Your choice, write about any of the following topics with the following restrictions:
#1 Topic: Friendship
What was a time or experience in the last 1-5 years in which someone you closely knew–or still know–felt that
you were a difficult person with whom to have a lasting friendship (or in which YOU felt that someone was a
difficult person)? Was there some struggle or conflict within yourself or outside of yourself that made life
complicated? What did this conflict communicate to you about yourself? What are three traits or
characteristics about your personality which emanated from this specific experience that made this time
strenuous for this other person? Describe the response of this one-time friend towards you during this
specific experience. Did this friendship ultimately fade away? What lesson did you learn?
#2 Topic: Betrayal and Redemption
What was a time or experience in the last 1-5 years in which you betrayed another person’s trust? How did
you let this person down (or in which another person betrayed your trust)? Did you desert a person when
that person was in a time of need? What mistake did you make that made that other person’s trust in you
come crumbling down? Was there some struggle or conflict within yourself or outside of yourself that made
life complicated? What did this conflict communicate to you about yourself? Describe the guilt bottled up in
you. How did you attempt to redeem the relationship? What are three traits or characteristics about your
personality which emerged from this specific experience that caused you to be disloyal to another person?
What lesson did you learn?
#3 Topic: Literacy
What was a time in the last 1-5 years in which you discovered that your own literacy–the ability to read and
write–made you happy? This prompt is truly for that writer that deeply loves reading books, enjoys writing
about those readings, and appreciates reflecting on the pleasures of reading and writing. How do you think
your reading and writing abilities have contributed to your life inside and outside of school? What role have
books played in your life? What imaginary worlds or spaces does your mind become aware of or perceptive of
while you read and write? What are three of your own traits or characteristics that you demonstrate while you
are reading and writing that make you content? What lesson did you learn?
#4 Topic: The Persistence of the Past or
The Persistence of our Upbringing
What was a time or experience in the last 1-5 years in which a major historical event or a profound religious
event significantly impacted your own life? History isn’t that easy to overcome, which means that the past can
have intense reverberations in our lives in the present day. What historical event have you experienced that
still impacts you deeply to this day, and what are three ways this event has affected you? Similarly, one’s own
religious background can comprise a set of beliefs and rules that dictate relations with others not of the same
religion. At times, one’s religious background can limit relations; whereas in other moments, one’s religious
background can liberate relations. What are three features of your religious background that have either
been limiting or liberating to you? What lesson did you learn?
#5 Topic: Unfair Judgment
What was a time or experience in the last 1-5 years in which you prejudged another person (or about another
person who prejudged you)? Prejudging someone means maintaining an unfair and unreasonable opinion or
feeling, especially when formed without enough thought or knowledge. We also call this act of prejudging
“prejudice.” It’s when we judge or have an idea about someone or a group of people before you actually know
them. What happened? Why did you prejudge this person? What are three things that you discovered that
contributed to your bias? How did you feel and what were you thinking when this was happening? What
was your response and what was the response of others around you? Write about a prejudice that you had
that caused you to make a bad decision. What lesson did you learn?
#6 Topic: The Love and Tension between Parents and their Kids
What was a time or experience in the last 1-5 years in which your relations with one or both of your parents
took a turn for the worse and then for the better later on? A few of our memorable and fictional
duos–Shlomo and his son Elie in Night, Octavia and her son James in The Sky is Gray, and Miss Emma and
her godson Jefferson in A Lesson Before Dying–experience challenging relations with each other. Growing as a
teenager as you are now can be replete with difficult situations and obstacles, especially in regards to healthy
communication with parents. Similarly, raising teenagers has its own trials and tribulations. What was a
memorable experience in which you and your parents underwent a breakdown in communication? What
happened? What event or events led to that breakdown? How did the tension escalate? What was the
response of your parent(s)? What are three things that you realized about yourself that contributed to the
problematic nature yet also to the restoration of your relationship with your parents? What lesson did you
learn?
Restrictions:
Write and underline one sentence that contains correlative conjunctions.
Write and underline another sentence that begins with a gerund or an infinitive. Write and underline an additional
sentence that begins with an inverted adverb. The three sentences whose S^3 you underline must be
outside of the thesis statement. Must have 5 Paragraphs.
Must have one of these words in paragraphs 1 and 2: Sultan Imminent Guileless Immerse Chasm Unwavering Feeble Roil Calculated Curt Salvation Encapsulate Summation Plight Infer Murky Mendicant Grueling Adept Concession Materialize Contrivance Falter Countenance
And one of these words in paragraphs 3,4, and 5: intertwine alleviate luminous adversary interminable amiable implication ominous reticence palliative sallow subside degrade malady chagrin invigorating allude concievable meticulous ambivalent protracted frailty futile saunter frenzied
