AP Literature Introductory Letter
Casey Feldman
Dear Dr. Montgomery:
We have already become acquainted through yearbook, and I look forward to getting to know you better during AP Literature next year.
First and foremost, I would like to tell you how excited I am about taking your class. Not only have I heard good things about it, but English has always been my favorite subject, and I love all the reading and writing that my language arts courses thus far at the high school have entailed.
Because of my love of writing, I am planning on majoring in journalism in college with the hopes of one day becoming a broadcast journalist. If everything goes my way, you will see me on the news someday!
Earlier this year, I participated in the News Studies internship program at KYW news radio. Being involved in the internship enabled me to speak with KYW reporters about the details of their job, to tour the studio, and even to record my own news story, which was played on KYW after my completion of the internship. Getting a taste of the journalism world only reaffirmed my desire to become a part of it all, and made me more determined than ever to succeed.
While my experience at KYW was wholly inspiring, one experience I had was even more so: a trip to New York City for my sixteenth birthday.
I had never been to New York before, but who hasn’t read a book or watched a movie or T.V. show that takes place there? I had seen images of New York so many times that I didn’t expect to be surprised by anything I saw there or to feel any initial “magic” upon seeing the city for the first time.
Needless to say, that was not the case. As anyone who has been to the city before can attest, there is no place like it in the world. I had assumed that epithets like “the city that never sleeps”, or “the center of the universe” were exaggerations, monikers used to draw tourists, created for nothing more than advertising purposes (after all, this is America.)
I discovered, however, that everything I had heard about the city was absolutely accurate- even the bad things. Yes, many sections of New York are dirty, trash-ridden and teeming with seemingly noxious odors. Yes, there are pick pockets, con artists, and beggars on almost every street corner. And yes, I loved every minute of it.
Times Square became alive at night, the brilliant lights of the city just as breath-taking to me as a natural wonder to someone else. Although it has been said so often that it is practically a cliché, there is no other way to say it: New York has an indescribable “energy” that is almost impossible to find anywhere else.
New York City is a place where people so vastly different from each other can all achieve their various dreams and accomplish great things. New York represents everything I want for my own life: success, excitement, and happiness. This city, to me, is truly the center of the universe, and I can’t imagine ever wanting to be anywhere else.
Because of this, for college, I have my sights set on New York. While New York University is my first-choice, I know that getting accepted into the school would be challenging, so I also plan on applying to other schools in the area, such as Fordham. Either way, I know that whether or not I get accepted into NYU, I will end up in New York eventually.
I hope that now you feel you know me a little better (if nothing else, you know about my obsession with New York!) I am greatly looking forward to taking your class next year and improving my reading and writing skills along the way.
Sincerely,
Casey Feldman