In response to the prompt the most useful thing I've learned in class is how to write a paper. Coming from a high school that was very sports oriented there was little focus on academics. One of my peers was even misleadingly dubbed "mentally handicapped" by the school so he could wrestle. As he had failed to meet the minimum grade eligibility requirement. Needless to say I didn't write many papers in high school except for the occasional 2-3 pager and before college I'd never even written an in text citation, something I became very self conscious about. On top of this general low quality of teaching was my girlfriends public rape trial which I was also attending in her support. Occasionally certain teachers wouldn't allow me to make up assignments I had missed due to the trial. Some even held grudges against me for attending it. This is because the man who had raped my girlfriend was a teacher at my high school as well as the 9news coach of the year for 2010. It was common knowledge to the students that the teacher was sleeping with students but when the administration became aware of the issue they chose to cover it up. Some of the students brought the cover up to the medias attention and the man is now serving a potential life sentence. The administration still runs the school but is facing a very large lawsuit. I feel by now this is pretty obvious but I'll emphasize again that I didn't have much of a high school academic career. This made coming to a prestigious school like the University of Denver a bit intimidating to me and I worried if I would be "less educated" than my peers. I showed up in the fall and have found out that I was right. Most of my peers attended private schools and came in with college credit from AP and IB classes. I attended a public school and came in with no college credit. I have told professor Leake and my peers bits and pieces of this story before but I've yet to explain the whole thing. I guess this in part due to my own insecurities. I knew little of how to write a paper before professor Leake's class and I'm still learning, but arent we all? I cannot say the class has transformed me into an amazing writer but I am a better one. Professor Leakes methods of peer review and general paper revision helped me helped me open up to criticism. I was never singled out in any way or made fun of for what I my "lack of education." Professor Leake's class provided a comfortable environment for growth and helped me learn how to become a better writer. I know my writing could still use a lot of work and I'm terrible at elaborating on topics but I still feel I have made an immense amount of progress in my writing and I can honestly say I've tried my hardest. I know I have a long way to go but this class has been an invaluable opportunity to me. So thank you professor Leake for a wonderful class and for sharing your insight. It has truly been a pleasure.
Thank you,
Sean Duncan (aka the kid who didn't know what an in-text citation was)
