For the second project of the Gateway, I was tasked with selected a piece of writing I had completed at some point in the past, and to use it somehow in the creation of a new piece of writing. Since I had not taken many writing classes in college, I chose a paper that I had written for the philosophy class that I took my senior year of high school.

It discusses the pursuit of happiness specifically for high school students during their preparation for the future. I claimed that society makes it impossible for students to develop their own, unique goals for the future, and that this one-way-or-the-highway approach ruines their chances at acheiving genuine happiness. Feel free to read through the original manuscript here. 

From that paper, I took the idea about societal pressure upon youth regarding the future and academics, and I created a personal essay to detail my own experience with the pressure. Specifically, through the use of anecdotes, I explained when in my life society's values relating to my future were implanted into my head, and the more recent effect that such "psuedo-lessons" have had on my current happiness. 

If you are interested in learning more about my process, feel free to read my explanatory essay, "The Making of Project II."

Otherwise, feel free to read through my final product for project II to your right, or download it here.