Tommy Aiken wrote a letter to the judges of his high school senior project describing the informative book he created about the history of each NFL team. He chose this project because he enjoys drawing, writing, and sports. While researching and creating the book, Tommy realized he does not want to pursue being a professional artist due to the difficulties artists face making a living through their art. However, he believes he could succeed in a career involving writing about or covering sports.
1. 1484 Gaddis Road
Canton, GA 30115
April 15, 2013
Judges, Senior Project
Creekview High School
1550 Owens Store Road
Canton, GA 30115
Dear Judges:
My name is Tommy Aiken and I enjoy sports, writing and drawing. My goals in
life are to graduate High School, go on to Berry College and hopefully become a
successful human being. For my senior project I decided to write and illustrate an
informative book about the NFL. The book is designed practically any age person that
wants to learn the history about each NFL team. I chose to do this because I have always
enjoyed drawing in my free time and have a passion for sports and writing.
My Product is a bound paperback book that was printed with the help of Yawns
Books in Canton. For my research paper I researched how professional artists are dealing
with the recession. I found that they are having difficulty selling art and making a living
2. by solely selling art. Although there are many successful artists today, my research
helped me come to the conclusion that I do not want to pursue becoming an artist as a
professional. I do not have the skill and I prefer keeping it a hobby. I encountered a few
obstacles as I created my book as well. I found that drawing and perfecting each team’s
logo and players was a grueling and tedious process. It took a lot of concentration and
more time than I expected. I also planned on having more than one book printed out and
possibly distributing them or selling them. But it turned out being too expensive and I
could not get permission from each NFL team to use their logos in time.
Explain how your topic and research relate to a career and what you learned about
yourself and your desire to pursue this career in your postsecondary endeavors.
(Minimum-5 sentences). Writing this book helped me learn that I do not want to pursue
being an artist, but being some type of sports writer is definitely an interest of mine. I
love sports and consider myself extremely informed. I believe that doing something that
involves writing about or covering sports is something I could succeed at as an adult. I
learned that I should keep drawing as a hobby and just draw on my own leisure. On the
other hand, I will absolutely pursue a career in sports writing.
– Overall I enjoyed working on this project even though it was extremely difficult at
times. I hope you enjoy the book and appreciate all the hard work I put into it. Thank you
so much for your time.
Sincerely,
