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Eric Olson
M. Healy
Composition II
14 January 2016
About Me
My name is Eric Olson and I am in my sophomore year here at UNO. I have lived in
Omaha my entire life. I grew up in a neighborhood right next to Omaha Northwest High School.
However, at the age of 11, my family and I moved out west to Millard. It was there that I spent
four years playing basketball as a Millard West Wildcat before graduating in 2014. Currently, I
live with my mom and dad to save money because let’s face it, college isn’t cheap. And a nice
home-cooked meal is just another benefit of living at home. In addition to my mom and dad, I
also live with two Yorkshire Terriers. They are pretty small, but they love to cuddle. As the
saying goes, “A cute little lap dog is a man’s best friend.” I also have a 33 year old half-brother
whose name is Robert, but I just call him “Bob”. He, however, lives on his own in an apartment
here in town. Most of my extended family also lives in Omaha with the exception of a few aunts
and uncles.
Family is a very important aspect of my life and as a result I spend a lot of time with
them throughout the year. My girlfriend and I visit our grandparents every weekend to play cards
and eat dinner together. My family, especially my parents and grandparents, influence my life
greatly. They have instilled in me qualities such as honesty, hard work, courage, and generosity.
In a way, I am the man that I am today because of the influence they have had on me.
After I graduate from UNO with a bachelor’s degree I plan on going to graduate school at
UNMC to become a physical therapist. I aspire to help others physical ailments while also
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nurturing the patients themselves. In my opinion, treating a patient with compassion and
sympathy is just as, if not more, important than treating any disease itself. For this reason, the
movie Patch Adams resonates greatly with me.
My past experiences with writing and research are nothing out of the ordinary. I took
standard English classes in high school for three years before coming to UNO. Last semester I
took English Composition I with Marsha Kruger. One of my favorite writing experiences was
last semester in Composition I. Our class watched a foreign film titled The Intouchables and was
asked to write a 4-5 page essay on friendship. Although the entire movie was in subtitles, I really
enjoyed the subject of the essay. The movie had a powerful message and I think I did a good job
of “showing” that message in my paper. This semester I am excited to improve upon my skillset
while also focusing on the aspects of research and argumentation. I think some of my strengths
as a writer are my sentence fluency and transitions. However, I know that I can improve on many
aspects in my writing. One of my weaknesses is overlooking small grammatical errors. Overall, I
have enjoyed my experiences with the writing and reading classes that I have taken and I am
excited to start this new chapter in my writing career.