challenges and lessons that contributed to my growth as a student. The first essay provided a good foundation for the changes I would make throughout the course. If I could use one word to describe this essay it would be overconfidence. I entered this course with the mistaken belief that I already knew what I needed to know. Looking back at my first essay it is clear that I had little to no idea what good writing entailed. The initial reaction I get when I read the first essay is that it is completely devoid of any personal style. The tone seems robotic and I can't help but cringe as I read it. Ironically, I had said that good writing is “passionate and inspiring”.… center of paper… personal voice. By the second essay I had begun to develop a sense of myself. I began to break away from the repetitive tone of the first article and express myself as an individual through writing. Additionally, I was able to create a stronger document by learning how to use sources to achieve better results. Despite the progress I made during the second article, I feel like the third article showed no further growth than the second. However, in writing assignment number four, I really felt like I hit the right stride in the class. Everything I had previously learned came together to help me fully express my views on education to my audience. This final essay allowed me to reflect on my growth process during the course. From this point I can see that the skills I have developed in this course will be essential to succeeding in college and beyond.