This article serves as an invitation to see the way the teaching of biography-driven writing has been increasingly pushed out of the secondary English Language Arts (ELA) curriculum in favor of highly structured, formulaic, and impersonal writing, and how this is a setback for students in their preparation for college and career writing. The author recalls the power of teaching memoir in her classroom and makes the case for secondary writing teachers to offer more opportunities for students to practice biography-driven writing forms within the formal ELA curriculum, so they may gain the practice and skills necessary to produce a wide range of genres for diverse disciplines, audiences, and purposes expected in college and beyond.