Topic Who am I Requirements: (from FI Syllabus): a reflective and/or experiential narrative that may incorporate observational evidence (3 pages, or 750-1000 words)
Tell the story of who you are, what has had an effect on you, perhaps something that has changed the way you think about yourself or others - or given you an insight or understanding that you didn't have before.
Your paper should explore your thinking in a narrative framework, which means that your paper is also a story that takes place over time and employs the concept of chronology to lead readers through your experience. The paper should do more than tell your story; it should also be "reflective," which means that you will be writing about what the story meant/means to you - and the process by which that story came to have that meaning - and ultimately, what readers of your "story about a story" can learn from reading your paper that can have relevance for all of us (universal).
As we grow and learn, our personal narratives help us weather these changes by telling us who we were and who we have become. These kinds of narratives are some of the most powerful, because they are what allow us to become better thinkers, friends, and citizens by helping us understand who we were, who we are, and who we want to be. By actively questioning what has happened to us, thinking and reflecting on our experience, and then telling the story both to ourselves and to those around us, we can truly understand who we are and why. We also gain agency, or power, so that each of us is not just a person shaped by forces out of his/her control, but instead someone who can, at least in part, choose who to be. It's this kind of narrative I'm going to ask you to write for this first paper.
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Who am I?
I don't know, who I am and why do I have to know? I'm only 18 and I can't explain myself in one way; I'm more than just one thing. I'm many things like an introvert, extrovert, confident, shallow, strong, weak, and so much more. Some situations cause me to act and think this way, while others situations cause me to think the opposite. If you want me to define myself, I am human. This is the best way to describe "who am I". I fear death and love my family. I make mistakes, but I rarely learn from them. I can name any anime you can think of and I'm amazing at fifa. I'm 6 feet tall and a second generation Asian american. I'm Mathew Kim a freshman at VCU.
You probably read this and thought this didn't answer anything and I know this won't get me A, so what does it mean to be human? You could ask this question to a million different people and they all will give you a million different answers. My answer would be fear. Humans all have fear and fear has made me who I am today.
Everyone fears something and everyday we are confronted by our fears in the real world. It could be a fear as simple as walking to work instead of driving your car because your scared of driving in the rain . It could also be as sever as your to afraid to leave your house because your a germaphobe. My first fear was people. I was so scared of being alone that I gave up a part of my self so people would accept me. Back in middle school, I had a lot of issues. I was scrawny awkward looking kid, who had a terrible speech impediment. At that point in my life, I would do a lot of things so people would accept me. I would sag my pants, dress different, lie about my life, and I would try being someone I was not. I wasn't being me because I cared about others opinions more than I cared about my own. It wasn't until I tried working on myself until I found my real friends. It was the constant days after that I spent alone because I gave up this fake persona. The days that I would go to the library for lunch because I didn't want sit alone in the cafeteria. The failed attempts of trying to meet knew people and failing one after another because I lacked the confidence. It was only after all of this I could see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Even after you conquer your fear, you still are met with more fears that arise some new and some old come back haunt you. My second fear came in high school when my life became more comfortable. I started to fear failure. When everyone was doing things in high school to build their resumes for college, I started my resume later. I didn't attempt many things that I wanted to because this stigma formed in my head that I wouldn't be able to make it. I used to play AAU and travel basketball leagues throughout elementary and middle school, but I never tried out for high school. I saw the other people trying out and thought lot's of things. I would think,"I didn't have a shot against these guys" or "I would just embarrass myself if I showed up to tryouts". This thinking caused me to miss out on a lot of opportunities I could of had, but I didn't even try.
Fear had played a pivotal role in my life. It has caused me to ask myself plenty of times what could have been? It has kept me up countless nights, but it has also made me happy. I use to perceive fear as this intangible thing that you should run away from. In whole, I believe modern society today tells you to run away from your fears instead of confronting them. From your parents telling you your okay nothings wrong with you to more extremes of drugs use to solve your problems. Fear is seen as such a negative thing you should hide from. I use to believe this too until I realized what fear can be used for. Without fear, you can never grow as a person. Fear has changed for me into motivating me to live my life. Even though your scared it's about being able to attack your fears head on . It's knowing that I could be scared shitless at this one moment, but I want to make a change in my life. I don't want to be that scared little kid anymore. You might fail one time or a hundred time, but each time you will get closer and closer to conquering your fear.Holt Educational Consultant - / 14,835 
4783 Mathew, with 3 pages to write this reflective narrative you could have come up with a more engaging and creative narrative than this. While you are being reflective in the essay, you have too many sound bites going on in the story to actually come up with a more interesting presentation. the reflection that is being asked for in this essay doesn't fall under numerous experiences but rather just one story. The most reflective story that you can come up with that best tells the reviewer the kind of person who you are. For example, when you discuss your fear of failure, you need to show a chronology in the story that indicates:
1. What was your life like before the failure
2. What events led to the failure
3. How you were affected by the failure
4. How you overcame the failure
5. Who you are after this experience
It would help if you included other people in this narrative who helped you build your character and helped you discover who you are. Use some dialogue exchanges since you have enough word allowance to do that. Focus on the best character building experience that you can remember and write it in a creative narrative form. You can look up further instructions as to how to write that sort of reflective narrative online. What I told you can help you get started with your new draft.
