I hate to admit it, but I never enjoyed writing. Every time my middle school teacher would assign an essay, I would get so upset. I don't know what it was about writing that I disliked so much; perhaps because English is my second language. However, I used to hate writing in Portuguese just as much, if not more. It's very difficult for me to lay out all my thoughts into a cohesive paper that makes sense; the biggest reason being I only spoke English at school (I only spoke Portuguese at home), my vocabulary arsenal was limited.

I remember English during sophomore year, where I heard countless rumors about how difficult the class was. Immediately, I started to panic. I learned quickly, however, that there was nothing to worry about. My English teacher (I had her as a teacher for 2 separate classes) taught in a way that made sense, and cleared up any confusion that arose throughout the semester.

After seeing the advancements on my writing capabilities, I grew hungry for more. I wanted to get better, so I searched for more opportunity beyond high school. Before I started at Norwich University, I was asked if I would like to join Odyssey by the editor in chief; I couldn't let the opportunity pass by, even though it meant more homework due each week. I followed my high school teacher's advice, and joined a writing team for my University, and haven't regretted it since.

Currently, as a content creator for Odyssey, I focus on improving my writing every week. Not only do I practice my grammar, I focus of improving the structure of my writing; sometimes, in my opinion, ideas/purpose of the paper is just as important, if not more than grammar itself.

Writing can always be improved. It is an important skill to have for any job, which makes it so valuable. Even beyond my years at Odyssey, I will try to improve my writing by being more involved, something precious that my high school teacher has taught me.