In 2018, while driving my car, I heard an interview on NPR’s Fresh Air with Terry Gross. The interview with Finn Murphy, a trucker who'd recently published the memoir The Long Haul: A Trucker's Tales of Life on the Road, struck all my chords. Murphy was a marvelous storyteller. He spoke of the power of interpersonal skills, people’s relationship with things, the life continuum, stress response and hierarchy and othering and the human condition — all my sensibilities sparked in a single conversation. He was also a trucker. I loved it.
Gross’s interview with Murphy hit me like my favorite journalists do. Jon Krakauer, Sebastian Junger, Ta-Nehisi Coates — they rouse me, sometimes rattle me, and I’m always glad for it. But why I remember this single interview, heard on a random commute, was not because it flung me from my comfort zone: it was because it confirmed my belief that words belong to everyone.
When I ask my college essay clients how they feel about writing, they often answer, “It’s okay.” When I ask them what they think of English class: again, “It’s okay.” Lukewarm, I know. I also get it. So much of student writing happens in a vacuum, without enough meaning or oomph. Sometimes students think the stakes are high because they’re shooting for As, but that nagging this-essay-is-going-nowhere still scratches at them.
If I could return to my early days of teaching high school English, I would knock over students with models of award-winning journalism. I would turn them into investigative reporters, digging into real stories they cared about. I would help them write tighter sentences and shorter paragraphs. And I would get them published.
Local newspapers love well-written stories. I spent 12 years as a school communications director writing press releases, and my articles always went to print. Why? Because local papers need skilled writers sharing community stories in crisp prose. English teachers can help student writers take their work from the vacuum into the world. If students think a grade equals high stakes, wait until they see their name in print.
One of the reasons I love helping college essay writers is because there’s an audience beyond teachers at the end of the writing process. Real people, with real feelings, real interests and experiences and limits, are on the receiving end of that college essay. For many students, writing their college applications is the first time they’re writing for an audience. And those readers can change an applicant’s life. Now those are high stakes.
I’m making two points here: 1) words belong to everyone; and 2) college essays count.
Volleyball players, video junkies, car enthusiasts, hip hop dancers, STEMmers, STEAMers*, skiers, chefs, carpenters, linguists, goalies, astronomers, sculptors, and, yes, truckers, they’re all writers. Every college applicant, no matter their grades or scores or activities, is a writer. They just might not believe it yet.
I wish student writers saw their names in bylines before they wrote their college applications, but this is rare. It’s also okay, to use my clients’ go-to word. By the time they get to me, the stakes are high. There are real readers and those readers matter.
So here's some advice.
College applicants, please believe that words belong to you. They do. I swear. And in your college essay, have a real conversation with real words with your very real readers. Easier said than done, I know. Not sure how to begin? Start by listening to the trailblazing Terry Gross talk with her guests. Still not sure? Read rockstar journalists. Need more tangible tips, look HERE. No matter how you prime the pump, just remember words are yours.
Read more tips HERE.
*Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Math
Photo credit: Robson Hatsukami Morgan
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