FIRST PLACE (Tie), Grades 4-6 Division, 2005
DONTE ELLIS
Grade 6, Thomson Elementary
I would like to be the kind of person who helps people solve problems, a person who never acts up in school, laughs, talks, or plays a lot. I want to be the kind of person who everyone looks up to, the person who helps you with complicated things all the time. I want to be the kind of person who is kind to others. Every day. I have to make choices to be the kind of person who I want to be.
I could be the person I want to be, but I keep making bad choices. I make funny faces and make noises and say things to get attention. Sometimes people ignore me, that way I know when to stop. I need to stop trying to get other people’s attention.
I used to call kids in school names, and the kids called me names too. It was fun. The other kids called me “Teecah”. One day, four people called me this name, and it didn’t seem fun anymore. It made me feel so bad that I started to cry. My teacher asked me why I was crying, so I made a choice to tell her. I couldn’t sop crying so she asked me if wanted to talk with the school nurse. I wanted to talk to the school nurse. When I talked with her I made a choice to tell her that lots of kids were calling each other names. I told her all the names that were being called. It was a long list. I felt pretty good when I told her.
After I made the choice to tell about all the name calling, the school nurse, my teacher, and my principal started working hard to get the kids to stop calling each other names and to straighten the whole situation out.
I am very proud of myself for making the right decision. I finally did the right thing, and I was pretty excited. The people who were calling me names were probably playing, but my feelings were hurt. I guess I must hurt other people’s feelings when I call them names. I am very proud that I went to my teacher and nurse and told them what was happening. I am getting closer to being an excellent, kind, hard-working student.