Kestler 1
Haley Kestler
Dr. Preston
AP English Literature and Composition
9 June 2015
Masterpiece Academy Question
Having been assigned to read Montaigne's Essays, all 1,000 pages, over summer along with
other literary works literally scared the crap out of me. I was not challenged very much in my prior
English course so you can imagine my fear of not being able to handle all of the assignments Dr.
Preston would require. I'm sitting here now laughing at my early senior year self because I had
absolutely no idea what kind of class I was actually enrolled in. In the school year's inception, I
believe that we did earn the great deal of choice that we were dealt because everyone's summer
homework was quality work. However, as the weeks went on we failed to honor this privilege that was given to us because other AP courses became more rigorous and everyone caught a bad case of
senioritis. Eventually we learned that we could get away with completing assignments in any medium and opted for those that required less effort. By the time it was second semester, I personally feel as if we didn't deserve the privilege anymore but Dr. Preston was incredibly generous and understanding of everyone's spiraling stress and ascending anxiety. I'm not saying that every assignment was poorly executed, but we definitely slacked off at times.
A few months in to the school year, Dr. Preston began describing this huge passion project, known as a Masterpiece, that was expected of us at the end of the school year. When he explained what it was, he was extremely vague and all I could really interpret was that we would present it to the class right before we graduated and it had to involve something that we loved. Having a type A personality and never being exposed to Open Source Learning before, I was a little frustrated that there was no structure for the Masterpiece project because I had no idea what was expected or even where to begin.
Kestler 2
It was a bit difficult trying to think of something I cared enough about to do an entire project on, but then it hit me. I have always enjoyed interior design (I've been addicted to HGTV since junior high) but have never really pursued my passion as much as I wanted to. My father was an architect and I practically grew up in his office, so his career highly influenced my passion. My original Masterpiece agenda didn't work out, so I switched it up and educated the class on the importance of comfy dorm room design along with a few inexpensive hacks to truly live the college experience. I was admitted to San Diego State University as an undergraduate in their Interior Design program, but have been encouraged by my parents to pursue a career in Business Administration as it is more economical and sensible. I actually enjoyed studying Microeconomics, but I hope to incorporate interior design somehow in my future and without this course, I would have never considered it. The Masterpiece Academy was a very unique and enlightening experience as I was able to see in to the futures of my class mates. It was exciting to watch them present with passion because you knew they didn't see it as just a project that needed to be completed by the dead line. One thing I did notice that was shocking in the best way possible was that it appeared as if a lot of people genuinely wanted to help others. For instance, Megan seemed so determined to write nothing but the truth when she pursued a career in journalism, Val wanted to be able to teach children about the history of our country in the most exciting way possible, Connor knew exactly what his customers wanted and was willing to produce the clothing necessary to satisfy them, Chrystal and Tia wanted to reveal both sides when it comes to our personal education system, and I just want to create spaces for people to enjoy and make coming home a little bit sweeter. We were given complete freedom with this assignment and I was astonished at the amount of work carried out that benefited others besides the Masterpiecer. Others were centered around personal interests or even comedy, which was clearly displayed in Lukas and Eric's Masterpiece. Their video actually made me laugh out loud because of my ability to relate, it was a pretty great moment and feeling knowing that I wasn't the only awkward person on this planet.
I am aware that for MLA format, everything needs to be double spaced along with my last name and the page number at the top right-hand corner of every page, but my computer is acting up and won't allow that :) Also, I cannot fix the format of the first paragraph for some reason.
