Style Academy/GASCAP Assignment

For the style academy assignment for my opinion editorial, I combined some of my sentences in the second and third paragraph of my essay. I incorporated a semi-colon in a sentence where I was talking about my brother, which I believe added a level of intelligence to my essay. I also combined two sentences that were talking about similar things and reworded them so that it would flow easier. I have noticed that combining these sentences has made my paper more succinct and makes it have a better flow to it. I also tried placing a dash into one of my sentences in the second paragraph-a punctuation mark that I feel adds sophistication to my writing. Using punctuation marks such as the semi-colon and the dash make me feel as if I have further developed as a writer, and it also helps me combine my sentences.

 In my essay I also employed a lot of analogy while giving examples of my brother’s experiences in his school, and in the community and showed that even though BYU does not have a special education program, we can still help out those with special needs through community based services and activities. I feel that stories are a good way to appeal to the reader’s emotions, and by telling real-life stories and connecting them to BYU are a good way to incorporate analogy into my paper. One of the GASCAP elements that I should strive to put into my essays more is the concept of principle, which I feel would give my audience a sense of needing to fix the problem.

My Favorite Introduction and Conclusion

 

My favorite introduction would have to be the beginning to one of my favorite songs, which is “Classic” by MKTO.  The starting beat to this song always gets me excited and pumped to sing or dance along, and the lyrics would make any girl feel special.

Hey! Where's the drum?

Ooh girl you're shining
Like a 5th avenue diamond
And they don't make you like they used to
You're never going out of style

Ooh pretty baby
This world might have gone crazy
The way you saved me,
Who could blame me
When I just wanna make you smile

Read more: MKTO - Classic Lyrics | MetroLyrics

My favorite conclusion would be a talk given by Jeffrey R. Holland in the October 2014 General Conference titled, “Are We Not All Beggars?” My favorite part is when he says, “I may not be my brother’s keeper, I am my brother’s brother, and ‘because I have been given much, I too must give.’” This ending is so powerful and inspires his listeners to be on the lookout for those in need.

“Brothers and sisters, such a sermon demands that I openly acknowledge the unearned, undeserved, unending blessings in my life, both temporal and spiritual. Like you, I have had to worry about finances on occasion, but I have never been poor, nor do I even know how the poor feel. Furthermore, I do not know all the reasons why the circumstances of birth, health, education, and economic opportunities vary so widely here in mortality, but when I see the want among so many, I do know that “there but for the grace of God go I.”¹⁸ I also know that although I may not be my brother’s keeper, I am my brother’s brother, and “because I have been given much, I too must give.”¹⁹

In that regard, I pay a personal tribute to President Thomas Spencer Monson. I have been blessed by an association with this man for 47 years now, and the image of him I will cherish until I die is of him flying home from then–economically devastated East Germany in his house slippers because he had given away not only his second suit and his extra shirts but the very shoes from off his feet. “How beautiful upon the mountains [and shuffling through an airline terminal] are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace.”²⁰ More than any man I know, President Monson has “done all he could” for the widow and the fatherless, the poor and the oppressed.

In an 1831 revelation to the Prophet Joseph Smith, the Lord said the poor would one day see the kingdom of God coming to deliver them “in power and great glory.”²¹ May we help fulfill that prophecy by coming in the power and glory of our membership in the true Church of Jesus Christ to do what we can to deliver any we can from the poverty that holds them captive and destroys so many of their dreams, I pray in the merciful name of Jesus Christ, amen.”

 



Children of God

Children who have special needs hold a large portion of my heart. I have a passion for working with and helping people with special needs, which is why I hold a very high opinion of special education and the students involved therein.

                The main reason that I began to have a passion for working with people with special needs and majoring in special education in college is because of one of my younger brothers. Karsten has a brain tumor or an apendamoma to be exact, in the back portion of his head. Dealing with this brain tumor since he was six months old and having a total of 49 sugeries in the 13 years of his life so far has brought him physical and mental struggles which qualify him for the special education programs in his schools. He had to relearn to eat, walk and talk due to the effects of the brain tumor. Our family has had great experiences with the special education classrooms that he has been involved in thus far, but I know that this  is not always the case. I have seen areas where improvement is necessary.

In my old high school, students with special needs weren’t very well incorporated into the school. To me, they seemed to be stuck back in the corner of the high school where people would only see them if you had a class or lunch with them. There was rarely any general education student to students with special needs interaction. There needs to be more of this.

People who have special needs aren’t scary. I once found a quote in a book called Coping with Students with Special Needs that said something along the lines of, “We all have special needs. Some are just more obvious than others.” This is exactly right. I believe that people who have special needs are very important, special spirits to our Heavenly Father, and they need to be treated with the same respect, if not more, than people who don’t have as great of needs as they do.

Over the summer I had the wonderful opportunity to work at a developmental center for adults and children with special needs. The entire purpose of the summer program that I worked in was to incorporate these people into their community. This was done by going to different places for lunch, visiting stores, parks, animal shops, farms and more. This incorporation needs to be implemented more into our schools. I am a personal witness that students with special needs who are incorporated into their school systems aren’t just benefitted themselves, but the people around them are benefitted as well.

Worst Movie Ever

Dear John is the absolute worst movie ever. This romantic movie tells the tale of a young girl who is recused by a strong, handsome man after she falls into the ocean. After their coincidental meeting, the two begin to fall in love, just in time for the man to leave her to serve his country. The male figure, or the popular heartthrob Channing Tatum, writes letters back and forth with his love but only finds himself getting “dear Johned” by her. Instead of waiting for her rescuer, the young girl decides out of pity to marry an older man with a terminal illness. She does this mainly to care for the younger children that this widowed man has, but the fact that the young girl seemed to have settled for someone else instead for the love of her life drove, and still drives, me crazy. To make matters worse, the man she did marry was not even that handsome. It may seem to be a sweet gesture, but is a disappointing ending. This movie might have romance and Channing Tatum, but it does not give the viewers the ending they want, leaving them frustrated and wishing they could somehow change the final scenes to relieve their discontent. Almost every woman who watches a romantic movie, whether it be romantic comedy or classic romance, can expect, and want, a happily ever after. Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and Snow White all show that these endings do exist, but the writer of this book and the director of the movie completely forgo this notion, and for this reason, I, a lover of romantic novels, movies, and comedies, have only seen this movie once and do not have a strong desire to view it again. There are many ways that this movie COULD have ended, where the writer and director could help the older man and still have the young couple end up together. In reality, the characters in Dear John truly do not end up happy because they lost the love of their life, and the many women watching this tragedy take place don’t end up very happy either. Until this issue is resolved, Dear John will have one less viewer and probably countless others.

The Fagan Family

Hello! My name is Jacqualine Fagan and I am from Coeur ‘d Alene, Idaho. Many people don’t know about this small town in the Northern part, or Panhandle, of Idaho, but I consider it one of the most beautiful places here on earth. In this little piece of heaven you can find 50 plus lakes in 50 miles of the surrounding area. There are beautiful views and green everywhere! I live very close to one of the many mountains in our area, and have spent the majority of my life in that house. Coeur d’ Alene has a perfect amount of quiet and busy, and it is famous for being a get-away spot for many stars. I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else.

I come from a family of seven people, and I am the oldest of five kids. I always tell everyone that I love being the oldest, because I really do. I enjoy spending time with my family and helping care for my younger siblings. Their names and ages are: Kayla who is 17, Karsten who is 13, Jaynie who is almost 10, and Justin who is 6. Kayla loves playing soccer and basketball, and is a star at both. She is very bright, a little crazy, and can’t wait for her turn to come to BYU. Karsten is our superhero. He has battled a brain tumor from the time that he was six months of age and has gone through 49 surgeries with the majority of them being on his head! Despite all these obstacles, he is the happiest kid you would ever meet. Jaynie is artsy. (She didn’t get that from me.) She loves to do many types of crafts, dance, and play the piano. She is a sweetheart and always wants to make sure those around her are happy. Justin is a natural athlete, and is showing great potential despite the fact that he is only six. He is a die-hard baseball fanatic and super cute. He is definitely the baby of the family.  Even though there are some big gaps between us age-wise, we get along pretty well. My dad’s name is Will, and he owns his own optometric practice in Coeur d’ Alene and Post Falls (a town close to Coeur ‘d Alene). He is very into sports, especially basketball and baseball, and in my opinion is the best dad ever. My mom’s name is Angie and she has mastered many things. Interior design, cooking, chauffeuring, counseling and dancing are all some of her many talents. In my opinon, she is the best mom ever.

As for me, I enjoy playing basketball and volleyball. I played basketball for many years-from second grade all the way until my junior year in high school. I also played volleyball for a couple years in middle school and two years in high school. I also solemn ski and have been doing that for about five years. I love cooking, watching romantic movies, hanging out with my family and friends, and going on vacation. I’m a little bit obsessed with BYU basketball, and will be going to as many games as possible this upcoming year. I want to major in special education-because of my brother. Over the summer I worked at a developmental center for adults and children who have special needs, and I loved it. I was also involved in and helped start a club at my school called Vikings United where we got to hang out and become better friends with the students at our school who have special needs. You can say that sort of thing is my passion, along with my family of course.

I can’t tell you how excited I am to be a BYU Cougar!