"When I was little,
my father jokingly told me about a Twilight Zone episode in
which the misanthropic protagonist, Henry Bemis, emerges from an
atomic blast as the only man alive and becomes overjoyed at finally
having the time to read all the books he wants. However, as he reaches
for the bookshelf, he falls and breaks his glasses. “It’s not fair!”
he laments, “it’s not fair!”
Like most viewers,
my father probably thought this was ironically funny, but I was
horrified. “That’s terrible!” I cried, clutching my Nancy Drew
book in despair.
As a proud
bookworm, I sympathize deeply with Mr. Bemis. I have always had a
tendency to jot down what I am thinking, to play with words and the
structure of a sentence until it is exactly right. That is, I’ve
always--very self-indulgently-- considered myself a writer."
--excerpt from Amanda's supplemental college
essay
Amanda McGowan is a senior at Coventry High
School and, as the silly story above suggests, she absolutely loves to
write. The focus of this portfolio will be on the writing she has produced during her high school career in the fields of history, literature, and politics/journalism. Next fall she plans to pursue her bachelor's degree in
History, which will give her a legitimate excuse for applying for any
internship with the word "Smithsonian" in the job description.
Afterward, she hopes to pursue her master's and possibly even her
doctorate, so that the general public will someday appreciate her
expertise if her name someday appears (as she hopes it will) under a
magazine article or on the cover of a book.
During the summer of 2008, Amanda was
privileged to be a delegate to the American Legion Auxiliary's Girls
State and Girls Nation programs, where she met Connecticut Attorney
General Richard Blumenthal, Connecticut Secretary of State Susan
Byciewicz, Senator Joe Lieberman, and President George W. Bush. Read
her college essay about her Girls Nation experience
here.
Connect this portfolio to Coventry High
School's mission statement |
