Date: October 1, 17 NE
Name: Ivan Daryl Barron
School: Upper School
Teacher: Ms. Sherry
Age: 9
Composition Instructions: When you turn thirteen, you will either be admitted to the University of Alexandria for further academic study or be assigned an apprenticeship somewhere in the Alliance. It's important to start thinking about your goals early. Write at least five paragraphs answering the question, "What do you want to do when you grow up, and who is your role model for this vocation?" Your role model should be a currently living person who is employed in the vocation you wish to pursue.
When I grow up I want to be a power engineer. I want to go to the University of Alexandria to study when I turn 13. My role model is Professor Eugene Porter. I first met him at the annual fair in Oceanside when I was 2 or 3. And last year he was here for six weeks for the information exchange program and taught me a bunch.
Professor Porter was in charge of the Great Battery Project. It was on account of Professor Porter we have back up solar batteries for the water taxis and the museum and a battery for Gary's electric motorcycle that he built with our Uncle Daryl. Uncle Daryl let me help with the engine. He said, "You're almost as good with wires as I am with a crossbow."
Mom says a 12 year old like Gary shouldn't have a motorcycle but Uncle Daryl says he rode his first one at 13. Mom said that wasn't legal and Uncle Daryl said the law wasn't his problem. And Dad said besides if Gary's going to kill himself there's about 100 other ways he could do it with all the trouble he gets up to. So Mom let Gary have the motorcycle.
I want to be a power engineer so I can figure out how to bring power to the dorm and cabins and huts. The Great Alliance Council says we don't have enough lithium and corn yet and can't overuse power but maybe I could figure something out. It gets hot in summer, and I have to pump the fans. That's one of my chores. If I can make an electric fan, I won't have to pump the fans.
I did make a little fan for my room you can stand up on the desk. I made it with some wires and lithium my dad got me for my birthday from the salt ponds and some metal I got from the jewlry in the store house. But the little fan caught fire and then the desk caught fire and Gary yelled at me to climb out the window and he and Dad put out the fire. Mom got mad at Dad for giving me the lithimum and said I could have burned the whole cabin down. Dad says they need to let me experiment but Mom thinks I need to "scale it back."
And then we had to stay with Uncle Daryl and Aunt Carol for a week while Mr. Dante helped my Dad rebuild that part of the cabin. But that was fine because Sweetheart is fun to hang around with and she knows sign language better than any of the other kids in the upper school so I could talk with my hands the whole time and I like that better than talking with my mouth on account of the way I sound.
I also want to be a power engineer because I got to read A Key to A Future when Jamestown got it on library loan from Hilltop. It talks about water power. I think we could do more with that because we live on the river. We have the gristmill, and the wells, and the irigation, but that's about all we do with water. We could do more. Maybe we could make electricity with it.
Additionally, I want to make an electric car for my brother Gary. If he and Uncle Daryl can make an electric motorcycle, I bet I could find a way to make a car. It would really make Gary notice me if I made him that. But cars are a lot heavier and we don't have much lithium so I'd have to figure out how to make a real super light car.
Professor Porter is also my role model because people think he talks funny. And people think I talk funny because I can't hear myself in one ear and can only half hear myself in the other. But Professor Porter doesn't care that people think he talks funny. He talks anyway. He talks all the time. I want to be like that. I want to not care what people think and just talk no matter what. But I don't talk much. Uncle Daryl says, "To hell with people." But I don't think he really thinks that because he has people he respects. Like my dad, the Sheriff. And Sherriff's Lieutenant Santiago. And Lieuenant Mayor Earl. And Farm Manager Hamilton. And President Aaron in Alexandria and the head of Hunting and Forestry there, Mitch. And my Aunt Carol, the Mayor. And he cares what they all think.
Finally, I admire Professor Eugene Porter because he got a woman to marry him even though he's weird. I'm weird because I can't hear much and I talk funny and I like books more than guns and gears more than horses and I don't like killing cannibals. Sweetheart killed THREE cannibals when we went on the Survival Field Trip outside the gates this year. I tried to kill one, but then I got all sick in my stomach and my dad had to step in to keep me from getting bit. And he didn't say anything but I could tell he was embarassed by me.
But maybe someday I could get a woman to marry me like Professor Porter did. And then she could start to like me maybe after a few years. Sweetheart likes me but not the marrying kind of like. I heard her talking to Hope. They both think my big brother is "dreamy and daring" and Hershel is "cute and funny" and Benji is going to be "a crack shot someday" and Harry is "a dashing rake." But Sweetheart never says anything like that about me. She just says I'm "living smart." (My mom says "living" is like when people used to say "wicked" in the Old World. She says she's making a Dictionary of New World Slang. She says we kids have made up a lot of words, but that we also sometimes talk like we were born in the 1950s or maybe even the 1850s.)
In conclusion, I want to be a power engineer when I grow up and my role model is Professor Eugene Porter of Alexandria, Province 3 of the Great Alliance, because (1) he invents things and (2) he has a pretty wife even though he's weird.
Teacher's Notes:
A. With a little revision, this will be an A+. As usual, VanDaryl, you went above and beyond. In your final draft, I'd omit the things I marked, such as the conversations you overheard. That's private and not really the subject for a formal composition. Please avoid words like "hell," even when quoting your uncle. You have several run-on sentences to correct, and a very few spelling mistakes.
Your father is very proud of you, I'm sure. That's why he supports your experiments. At our last teacher conference, he told me he expects to see you on the Wall of Inventors in the Alliance History Museum one day. Any woman would be lucky to marry you, and I think you have a beautiful voice.