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Maseng
Sean Maseng

Mrs. Cox

English 101 & 102

20 September 2019

Setting Course

“Captain! Captain! We can’t take much more of this. The storm it’s too strong, she’ll

break the boat,” the second in command shouted, competing with the thunder above. The

captain, as stern as ever, looking at the storm with nothing but determination. Above, the dark

sky now bursting at its seams, battering the blue hull of steal in a consistent rhythm. With the

waves below calling on the ship to make its final resting place, their odds of survival were slim

to none.

“Sean, its time for lunch, come on in the house,” my mom said waking me out of my day

dream. I put my paint brush down, still dripping with blue paint from the hull, and looked up at

my grandfather who was anxious to continue painting. “Don’t worry, we’ll be back soon to

finish the boat,” continued my grandfather. Little did I know that it would never happen, but it

was from moments like these with my grandfather shaped my identity today.

My grandfather, a Norwegian immigrant to the United States, World War II veteran, and

father of three would set my life on a course based off this one moment in time. Throughout my

childhood, my memories with my grandfather are filled with hours of building massive and

beautiful boats. My favorite being a wooden ocean liner with a deep blue hull, lined with a small

white rail that wrapped around the ship, and topped off with 4 large black smoke stacks. It was

with these boats that carried my imagination as a child, as we crafted each one.
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Maseng
After my grandfather passed, I continued to foster my passion to create with small

miniature models made out of simple Lego bricks. Immortalized in my room, each one is

preserved increasing in complexity as time progresses. From the Eiffel Tower to the New York

skyline, each one tells a story and nurtured a passion within. Though as time passed this wasn’t

enough to quench my thirst to create something meaningful. Then in my freshman year of high

school I discovered our school’s architectural class.

Here I was able to channel my desires into designing spaces that would maximize a

building’s potential, while maintaining an appealing design. With one stretching towards the sky,

rotating each floor into the shape of DNA, creating a futuristic style apartment building.

Surrounded in dark glass and topped off in an extended white balcony, this would be iconic on

any skyline. As the years progressed, so did my imagination, taking me to designing a visitor

center for a submarine and a learning centers for urban students.

But through it all, I thought of my grandfather and how it was all because of him. The

direction that my life was set on started with him. Those memories and adventures created with

him in his workshop, fighting the never-ending sea and sailing into sunset, filled my childhood

and created a passion within me. As I look back on it now, I see how he set the course for my

ship, but it is time for me to be captain and charter my course.