Self-Reflection: This paper was a difficult one for me to write.

I am more of a researcher than a

self-assessor. I like to research a topic and deliver facts more than to write about myself. I think
my paper is okay. It is not my best work but it is got better as I wrote.
The Wealth Behind Literacy
Strickland Gillilan, an American poet from the early twentieth century, is most famous
for his poem, A Reading other!" #n this poem, Gillilan writes, $ou may ha%e tangi&le wealth
untold' caskets of (ewels and coffers of gold" Richer than # you can ne%er &e" # had a mother who
read to me"! Within those last four lines of that poem, Gillilan points out the a&undance of
wealth &ehind literacy"
Throughout history, we ha%e witnessed the importance of literacy" )or e*ample, sla%es
would learn to read and write in the hope of one day &ecoming free and during World War #,
more women went into the work force, which re+uired many to e*pand their education"
,%ertime, society-s ideas a&out literacy ha%e changed dramatically" #t was not all that long ago,
that many people &elie%ed that only the wealthy needed to know how to read or write" The truth
is though, that literacy is so much more than (ust knowing how to read or write" Literacy is &eing
competent or knowledgea&le a&out anything"
)rom the moment we are &orn, we are always learning" We go to school, we learn to read
and write, we grow up with a goal a&out our future in our mind, and then we work hard to
achie%e that goal, to &ecome competent in our field" Along the way, we ha%e parents, teachers,
and friends, who help us, who teach us" These people play a role in our literacy, whether we
reali.e it at the time or not" Those people are our sponsors of literacy" Sponsors of literacy,
according to Brandt, can &e any agents, local or distant, concrete or a&stract, who ena&le,
support, teach, model, as well as recruit, regulate, suppress, or withhold literacy/and gain
ad%antage &y it in some way"!
#n my own life, # ha%e three main sponsors # accredit to my literacy" 0ach of these
sponsors, whether it &e a single person, a group of people, or an organi.ation, they ha%e all
played an important role in my literacy de%elopment, and &y that # do not (ust mean my a&ility to
read and write" # am more or less talking a&out my style of writing and my le%el of reading
comprehension" y three main sponsors of literacy are my parents, my teachers, and a student
led academic and professional organi.ation called 1,SA 2 )uture 1ealth 3rofessionals"
y num&er one sponsors of my literacy are my parents" When # was a child, my parents
would &uy me &ooks or take me to our local li&rary, and then they would sit down and read, not
to me, &ut with me" Some of my fa%orite memories are sitting in my dad-s lap in the recliner
chair, reading with him" y parents ha%e always &een %ery supporti%e and encouraging,
especially when it comes to my education" 0%en though neither of my parents attended college,
&oth of them understand how much wealth &ehind literacy there really is" 0%ery day when #
would get home from school, my parents would always make me sit down and do my homework
&efore # could do anything else, and while as a child # pro&a&ly hated this, # see the ad%antages of
it now" As a young student in college, # see myself to &e a %ery mature, organi.ed, and well4
rounded student, and # owe much of this to the way # was raised" Thanks to the persistence and
dedication of my parents, # am a&le to say that # ha%e ne%er really struggled in school and # feel
more prepared than the a%erage college student"
While my parents are my &iggest sponsors of literacy, # must not forget a&out the
wonderful teachers # ha%e had o%er the years" The years we spent in pre4school and elementary
school &uilt the foundation of our literacy, &ut # attri&ute my literacy style and depth to my
teachers in high school" Those four years in high school are crucial in the de%elopment of our
writing styles and literacy" 5uring those four years we spend a lot of time de%eloping our
writings and e*panding our reading comprehension" At my high school, we had a research paper
due at the end of e%ery year" We would spend the whole year working on this one paper and
during the process of writing that one paper' # de%eloped my own literacy style or genre" With
the assistance of my teachers, # disco%ered that # en(oy researching and # also en(oy writing in a
more formal or informational type of genre" Throughout high school, # had outstanding 0nglish
teachers" 0ach of them taught me something new a&out my own literacy and e%ery year, # could
see an impro%ement within myself" y teachers were always there to answer my +uestions,
proof4read my papers, gi%e me suggestions, and o%erall help me &ecome a &etter writer"
The last group # accredit a large portion of my literacy style to is an organi.ation called
1,SA 2 )uture 1ealth 3rofessionals" 1,SA 2 )uture 1ealth 3rofessionals is a student led
organi.ation de%oted to assist students in the de%elopment of leadership and technical 1,SA
skill competencies through a program of moti%ation, awareness and recognition, which is an
integral part of the 1ealth Science 0ducation instructional program" As an acti%e mem&er of
1,SA for the past four years, # ha%e ser%ed as the Ledford 1,SA, Reporter and 3resident, the
5istrict )i%e Reporter and 3resident, and as a 6orth 7arolina 1,SA State ,fficer" 5uring my
many years in these leadership positions, # had to write and present many different speeches and
workshops to &oth students and adults all o%er the country" # e%en tra%eled with 1,SA to
Washington 5"7" to meet with the 6orth 7arolina 1ouse Representati%es to discuss 7areer and
Technical 0ducation funding" All of these %arious e%ents and conferences pro%ided me with an
opportunity to grow and de%elop my literacy style e%en more" # &ecame not only a &etter write,
&ut a &etter speaker and networker as well" y local and state ad%isors spent many hours training
the officers on how to speak in front of others, how to network and communicate, and how to
present oursel%es on stage" All of this in turn contri&utes to my literacy"
As # stated earlier, a hundred years ago, society did not &elie%e literacy was that
important" Being literate was only important for the wealthy" 1owe%er, in American culture
today, it is hard for someone to &e successful without literacy" #n one part of Brandt-s article,
Sponsors of Literacy!, we see two %ery different %ariations in literacy &etween two adults"
These %ariations in literacy were caused &y cultural, social, and economic differences" This
section of Brandt-s article really stuck out to me and made me reali.e that #, unlike some people
my age, ha%e &een &lessed with more opportunities" # &elie%e that my literacy can &e attri&uted
largely to my cultural, social, and economic &ackground and the sponsors # had around me" #n
my &ook timeline # started with The 7hristmas ouse! and ended with Blink! &y alcolm
Gladwell" The literacy transformation that has &een made &etween these two &ooks is astonishing
if you think a&out it" To think that as a child we cannot read at all to now &eing a&le to read and
comprehend a large ma(ority of what we are e*posed to is +uite in%igorating" 1owe%er, we must
keep in mind that we owe this ama.ing idea called literacy to our sponsors" They are the ones
who understood the wealth &ehind literacy and decided to help us along the way"