StudentsXpress June 2012

June 2012

June 2012

JOIN

CAMP GAN ISRAEL

For The Summer of a Lifetime!

SIX JAM-PACKED WEEKS!

• JUNE 25th—AUGUST 3rd • AGES 2 & UP • Swimming, Sports, Fieldtrips, Gymnastics, Karate, Jewish & Israeli Themed Arts & Crafts, & Much More!

• ONLY $300/ 2-WEEK SESSION • In the Heart of Lakeview

June 2012

Because of limited space in the printed publication, some essays had to be cut short.

This symbol indicates that the entire entry can be found at the end of this online version, in the “Xtra Xpressions” section.

FOR MORE INFO & TO REGISTER:

cgilakeview.com (773) 973-6386

June 2012

June 2012

June 2012

June 2012

June 2012

“Insurance rates are already on the rise. Coverages are being limited. I can help you level the playing field.�

Contact Michael Rice, CIC to help you with your insurance needs.

A proud Nettlehorst parent.

(312) 254-1500

June 2012

www.twinsurance.com

June 2012

June 2012

June 2012

June 2012

courage=strength courage=bravery courage=fearlessness To have courage you need to confront danger, pain, and fear.

Courage is the quality of mind and spirit that enables a person to face difficulty, danger, and pain without fear.

In courage there is no fear. Courage fights against all odds. Courage is the ability to do something extraordinary.

I need the courage to control my instincts, courage to face my fears, courage to see my future and forget my past because I have to prepare myself for anything that comes.

Courage gives me strength in weakness. Courage is what it takes to succeed.

Courage is something that can be achieved.

Courage is me!!!

Courage means something different for everyone It depends on what you need the courage for You might need courage so as not to suck your thumb You might need courage to walk out your front door Courage means to stand up for yourself It might mean to try something new It doesn’t matter if you have no clue So when you are asked what courage means Simply tell them it’s different to each than it seems.

—Sophia M.

—Elisabeth C.

Ava S.

Me being brave on a ropes course.

With courage I can do anything I set my mind to do This is something that can’t be bought but it’s something that grows within me and you.

Being bold and brave is all that I can be.

The thing you find in super hero stories Why you ask, because I know that courage is within me.

It has no face and some just let it go to waste There are times I am hurt, mad, or filled with fear.

Courage is in you and me But then I think hold up wait a minute my courage is here. but sometimes we fail to see It never leaves my side and is always with me through Courage is impeccable, white as snow thick and thin.

And the BEST thing a person can have.

And with my heart and positive attitude Unique —Stan H. I’ll always win.

Courage is a brand new day It’s going a different way Never be afraid to grow or gain success Courage is things you are trying Always remember that with faith and courage it will Courage is fear defying always equal the best.

It is something you don’t have to pay —Ciara B. I have to be courageous every day. My brother is in the Navy. I was kind —Mearieta C. of nervous when on TV it said “In Virginia (my brother is in Virginia) two officers from Virginia base camp (Navy people are there) got shot.” My brother is from the base Courage is the feeling that people invest in themselves that motivates, and takes camp. But, in December my brother came back. He lived here for two weeks. But he you into a world with confidence. A world where people aren’t afraid to do anyleft on Sunday. We said our good-byes. It was hard for me to say good-bye but I did. thing. Courage is belief in yourself, and your abilities to complete your journey of I still have something to remind me of him. I have a sweater of his to smell when I what you want to do. —Lavelle B. miss him. I’m going to keep my head high and let no one get into my fears. My brother is the one who said those words to me. He’s the one who inspired me. —Abdul A. I have a lot of courage. One day my friends asked me “Can you do a back flip off the diving board?” I had to do it because they dared me. I got onto the diving board and did it.

I landed straight on my back. After that I never did that again. —Morrigan M.

I think a hero is like a policeman.

Policemen take bad guys to jail.

They are there when you need them.

Sadie H.

Courage is what you think is right, what you think is brave. I had courage when I got on my very first horse. When I got on the horse I did what I needed to do. I had courage. I heard stories about people falling or getting kicked. I had to follow my courage and do what I went there to do—ride.

I got on the horse and began my journey.

I felt like I was where I belonged. Where I was meant to be. I love to ride. If I was any more scared I might have not done it or the horse might have not trusted me and refused to listen. I believe courage is the brave and worthy thing to do. It is not right or wrong but the knowledgeable thing to do. It’s the thing best for you. It’s what you need to get to the best part of your story.

It’s what you need to find your happiness.

It shows more than being brave. It’s your definition of what you use to do something great. —Mackenzie R.

Courage is important in everyday life, it’s not just for asking your boss for a raise. Courage is much more than that; it is standing up for what you think is right or what you want.

Courage is important for what happens in your future. Courage helped my future because if I did not use it then I would not have my best friend today. In second grade I was quiet and would not talk much. But one day I went up to a girl in my class. Her name was Mia. She was also quiet. I asked her if she wanted to be friends and come over to my house and play one day. It took a lot of courage to ask, but it paid off because she said “Sure.” Now Mia is my best friend and I can’t go a week without seeing her at least once. If I didn’t use courage and ask Mia to be my friend then I would be a much different person and I would not even be writing this about how great and important our friendship is to me. —Sydney V. June 2012

Pet the cat.

No, I’m afraid of cats.

Just do it.

OK

Bravery is needed It can save people It helps people If you do not have that you can not save people It is needed to people who are rulers.

—Mark G.

THE END

Courage is taking on the challenge.

Doing the thing that scares you.

Courage makes you stronger.

Courage is doing something hard to help yourself or others.

Having courage is one thing, but using it, is another.

Conor M.

Courage shows you what you can do.

With courage, you can persevere and ignore danger, obstacles and fear.

Courage Jervaughn C.

is to have hope Courage isn’t something that can be bought. and to have hope It isn’t something that can be taught. can change the outcome But courage can be learned. of anything you try doing.

It isn’t something you have or don’t have.

Courage is walking with your chin held high to the sky...

Courage is something that comes and goes.

Courage is the will to change the world.

Your courage will come when you need it most.

Courage can change the world.

Courage isn’t about what you have and don’t have.

With courage we believe...

Courage is about the will you have to fight for what you believe in. in ourself, —Lauren S. our goals, our hopes, Courage is an important part of your life, such as awakening in the our dreams, morning and facing your fears. If it weren’t for courage, you would think with courage we believe... that you couldn’t do anything, and wouldn’t even try. You would put in the outcome. yourself down, not try, and say four words: “I can’t do it.” It is then when —Anna K-C courage is needed. —Sharease C.

If you can describe yourself as courageous, then you have something to be proud of.

—Claire F.

I have courage by being in a classroom

with people who do not want to pass. If they are not

passing they will try to hold back the rest of the class.

The people in my class try to get the people that they know are smart to copy their work. I think that’s wrong.

If you don’t know your work, how can you pass to the next grade? It takes courage to speak on this subject because a lot of students don’t. —Brandon L.

Courage is when you have a strong heart and believe that nothing wrong will happen. I recall using courage when my grandmother was very weak in the hospital. She could not move, so I took care of her. I went to the hospital every day and brought her anything that she needed. Then, the day came when the doctor said “Sorry your grandmother is not breathing.”

I had to use all my courage for her because I loved her so much.

That is the one time that I really had to use courage.

Courage is the abolitionist in spite of all others.

Courage is the community filled with single mothers.

Courage is what the cowardly dream to be.

Courage is the knowledgeable working to endure to the highest degree.

Courage is the capable of overcoming neglect.

Courage is those who overcome disrespect.

Courage aren’t the slackers this world has come to know.

Courage is the thoughtful thinking of others when they don’t.

Courage is the fatherless after the truth has unfurled.

Courage is the people who are not conformed to this world........

—Jhordan T.

Jamie O. June 2012

Courage, courage, courage. You know that courage happened when I was on stage being Michael Jackson. When I came out—Boom— there it is: courage. I was feeling frightened and then I hit the stand and remembered what Ms. Poe said: “Do your best!” Courage never faded, and I made it this time. —Semaj W.

June 2012

June 2012

On the facing page are excerpts from student essays. You can find them in their entirety in the Xtra Xpressions section at the end of the publication.

June 2012

Lauren K.

I

Mike C.

Kim C.

A

Ethan P-B

lmost all teenagers have cried themselves to sleep from bullying. They all come to a phase in their life where they are overwhelmed and have felt unconfident about themselves. Both verbal and physical violence is a significant problem that should be addressed in all schools and families.

My past experience with violence started in my teenage years. At first, everything seemed like a joke and it didn’t really affect me but as they continuously taunted me, it just became my worst nightmare. The reason that I was a victim of bullying was because of my race....

Tiffany Y.

Dillon W. June 2012

Chloe K.

Courage June 2012

I was courageous the first time I had skating class because I was really scared and I thought I was going to be bad at it. When I got on to the ice I did not know how to skate. The teacher told me where to go. When I started skating I was really good at it. It was really fun doing it. Now I’m still skating and I’m going to keep doing it. I hope I can be a really good skater when I grow up.

June 2012

Dear people in the world,

I am normal. Well relatively normal to all of you out there (I find it hard to define that word, since everyone has a different personality). And as I look around, I see more normal people surrounding me, with the same normal and average thoughts that everyone has. Yes I’m not particularly “famous” or “well known” but I’m a standard person that has just as many thoughts, troubles, and backbone as someone who is famous.

Every person that is average is simply that: average. There is nothing more than that.

But the huge misconception that I find people believe is that the word average means the same thing as worthless. There are so many people in the world that compare themselves to others and look at others’ achievements and not see their own. And what that automatically means to people (or at least some of the people I know) is that those people that they look up to are more important, and have bigger problems, and put themselves down for it. When I do this (and I see my friends do this too) weird thoughts go through my head like: people probably wouldn’t care about what seemingly little troubles happen in my life. This is sort of a self-discrimination, and we don’t consider the importance of our own lives and our own problems. People don’t see their own courageousness but noticing it is an important skill that you need to have to have a healthy amount of selfconfidence, happiness, and motivation to continue being courageous. The easiest way to build up this characteristic is to remind yourself every now and then, and notice the times in your day, when you are being courageous.

No matter what we might think of our own worries, we can’t help but notice them.

To really be a NORMAL person you should have worries. From the small things, like nervousness before you take a test, or going to school for the first time; and slightly larger things like standing up to a bully, or even a friend if you think something they are doing to a person is wrong. And as always everyone will eventually have to face very large fears, like a fear of death. Some people have a fear of themselves dying, and some have a fear of others they love dying. Not everyone has these fears, but they are very common, and there are many other similar fears. Because of the commonality of these fears, we face them almost every day. And no matter how you look at it, facing any sort of fear, no matter how small, takes some courage. I bet if you ask anyone, just anyone you know, and ask them if they have a fear (you don’t have to ask them what it is) they will say yes and it would seem rather strange if they didn’t. Your fears are no less important than any other person’s, no matter how “ridiculous” they seem, because part of being human is having weird ideas, thoughts, and those can lead to weird fears (like some people have a fear of being chased around a dining room table, being chased by wolves with peanut butter on the roof of their mouths).

There are definitely other things in life besides fears that take courage, and you may not have suspected them. One thing I’ve found to take courage is the virtue of moderation. Let’s say that you are depressed. That’s a very common feeling, and I’ve felt at least a little depressed at times. No one likes to be depressed, and it can be very damaging.

But in order to get out of your mood you have to look yourself and feelings straight in the face, and control your feelings. It takes courage to look at yourself and see what you’re doing in that sad time and tell yourself to suck it up and control yourself. That’s a very difficult thing to do, but the only way to mature yourself, to reflect and improve yourself, to fulfill the virtue of moderation, is to gather up the courage to face your own emotion.

It takes courage to stand up to any emotion of course, not just depression, but anger, and self-pride. It takes a whole lot of strength and bravery to open your mind and calm yourself to become a better person.

Seeing as all of these things can happen during life, it can take lots of boldness to keep on going with everyday life. That’s not to say that good things don’t happen in life, but there is the possibility of having a “bad day.” And since the average person is well, living, everyone has a bit of adventurousness in their character. If you’re reading this letter, then I don’t think you can deny that you’re living.

Everyone needs to give themselves some credit for having a bit of courage. You face the light of day, and the darkness of night. You face whatever comes at you during the day, and heck, I don’t think there’s any way of predicting what will happen to you. So stick your chin up, and have some self-confidence in your own bravery. We have courage for the most unexpected things.

Your fellow adventurer, —Connie H.

Courage is with the people who stand tall and defend their own point of view in life.

They’re not afraid to step out of their own shadow and express their feelings.

Courage, we all have it. Courage, but we don’t always express it. Courage, we can’t always expect it.

Some people use it for the benefit of the doubt to stand up for the people who need it the most.

Courage can be shown in different ways. Many ways. —Delaney W. Courage is when you are scared and you fight your fright.

It’s when you are scared in your bed at night and you say to yourself “This is not real” and you don’t wake up your mom and dad.

Courage!

Courage is recycling when no one else is doing it.

Courage is when you hold out your arm to get a vaccine.

Courage is when you perform a piano solo even if you have stage fright.

Don’t worry!

Courage is challenging yourself to dive into the gigantic wave coming at you looking like a tsunami. Courage is the best!

Courage is standing up for your friend when someone is insulting her.

Be nice! Be nice!

When I went to the Courage is standing up for who you are. water park, I was —Lamia S. super excited because my cousins were at a I was brave when I saved my baby house with us so I could cousin. She fell from the counter go with my cousin. I played with my cousins and I grabbed her tightly. at the slide, a fun house I saved the day! and so much more. I heard and saw the big huge water slide that was 100 feet long. My cousin said “Hey, Dad, can we go on the 100 feet slide?” I guess he said yes. I wasn’t too scared, kind of scared but when I was even closer to it I got so scared. When I saw the stairs it was a long long Rebekah M. way up. I gulped. I was at the top and when Maria woke up, and remembered that she I looked down, I was had to face another hard day in fifth grade. really high. I saw the Her mom came to give Maria her clothes for school, and when whole water park. I was she got to her room, she said, “Morning Maria!” but Maria was in close to the slide. Then when I got even closer, a horrible mood. “Mom, a girl in my class is bullying me, and I don’t know what to do.” Maria’s mom had a quick answer. “Well, my cousin went and I said “Wow!” I was secSweetie, be courageous.” “What does that mean?” asked Maria. ond in line. I saw a guy.

“To be courageous means to be braver than brave, outstanding, He went and he did not and to never give up. You have to face your largest fears.” It didn’t care. He was happy. I sound easy, but Maria still tried it. felt courageous. Then The next day, Maria went to school to face her bully, Nicole.

I went down to the slide and my back was “Hey! It’s dork day!” Maria answered back quickly. “Don’t call hurting but I didn’t me a dork, please! Hurting someone else’s feelings won’t make yours feel better.” Nicole didn’t look too well. “Well...you’re still care. When I got to the bottom of the slide, I a dork!” Maria turned around. “Then leave me alone, and let me was so happy. My uncle be a dork.” Maria went home and realized that she faced her fear, went on it and his back and she was courageous. was red. Then I thought Facing your largest fears, protecting yourself, making sure you about it and I wanted to and your friends are o.k. and standing up to someone is Courage. go do it again. The end.

—Allegra R. —Liam G.

One day,

June 2012

The People that got us Where we are Today “We must build dikes of courage to hold back the flood of fear.”

—Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. On Sunday, May 21 more than 1,500 people packed a church in Montgomery, Alabama. Reverend Ralph Abernathy, Dr. King, and many more guest speakers showed up to the First Baptist church to listen to all the guest speakers that were going to talk that night. When the session had come to a close, many people had noticed that a mob was starting to form outside. Racists began throwing rocks and other hard objects at windows, hurting many of the people inside. Dr. King tried to keep order but he could not keep many of the people from panicking. Dr. King began phoning the president requesting that the U.S. Army show up to bring protection to all the Blacks so that they could get outside. As the night progressed the Blacks began to feel the heat. Not only were they cramped but the white mob outside had grown to 2,000 people. The mob began burning some of the cars outside but

soon their only intention was to burn the church down, killing all 300 blacks inside. Reverend Ralph Abernathy and Dr. King tried their hardest to keep calm until the U.S. Army finally showed up. Dr. King and Reverend Ralph Abernathy released sighs of relief as the U.S. Army finally burst through the doors telling them that the coast was clear. I think that some of the bravest people on earth were the 300 blacks trapped inside that church.

The 300 people inside that church were so courageous because they knew that they might die that day but they remained calm, prayed for God to help them, and didn’t lose hope. They knew that they might die but they just kept going. To me that was so courageous. In general, all the people during the civil rights era that were fighting for their freedom were courageous. They faced discrimination, were treated badly, experienced violence, and much more. But the most courageous thing that they did is that they kept fighting for their rights. Every day they kept going back and back even though they were sure that they were going

Fighting and pushing Stand up in a crowd Making your smile, the biggest and loud.

Chorus: So that’s why you have the strength to be the best.

That’s why you have the strength, it’s being put to the test.

Cuz I remember you standing on that stage, frightened and hopeful Back in those days.

But now you have the courage to say...doop doop da doop doop Determined and powerful Pump your fist in the air.

Believe in yourself, be the best you can bear.

So that’s why you have the strength to be the best.

That’s why you have the strength, it’s being put to the test.

Cuz I remember you standing on that stage, frightened and hopeful Back in those days.

But now you have the courage to say...doop doop da doop doop —Alenna A.

One time there was a huge roller coaster. I saw it and my dad said, “Do you want to go on?” I said, “Yes.” At first I was scared. But I got over it!

—Christopher June 2012

The time I was courageous was when I faced my fear of jumping off a diving board (for my first time) into a 12-ft swimming pool.

So, I was with my grandma (we call her Mommom) and we were driving to an indoor swimming pool. My brother and I were so excited because one of the things my brother and I like doing is swimming, when we got there we put down our flip-flops and towels and I ran and did a cannon ball into the swimming pool and my brother went straight to the slide!!

About right after my brother got off the slide, he would not get off the diving board. I thought it looked really fun but I had never jumped in 12 feet before so I gathered my courage and before I knew, it was my turn. So I went to the edge of the board and closed my eyes and jumped off the diving board.

Right when I got out of the water I was so happy.

That was the time I was courageous by jumping off a diving board into the 12-ft water and faced my fear. —Kaelin H.

to get hit, beaten, or verbally abused. They didn’t let it get under their skin or anything. They kept a straight face and brushed it off. They fought hard for the rights that they knew they deserved, even if it meant that they were scared out of their lives.

All in all, the people that showed the most courage and fearlessness were the freedom riders. The freedom riders faced uncertainty and death a lot of the time but that didn’t scare them. They kept going, fighting for what they believed in until they got what they rightfully deserved. These people were just so courageous and if it weren’t for them then maybe we wouldn’t be eating in the same restaurant, going to the same schools, or being friends with the same people. When you’re hanging out with your friends of all different heritages and skin colors say thank you to the freedom riders and all the other civil rights leaders. These people put blood, sweat, and tears to get the free and equal country we see today. Thank you freedom riders and civil rights leaders for making the world we see today. —Alejandro S.

Bear Courage Limerick

There once was a man who was very brave So he decided to go in a big cave There was an animal in there It was a cute little bear He sat down and said “My name is Dave” —Bobby D.

She tried, oh how she tried. She tried so very hard to power through it, she was always thinking of others. She would never give up, but one unlucky day on March 13, cancer got the best of her, but instead of her last words saying remember me, she said don’t worry, don’t cry, just remember that I’ll be alright, I’ll be in a good place, a safe place. Just please don’t remember me in this bed looking like this. She was mainly worried that all of her family would be sad. But to me she had a ton of courage too, to me that means that you are strong and you are brave and you will never give up, and you know whatever happens will sadly happen this way but don’t worry, you will find your happy place, even though you’ll be in a different world away from us away from me, but at least you had your courage as your backup every step of the way, and that is courage to me. —Haley K.

June 2012

E

Energy is right High or low Courage is great When you let people know June 2012

June 2012

June 2012

Courage.

Courage is a necessity.

It’s something you need in life.

Courage is what I needed.

I needed courage to stand up for what I believed in.

I needed the strength and courage to tell my dad what I felt.

I needed courage to help me and lead me through life.

I was scared to stand up and say what I felt.

But I had courage.

Courage helped me.

Courage was my best friend.

It still is.

Courage made me realize where my dad has gone.

No longer will I be the same.

Courage made me tell my dad, “Daddy where have you gone?

I want you back…”

Courage made me think that things happen for a reason.

Courage made me tell my dad, “I should be your first priority.

No one else.”

Courage made me say, “God, where has my dad gone?

Why is she changing him into someone he is not?”

Courage made me stand up and say, “Dad I’ve lost you so many times. And all those times you chose to push me away. This time it’s my decision, and I’m choosing to push you away for a little while. I think that is the best thing for me.”

I am going to school.

Courage helped me show my dad how I felt.

Courage made me question myself.

Courage made me think, think, and think.

Courage helped me answer my questions.

Courage made me start a new life.

Courage made me stand up.

Courage made me.

Courage is the best thing that has happened.

I finally woke up and saw things for myself.

Courage took me for who I was.

Courage made me realize reality.

Courage made me a better person.

—Yanelli H.

Courage comes in many forms. The most popular form of courage may be a superhero in a comic book or in a novel. Yet what people don’t understand is that courage is an everyday occurrence, and it doesn’t always come in the form of someone with super strength or magical powers. In fact, courage often comes in the form of one word: No. Courage is often a word that we don’t associate with ourselves, as we don’t have the ability to jump from buildings or be a hero. Our society often overlooks the everyday acts of courage, and how hard these acts can actually be for a person. In our society teenagers are exposed to so much violence and temptation and nobody realizes how hard someone’s teenage years can be. Because of our society teenagers are often exposed to drugs, alcohol and smoking as well as many other temptations that hang around them. These temptations can be hard to resist, and yet, there are those who have the courage to say no. It may not seem very courageous to say one word, but just take a second to think about it. All of your friends are pressuring you into doing something that isn’t right. Having the nerve to stand up against your friends can be an extremely hard thing to do, especially when they may have strength in numbers. This is a very brave thing to do. Standing up to your friends is something unfamiliar to some of us, but when it’s in such a serious situation, that is the true meaning of courage.

We all think of courage in different ways. Even though things may seem Some of us view it as saving someone we hopeless at times, you can love, or being the hero in an adventure. The still do something great. true meaning of courage is in the things that occur every day. Saying a single word can make you a hero. So rise above the influence, be a leader, not a follower.

Staying above the influence is one of the most courageous things that you can do. When we think of courage, we commonly imagine people like Martin Luther King Jr. or Gandhi. A young child by the name of Charles Carson had the same problem as many teens do today: drugs. At the age of 7 his father left his family, and Charles began to take drugs. This use caused Carson to become addicted. After years of struggling, dealing with drugs, and living on the streets, Charles straightened himself out and got off drugs. He soon became a role model for kids because of his success story.

Throughout town he hung up posters and ads trying to inform the public about teen violence and drug addiction. His success story has inspired others to do as he did, and stop taking drugs. His story shows that even though things may seem hopeless at times, you can still do something great.

His courage to power through the rough years of his life and make something great of it is amazing.

This proves that there is still good inside of people. It takes courage to take a stand against

Keegan K.

I am brave because I catch 45-mile-an-hour pitches behind the plate.

Karielle C.

“It takes a lot of courage to show your dreams to someone else.”

—Erma Bombeck “All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.”

—Walt Disney

Beth climbed out of the truck. She was with her team and they were going to go find a cure for cancer in the jungle. They had donkeys, unicorns, peacocks, food, and drinks.

As they climbed up to the unicorns’ backs, a gigantic tiger chicken hybrid ran out of the forest and stomped all over their food and drink.

Oh well, they thought. The show had to go on. They went into the jungle only to discover that there were a lot of tiger chicken hybrids.

Beth hopped off her unicorn and set up a camp while her team members tried to calm down

the unicorns after the traumatic event.

Later, while they were roasting marshmallows Beth had in her backpack, they had to figure out who would go get food. The most courageous, Carl, was sick so he never came in the first place.

“I will do it,” said Beth.

Even though Beth was afraid of the tiger chicken hybrids, she knew no one else would do it, so she had to. She put aside her fears and climbed onto the unicorn. —Isabella K.

I am taking my dog outside in my backyard to play.

—Kayanna R.

yourself and even your friends, but no matter who you are, you have the courage to stay above the influence. —Logan W. June 2012

Anxious hands reach out, trembling with excitement.

A box, nothing more.

Brass décor and olive wood.

A box, nothing more…

I think.

An Ode to Immigrants During the early 1900’s Ellis Island 12 million immigrants were processed through.

These immigrants had to overcome many obstacles.

They had to come to America in uncomfortable boats, filled with disease and filth.

They had to leave everything they knew.

Some had to leave their families as just teenagers.

When they came to America, they carried a miniscule amount of money and a small suitcase with some clothes and things they cherish.

Without their bravery, and courage, most of us would not be here today.

They are our roots in this country.

They gave us our history.

And even though it is easy to say that you can have courage, our relatives actually had it.

—Isabel L.

Evana J.

Courage is

My hand firmly in my dad’s Sitting on my mom’s lap A light in my room at night A bedtime prayer read by my parents

Courage is

My dad guiding me on my bike without training wheels My mom’s hug before I go to my first day of school A hallway light outside my room A prayer I read to my parents

Courage is Courage can’t be described in one word Courage is described by who you are, What you do as a person Courage is finding the key to push past your goals in life, to confront fear, pain, danger, and to be bold Courage is taking the first step, getting up to ride again when you fall standing up for your future when your past keeps knocking you down.

You have courage when you never give up in life, even when you hit a bump You have courage when you admit you did the wrong thing.

You have courage when doing the right thing when the wrong thing seems to produce better results.

Anyone can be courageous in life, but you have to take that extra step in life to be that person.

—Daniel D. June 2012

My dad in the front row during a school play My mom’s smile during my solo A night light in my room A prayer I read to myself

Courage is

The cold pool water slid over my skin, the shallow water barely coming up to my knees. I had spent years in the shallow end of the pool; I had never had the guts to swim to the deep end. While all the other kids my age had taken the deep end test, I was still splashing around with 7-yearolds. Was I being a coward?

Yes. Did I care?

Maybe.

But it didn’t matter; I would get there eventually.

I think.

read more in Xtra Xpressions

Courage is bravery, Courage is magic.

Courage is something that can change everything.

Courage can make you a hero.

Courage can make you a person Everywhere you go, courage is in the air.

Courage is speaking up for others and yourself.

Courage is changing.

Courage is helping.

Courage is like the most beautiful flower you have ever seen.

Growing and growing and never stopping.

It grows and grows until it overlooks the world, Giving smiles to anyone who passes.

Courage is in everybody, But some people don’t notice.

That is why when everyone will find their courage, Courage will rule the world.

—Daniela C.

My dad staying up late waiting for me to come home My mom helping me unpack in my dorm room A completely dark room away from home A prayer I say in my mind as I drift off to sleep

Courage is

My dad walking me down the aisle at my wedding My mom’s kiss on my cheek A home of my own A prayer said with my spouse

Courage is

Holding my newborn baby in my arms Holding his hand as he begins to walk Teaching him to ride a bike Reading him bedtime prayers

Courage is love passed on —Rowan M.

Chloe

I was brave when I went in a really deep pool. The water never ran out.

I was with my brothers. Then I jumped in the pool. It was not as bad.

June 2012

June 2012

tra -

This is a story

of how a girl learned she had courage. It started last summer at the carnival on a summer camp field trip.

There was a ride called “The Freak Out” where there are four people in four cars that spin you around at ridiculous angles. At one you’re looking down at a tree.

My friends and I had been on every ride and won a prize at every game. But when there were ten minutes left and we had ridden every ride, or at least that’s what we thought, we passed the corner and there was The Freak Out!!! From the very start we knew before we left we had to get on that ride.

The line was short; we had plenty of time. “Are you excited to get on the ride?” said Misaki. I said “yeah” on the outside, but on the inside I was feeling like a little kid running from a clown.

Misaki: I can’t do this. What if I fall off?

Me: The ride has seat belts.

Misaki: Whatever.

I was about to let her get off the ride when I had a thought. We had been looking forward to this all month and for her to miss the best ride at the carnival wouldn’t be a shame.

Me: I’m not getting on that ride without you.

Misaki: But I’m scared.

Me: Me too.

Now I will never forget the time I went on The Freak Out with Misaki. That’s my story.

—Mariah W.

New School

I was walking up the steps of my new school. My dad just got a job as a news reporter. My name is Ally Jones. I love to swim and draw. Today I am starting my first day at Lincoln Middle School. I just moved to Denver from Florida.

The first thing I saw when I walked into my class was the teacher. She looked very young.

She had brown hair and hazel eyes and was wearing a plain blue dress and flat black shoes.

“Hello,” she said. “You must be Ally. My name is Miss Brown. You can take your seat next to Daisy.”

Miss Brown pointed to a girl in the third row. She had red hair and was wearing a yellow t-shirt. I plopped my bag on the floor next to my new desk and sat down. The girl next to me whispered, “I’m Daisy. I’ll show you around school. I mean if ya want.”

“Sure thanks,” I replied with a smile on my face. That day in class we learned about the Greek gods and goddesses. The bell rang and it was time for lunch. I followed Daisy down the hall.

“Before we go to lunch I’ll show you your locker. Did the principal tell you what number it was?” she asked.

“Yea, it’s 379.”

“Awesome mine is 380,” Daisy replied as she started walking down the hall.

As I was walking down the hall I noticed everyone else was walking in groups. There were cheerleaders, people in costumes, a math club and a basketball team. I wonder where I fit in at my school.

When we go to our lockers I took out the sheet that had my locker code on it. 30, 65, 10, 20, and 55 was the code. I opened the door and started to put my notebooks and binders in it when the announcements came on. A man’s voice said, “The art contest will now be moved to Wednesday. Please bring your work in so it can be judged. Thank you.”

“What was that about?” I asked.

“Just some art contest but I stink at drawing. How about you?”

“Well I guess I’m okay. I think I’ll enter something anyway.” But what I really wanted to say was, I’m great at drawing and I’ll probably win if I enter something! But I didn’t.

For the rest of the day all I could think about was the contest. The day went by so fast—before I knew it the 3:00 bell rang. Daisy showed me to the door. I heard my mom beep the horn so I ran out in the rain and jumped into the front seat in our Jeep. Sitting at the wheel is my mom and in the backseat was my sister asleep and drooling. But I don’t blame her. I probably did the same thing when I was three years old.

“How was your first day at school, Al?” my mom asked.

O

ne time when I was courageous was when I did my first piano concert. It was scary and difficult to concentrate on playing piano because lots of old people were talking and yelling (But that was only because we were in an old person’s hospital place). One hard thing was that I had to play two instruments (cello and piano). But the others played ONLY the piano. It was not easy but I collected all of my energy, took a deep breath, and I finally made it. But to tell the truth, I still messed up on cello. Otherwise I did well.

Another time when I was courageous was when I jumped off of the diving board for the first time when was 9. You probably thought that it took place in Chicago, but no. It was in Cleveland, Ohio (where I was born). Do you want to know how I jumped off? Actually most of it was that my brother was forcing me to jump off. Of course I didn’t do it for the first time, but the second time, I did. First, I took a deep breath. Then, I took a step forward, pretending that there isn’t any diving board, and as soon as I opened my eyes, I was in the water!!!

OK. Maybe I didn’t do it the second time either. But that doesn’t matter. I’m just glad I overcame my fear, and NOW I like diving boards.

Thanks Lev!!! But, next time don’t be that pushy.

Now I will tell you the connection with both of my courageous stories. They were all scary, I did both of them for the first time, and last, I survived both of them!!!

I do have more courageous stories, but that will be another time.

—Eulalie K.

“Awesome! I made a new friend and heard that there was an art contest tomorrow.”

“Cool! So what do you think you’ll enter in the contest?”

“Probably the one of the beach in Florida.”

“Good choice! That’s probably your best.”

When I got home I got my painting out of one of the cardboard boxes and started to do my homework. At 10:00 p.m. I drifted off to sleep in the middle of Math.

The next day Sophie woke me up at 8:50. It was 10 minutes until school started. I skipped breakfast, grabbed my painting and backpack while I was walking out the door and just caught Dad as he was driving to work.

When we were in front of school it was 8:59. I had just made it. But it was still raining so I put my hood up and ran to the door. There waiting for me was Daisy.

“Can I see your painting?” asked Daisy.

“Sure,” I replied as I took out my painting. It was the picture of a beach I went to when I was a kid. The clear blue ocean was so clean. The sand was dry and hot.

“Wow!” Her jaw dropped. “That’s amazing...how....”

I cut her off.

“Wait! I forgot my lunch in the car.” I glanced outside.

My Dad’s car was just turning the corner down the street. I could catch him if I ran fast.

Quickly I started to run. I got to the corner and saw my Dad stopping at the red light.

But then, splash! I fell in a puddle and my painting went flying. I got up to see my painting was lying in the street. The rain was ruining the watercolors. Soon the painting was a big blob of dark colors. My eyes started to water. I ran inside the school past Daisy and into the first door I could find. It was the janitor’s closet. I locked the door behind me. I sat and held my knees to my chest. I quickly started to cry.

I sat there until I heard a knock on the door. Daisy stepped into the room.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

“What do you think?” I started to cry some more. “My best painting is destroyed and I don’t fit in anywhere at this school! I’m just a wimp!”

“Don’t you dare say that! Sure your painting got destroyed but you probably have lots of other paintings. And you aren’t a wimp! You came to a whole new school not knowing anyone and you did try to enter an art contest on the second day of school. Somebody’s got to be pretty courageous to do that,” replied Daisy.

And at that point I knew exactly where I fit in at this school. Right next to my new best friend Daisy. —Sammie S.

June 2012

I need all my courage to die at 20.

Can I die?

Can I leave numbers?

What will happen to my Ideas, And theories?

Will I be remembered?

And how?

As a hero?

Or a fool?

Can I enter the void?

Without knowing that the world will See, and know my Theories?

And what of all of the other Theories?

Will I have time to Tell the world Of them?

I can see Myself coming up with my First Theory, Based on The quadratic formula, I was so Excited, I sent my findings To Augustin-Louis Cauchy, And my disappointment When he lost My findings.

I can remember, The frustration I felt when The examiners Refused To accept me Into the Ecole Polytechnique School.

I can remember the Republican banquets, And, The toasts that got me, Arrested Three times And put in jail For six months.

The duel Is the clearest memory in my head.

Me and The persecutor Walking 20 paces Away from each other Turning around And suddenly, I feel pain in my Stomach, And then nothing.

And what of now, Lying in my bed With my younger brother At my side, Shot through the Intestines Can I Face The Unknown?

Will there still be numbers?

And Can I Leave the world Without The people ever knowing What, I’ve done For them?

But will I Have a choice Can I slip into the void?

Willingly?

And face The unknown?

Can I die?

Now, And not later?

Do I have the courage?

Am I Too young?

But, I guess I don’t Have a choice.

It was My Fault That I Agreed To the duel.

Now I must leave Here And enter A new world The world of God And Hopefully The world of Numbers.

I turn to my brother Sitting next to my bed And Say “Do not cry.

I need all My Courage To die At 20.”

This poem is about the mathematician Evariste who lived in France. He lived from 1811-1832 and really did die in a duel. The duel was thought to be over a girl. In the duel he was shot in the intestines and died the next day. His last request was, “preserve my memory, since fate has not given me life enough for my country to know my name.” He came up with Galois theory, which is based on the quadratic formula and made important contributions to many branches of math. The poem is based on facts that I took from the book Mathematicians Are People, Too. He supposedly did say to his younger brother in the hospital before he died, “Do not cry, I need all my courage to die at 20.” —Cole H.

For my idea,

courage is a big deal because courage to me is like a lot of effort and patience and not afraid to show who you really are inside.

And don’t think of what anybody says because maybe they are jealous. And very showable, and not afraid of showing their needy or popular side and that’s why courage is a big deal. COURAGE ROCKS. —Anya V.

June 2012

The time I was courageous was when I participated in a performance at the St. Sava cultural center. On January 27th we create a party and a performance. St. Sava is believed to be the protector of schools.

One year ago I was asked to recite a poem about St. Sava during a celebration. The director asked me “Lazar can you recite a poem we just need one more person.” I answered, “No I’m sorry but I do not feel comfortable in front of a big group of people I don’t know.” I was thinking that I would embarrass myself. My friend told me, “We really need you to recite that poem, so that the performance would be complete.” I thought of my friends then said yes.

That night I was feeling sick and started to gain a temperature. On top of that I felt nervous and thought of telling my mom to pull me out of the performance. As I was walking towards my mom, my friend came and said, “Lazar I am really glad that you are here.” I answered, “Me too. I am happy to help you.” After that I could not pull out of the performance.

Soon it was my turn to perform. When I got on stage I felt very nervous, my palms were sweating, and I could not remember my lines. At that moment I wanted to walk off stage and leave, but my friends and family cheered me on, and I started to recite my poem.

I had to pause for a couple of seconds to remember my lines, then I finished my poem. My mom came up to me and said, “Lazar you did great, I am so proud of you.

—Lazar S.

Nathan S. Courage is brave, it is what most people have. Courage is what you respect and honor. Courage is sticking up for who and what you are. Everyone has courage it might not show but it is somewhere in you. The courage in you shows your braveness. Some people even live by the word courage. No matter who or what you are courage will always be in you.

—Dylan L.

César Chávez + Oprah Winfrey + U.S. President John F. Kennedy + Rosa Parks + Abraham Lincoln + Galileo Galilei + Eleanor Roosevelt

=COURAGE

“We draw our strength from the very despair in which we have been forced to live. We shall endure.”

—César Chávez

This quote represents what I think is one of the many meanings of courage. We must use courage to stay strong in even some of the most extreme situations; we must always be true to ourselves. César Chávez wanted us to remember that whatever brings you down only makes you stronger.

“I remember a specific moment, watching my grandmother hang the clothes on the line, and her saying to me ‘you are going to have to learn to do this,’ and me being in that space of awareness and knowing that my life would not be the same as my grandmother’s life.”

—Oprah Winfrey

When I read this quote I think of Oprah telling me to break the barrier by using courage and not being influenced by your peers.

You must take the courage to break the wall that classifies you as “Mexican, or blue eyes blond hair” to become Sarah or Isabel, to become you.

Oprah took courage to not become a classic housewife, but to become a successful inspirational talk show host who has touched millions with her courage.

“A nation which has forgotten the quality of courage which in the past has been brought to public life is not as likely to insist upon or regard that quality in its chosen leaders today—and in fact we have forgotten.”

—U.S. President John F. Kennedy

Many people today have forgotten what’s important and have forgotten how important courage is. Imagine a world without courage…

There would be no history, we would be stuck in one place not able to move forward or develop in our society. We would all be classified on what we look like and not on the quality of our personality. However, no one would be able to see anything but looks because they wouldn’t have the courage to look past looks.

This world sounds unreal but JFK is realizing that our world is already forgetting courage and taking steps toward becoming that unreal world.

“Why do you all push us around?”

—Rosa Parks

This question may seem like a simple, so-what question but it’s not. It took Rosa parks courage to ask this question.

The smallest actions may be the hardest ones. One action when done with courage can change the world.

“Be sure you put your feet in the right place, then stand firm.”

—Abraham Lincoln

AndreaK.

When I read this quote I am reminded of another wonderful civil rights leader, Martin Luther King, Jr. Both of them think that change should happen but in a wise thought out way.

Both of them made courage a necessity to make wise decisions then put those decisions into direct-action.

“We cannot teach people anything; we can only help them discover it within themselves.”

—Galileo Galilei

Courage isn’t something you’re born with; you have to discover it in yourself and learn how to use it. You can’t tell a person where or how to find courage, it’s up to them and all you can do is support them and strengthen them with your own courage. Finding courage is like an adventure, you must overcome obstacles and face some of your greatest fears.

“A woman is like a tea bag—you can’t tell how strong she is until you put her in hot water.”

—Eleanor Roosevelt

I think this metaphor represents society’s view of women during Eleanor Roosevelt’s life.

Women were expected to cower and not speak up for what they thought was right and what was wrong. You don’t truly know how strong and courageous someone is until they’re put to the test, and then you can tell if someone’s courageous or not and how they put their courage to use. Eleanor Roosevelt not only encouraged minorities to be courageous to stand up for what’s right but also encouraged everyone, even those who are not struggling.

—Sarah G. June 2012

I think

animals often have lots of courage. One day my three-legged cat Sally decided to go to the beyond world. This means the neighborhood outside my gate. Normally, Sally is a house cat. She hardly ever goes outside, and when she does we usually watch her. But on this one fall morning, my mom let her outside for what she meant to be about 5 minutes, but my mom forgot to call her back in. The evening before, my sister had accidentally left the gate open.

So Sally looked out the open gate. She probably was thinking to herself, “What’s out there?

I’ve never been out there before, except when they take me in that terrible car to that terrible place where they give me shots.”

Other than a couple of visits to the vet, Sally’s whole world is our house, our deck, and our backyard. For her, it was almost like the world ended at the gate. But here she was staring at that open gate. Maybe she saw a squirrel running up a tree. Maybe she heard some birds singing in the daylight across the street. She probably thought for a second, and then came up with, “I’ll come back home soon enough.” It really took a lot of courage, especially for a cat with only three legs, to leave the safety of her own yard.

Then one step and she was out the gate. A few more steps and she was closer to the tree. Sally looked around and decided where to go. She may have heard or smelled the cats that live in our neighbor’s house across the street. She got really brave and decided to walk across the street. Then she heard a car and she ran across the street. She found some bushes and climbed underneath. The next thing she knew she was lost.

It had taken a lot of courage for Sally to get there, but now she was really scared. My mom, my sister, and I realized she was gone. We looked all over the back yard, in the garage, and then we started searching the neighborhood. We called “Sally, Sally, here kitty, kitty, kitty,” and I’m sure she heard us, but she was too scared to make a sound. So finally, my mom went over by the bushes, and sure enough, she was hiding there. She was so scared that she wouldn’t come out when my mom called her. My mom picked her up, and Sally started kicking my mom with her only back leg. She acted like it was all my mom’s fault. But the real reason she ended up so frightened under those bushes,was because she had so much courage that she left her little world to discover the beyond world. —Paili B.

Q: What have you done that is courageous?

A: Well, when I was 10, I was at the Latino fashion week. I was about to go on to the runway, but my dress was all wrinkly, you see. It’s not good to go on the runways with a wrinkled dress, but we steam-ironed the dress on me, not good. A whole bunch of steaming hot water spirt onto my leg. It was terrible.

Q: So what did you have to do next?

A: Of course I wasn’t able to go on the runway because I was crying, but I tried not to.

I slipped on a sweater and we moved fast to the nearest emergency room with a bag of ice under my leg.

Q: Did you cry a lot?

A: Like I said, I tried not to, but yes, I did cry. I mean who wouldn’t? When I got to the emergency room, I started to calm down.

Q: What kind of burn did you have?

Did you need serious medical attention?

A: No I did not need serious medical attention, it was only a first degree burn, but I can still hear my mother saying “You’re being very courageous.”

Q: Well, thank you for your time and story.

A: It was my pleasure!

—Yungehen P.

Courage is awesome Courage makes everything right Courage is the best —Jake M.

June 2012

“Buck, come,” I said.

Buck came running out of the little log cabin we shared. He cast shadows across the grass and the little remnants of snow. I could hear the tapping of his three paws on the stone path to the door. His fur is black and white with a brown line across his nose. His left eye is brown and his right is blue. He is very curious and gets excited about everything, but the dog food I give him.

“Stop sniffing around and hop in the boat. If you come now I’ll let you swim after the tennis ball,” I yelled to him.

That definitely caught his attention. He ran to me with his tongue sticking out and a wide grin on his face. He’s the best dog I’ve ever had, I thought. Buck sat in the seat he always tries to sit in. But since he’s not old enough to drive the boat, I don’t let him sit there. He hopped off, knowing when he saw me looking at him, knowing what I was thinking.

As he hopped off I saw the place where his fourth leg used to be. I couldn’t stop myself from remembering how Buck had come into my life a year ago. I was hiking far into the forest and it was getting dark out. It was summer so the sun sets later at night, which meant it was about 8:00 at that time.

I was lost and I didn’t know which way I was going. I came across a crashed dirt bike that was covered in weeds and mold. Out of the corner of my eye I saw some type of rodent running for cover under one of the deflated and ripped up wheels.

I stopped and froze when I heard a bark that made the hair on the back of my neck stand on edge. I turned around and I instantly regretted it. The bark I heard came from a medium sized dog. It was definitely a wild dog. Its teeth were clamped into a bear’s back.

The bear was injured and was clawing at the dog. The dog was getting too tired to keep going. Suddenly, another dog about the same size growled at the bear. Seeing his chance to leave, the dog, who up until then was still on the bear’s back, fled.

The second dog, who surprisingly only had three legs, growled and barked. The bear ran away to a nearby tree. Unfortunately my cell phone rang and the noise attracted the attention of the bear and the dog. The bear stood on his two hind legs and roared. The three legged dog began to run towards me. I was paralyzed with fear. The dog jumped and knocked the bear down. Then he began to bark like crazy.

The bear got up and was chased away by the dog. That wild dog saved my life. After eventually making my way home, I kept thinking about the dog. He didn’t deserve to be homeless. I wanted that dog to be able to have a much better life.

The next morning I went back into the woods to find him. I packed dog treats and other stuff to tempt him to follow me. While I was running back to my cabin the night before, I was thinking of a name for the dog I saw. My favorite was Buck. As if trying to see if the dog already knew his new name I yelled, “Come here, Buck.” He didn’t respond.

I ran through the woods and arrived at the tree where I had been the night before. I saw all of my footprints pressed into the mud from moving around while trying to hide. Those weren’t the footprints I was looking for. I was looking for paw prints. I found the bear’s trail and sure enough the three pawed trail was right next to it.

I followed the dog’s trail for ten minutes and then I saw where the dog left the bear. Buck’s trail had turned around and went away. His trail stopped and I was really confused. I started to retrace my steps and then I saw a movement. I grabbed a dog treat and threw it to the area where I heard the noise.

The treat landed near a bush. I hid behind the nearest tree and watched. There was a rustle and then a head popped out. The nose had a brown line across it and dirt covering it. It was the exact dog I was looking for.

The dog grabbed it and ate it immediately. I came out from behind the tree and he became tense. I was armed with another treat that I threw to him. He looked at it and then looked back at me. I stepped back, sensing his suspicion. Then he ate it. I stepped closer and gave him another. He ate that one too.

I was there about an hour, mostly giving him treats and teaching him to respond to his name. I taught him to come and to fetch, but he got a little too angry with the ball.

Then the final test: “Buck, come!” I yelled. I began to walk away and I heard paws following. I smiled. “Good boy.”

“Next stop is home,” I mumbled.

Buck has grown a lot since then. Now I find myself throwing a tennis ball for the threelegged dog, who has become my best friend. —Luke L.

t was a summer day, in the afternoon and I was at the park with a couple of friends. We were trying to find some other guys to start a game of basketball. We found three boys who were about the same age as us. A little bit after the game started, my friends and I got into an argument with the other boys. They accused me of being a ball hog, I ignored it and we all got back to the game. Then, when one of the guys had the ball, he jumped at me. I did react quickly to it and I flipped him over my back. I didn’t want to get into a big fight, so I told my friends, Kamerin and Bruno and I to leave.

As the three of us started heading back to Kamerin’s house, those same boys found us again. They walked up to us and said all kind of things to my friends and I. They were calling us names, making fun of us, but we weren’t afraid of them. We pretty much had weapons in our hands at the time: a scooter, skateboard, and a metal pipe.

The other boys didn’t have anything in their hands at the time. We did get away, but then they found us again.

That was when they actually tried to hurt us. They chased Kamerin for about 5 minutes. He said that they kicked him in the leg and threw things at him. Bruno and I couldn’t help Kamerin because we didn’t know where he was. When we were all hiding after about 15 minutes, that was when I wanted everything to stop.

When we all stepped out, the boys were right there, I did say sorry for what happened, but the guy acted like a total jerk. He thought it was all my fault, but it wasn’t.

He did things to my friends, too. He pulled my hair, punched me, and tried to jump on me. After that, we ran away, they did try to chase us, but we were too fast for them.

There are many causes of youth violence. People tell stories about shooting, or murders on the news or in newspapers every day. It’s hard to not see things on youth violence. It’s all around you. There are about 5,600 homicides each year of kids ages of 10-24 and about 500 of the killings are with guns.

There are more causes of youth violence, such as anger, depression, threats, and even arguments can lead to fighting, and result in serious injury or murder.

I’ve had plenty of fights and big arguments. I didn’t mean to get into those fights, it’s not fun and I don’t want to experience it again. I don’t like violence, period, but if I have to defend myself, then I have to. Always try to make good decisions, like stopping fights before they actually happen.

There are many ways you can stop a fight when you see one, or when you’re about to get into one. What you can do when you see a fight is to step up to them and try to stop the fight until someone gets hurt. You can also tell a parent that there’s a fight going on, or/and tell them to back off of each other and walk away, because there’s no reason to fight. When you’re about to get into a fight, you need to tell yourself to calm down, take some deep breaths, and walk away from the situation.

Violence can affect your life extremely. I don’t think you want to go to juvenile detention for 1-5 years. I bet it’s not fun there. Violence will either teach you a good lesson, or it will affect your life for a long time and you will learn from it the hard way.

ook around you...your community, neighborhood, school, as long as it’s somewhere just look around you. What do you see? Well if you answered: people, that’s the right answer and most of those people are children. Those children are our nation’s future, to me there are a lot of ways that that “future” can get affected, and one of those things in my opinion is youth violence. Youth violence is growing and growing and it may not only be here, other nations might be affected by this problem too, youth violence is everywhere, it might be at schools, outside of schools, and anywhere else, but the point is this is a problem that is growing larger and larger and I feel that it’s getting out of hand. The reason I feel it’s getting out of hand is because I read several articles about youth violence and it really saddens me that there are a lot of people getting hurt and who die, for example there is this article about an 18-year-old girl who killed an innocent girl by simply just coming next door to her neighbor and killing her. To me this is definitely out of hand and we all should just stop before this problem gets worse. To me violence starts like dominos standing up, but when something happens a domino falls and then all the dominos are just going to keep falling until it gets worse and it’s all a big mess, that’s how I would describe violence now.

These days, a lot of people are or have been affected by youth violence. For me, how youth violence affected me is it’s making me more cautious about people around me and what they do or are doing.

This made me open my eyes a little bit more. This isn’t the only time I’ve been paranoid, I was paranoid when I was still a little kid, but the only difference is there was less violence back then and less people dying, and this problem increased not long ago and I just wish it was the way it used to be back then, and this shows that over the years that youth violence keeps increasing and that it will not stop. How do I prove that even back then it was like this with youth violence? Well research shows that in 2009 a total of 605,843 kids from the ages 10-24 were treated at a hospital just because of youth violence.

I still remember this day when I was just minding my own business when I see this big argument happening between these two people, I remember seeing these two young people getting ready to fight and at that time during what was going on I had so much things running through my mind and that’s when I saw them clash at each other, I couldn’t move and I just stood seeing this whole thing happen and at the end it seemed like it never happened, and I still remember that day from this day on. Youth violence affecting me might as well affect other people too, like my friends or family, I believe that most of them are very careful with youth violence now, but it’s also not me who addresses them about it, and it’s also the other people around our community trying to help and should be trying to help.

I think the causes of youth violence are bad influences. I feel that if one person does one thing and then maybe someone looks up to them they might do what he does too. So say there was a kid whose role model was an adult or a teenager, but what if this adult or teenager bullies kids or hurts them?

Since they are doing this the kid thinks that since this role model is doing this that he too can do it.

That’s what exactly was happening in the movie I saw, these kids were apparently following their role models and that’s how they end up getting in trouble or just that’s how they move away from their families and making the right decision, and kids these days are doing things that get them in a bad relationship with friends or fights with friends, but what if one friend crossed another friend’s border about saying something? Then it’s probably where it leads to fights and violence all because of one event.

Another thing that can lead to youth violence is bullying. I think that if someone does something to someone then that’s the point where violence happens. And I know this because I have seen someone saying something which was only supposed to be a joke but I guess it caused the other person to get angry and at that moment everybody knew that it wasn’t a joke anymore. It may also not be the victim who gets angry and suddenly ends with clenched fists, it’s definitely also the bully and what may have caused those bullies to become bullies is there might be some things that happened in the past that may have affected them and lead them to the path they are now, this shows that everything leading to youth violence is always caused by something, I try to stop it but there’s just too much people so as you can see it takes more than one person to change something.

I think what I can do myself to prevent youth violence is not start youth violence myself anywhere.

But I feel that it shouldn’t only be me that should be preventing this, I feel that I should spread the word and get other kids involved in trying to prevent this too. The more people there are trying to stop one thing from happening then the earlier that this problem stops. But it shouldn’t only be spread to students or kids we should also get adults involved in school and anywhere else so we can try to prevent youth violence together. And how do we do that you ask? Well we can all start small, like for example: we can just go around in our school telling everyone to stop youth violence and from there we can spread the word to the community and that’s where it leads to everyone knowing about this, so I suggest we start out small and it will end up big.

Youth violence is everywhere and if we don’t stand up and try to stop it then it will not only affect our lives it will also affect other people’s lives to meaning this youth violence can end up being permanent, and we don’t want that to happen, I want this to stop and you reading or listening to this should too. Is this the future me and all of you want?

June 2012

veryone has their own way of coping with violence.

News, newspapers and radio are out there for the world to see, but it’s different when it’s your life; and that can sadly be said by a lot of people. Youth Violence is an epidemic that is affecting youth all around the world. What will become of our future if we don’t stop it in its tracks?

Sometimes it’s hard to think about violence. It’s hard to understand what goes through people’s minds and why they choose to do the wrong things. I believe that 90% of the time it isn’t truly the fault of the youth. There are many reasons for this belief. First, it depends on what they went through during their childhood. Many problems start with parents, siblings and/or bullies and that can sometimes affect decisions. The things they see, hear and pick up on, as well as the environment they are raised in (including their role models) can shape youth into the type of person they become.

Our kids and teens today have more stress on their shoulders than ever before; when it comes to daily life being at home, at school, or free time combined together. Those parents or guardians that have an active role in their child’s life notice when they are doing something wrong and tell them to stop immediately. The problem with this is that when a parent tells them to stop, they are trying to correct the child without trying to relate or understand what they’re going through. This causes the child to become even more defiant.

So they reach out to their so-called “friends” in gangs, or those that get into trouble, for the comfort. They think that they understand what they’re going through better. This may also happen if there is something missing in their life. For example a parent, sibling, or family member that passed away, never came around or abandoned them. So they follow them and make the wrong decisions to cause violence. Once they get new status with the people they respect, they get a big ego and a different mindset. And the drugs, guns, party and fun seem like a good choice at the time until someone gets hurt and even killed. To release some of their anger, they get

into fights with other groups about things that shouldn’t matter. Like looking at someone else’s girl, owing someone any amount of money, messing with their stuff like clothes or cars on accident or on purpose, they don’t like you or your group, rival gangs, gang colors and/or language.

Take my brother, for example. My mother divorced his father when he was young and by the time he was seven she married again. Growing up my older brother didn’t have an easy life. My father was cruel to him for no good reason and by the time my brother was seventeen, he tried to kick him out into the street with no way to make money, eat or anywhere to sleep. My mother battled to keep him in the house and safe so she was the opposite of my father. She was one of those parents who immediately told him to stop which made him even more defiant. So because of the circumstances, my brother was exposed to more than we could ever imagine.

He got into gangs, drugs, drinking and smoking which got him into jail. The depressive feelings he had inside turned into hatred and anger which was just fueled by all of the violent media and bad influences around him. He had no father or big brother figure to tell him what to do or not to do.

My father was obviously not a role model and his biological father was an alcoholic who is in jail. Like any other teen, he had reasons he thought were very legit to be angry or upset about. My brother is a very intelligent person. He was valedictorian of his 8th grade class and scored in the 99th percentile on his entrance exams. But he started making the wrong decisions because of his childhood, not because he is a bad or violent person.

If youth violence is ever going to stop, it has to start at home and at school. We can do a lot outside of the home that could be beneficial but many don’t have that rock that they need. A person inside truly has to know the difference between right and wrong. Also know how to be self-reliant, not to be affected in any way by what is going on around them.

And from experience, we know that doesn’t happen very of-

n this essay I will tell you a story about my experience with violence. To show you that violence can be stopped. You can do things to stop violence as I did in the story I will tell you about. Bullying and violence happens all the time and nobody does anything about it. If people want violence to stop they have to do something about it. It was another recess in the fifth grade with another kickball game. The usual arguments, yelling and shouting. But then things started to change, more shouting, more than most days. People start calling names.

Things got out of hand and there was pushing. I had no idea what was going on. My friends were bullied and I was there when it happened so me and some other kickball players were brought to the counselor’s office to tell the story and defend my friend later that day.

Telling the counselor that my friend was innocent is not the only thing I had to do and it’s certainly not that easy. She will have to listen to the other side of the story (the bullies and us) and see which one made sense. This was not an easy discussion because the bullies said stuff that wasn’t true or somehow I didn’t see it. This went on with all of us stating what we thought happened. In the end there was no punishment this time but if it happened again we couldn’t have kickball.

I’m glad I did what I could to defend my friend and tell the truth.(I’m also glad kickball didn’t go away.) I don’t think it’s right that they, “got away with it” but it certainly stopped them from

June 2012

ten. But if a strong message is shown at school and there is a positive environment without peer pressure and bullies the youth may be more likely not to be susceptible to violence in or outside of the home or school. What truly affects someone’s decisions is psychological. Meaning how they process things and make decisions in their brain. To fully understand this issue, when I am in college I want to study psychiatry and become a psychiatrist so that I can help youth that is affected by violence.

Violence affects everyone’s life in some way. In order to solve the issue of youth violence in the areas we know are affected, we need to bring people that have been through youth violence before to these areas so they can talk about what they have gone through. To show that they can relate and understand what the youth is going through. So we can then get the idea through, that if they don’t stop going down this path, they and/or the people they care about will end up in jail or killed. This concept reminds me of a television show called “Beyond Scared Straight.” It is where youth that is choosing to be violent is brought to a jail to see what it’s really like and if they continue to do what they’re doing, that will be their future.

We can never say that violence only has one cause because it has more causes than anything else in the world.

And many may be beyond our control. We can never stop violence to a full extent but we can try to make a firm background of good examples, choices and role models and hope that our youth can make the right choices and “do the right thing” for our future. Our youth needs to hear it from someone who has been there before who can stand up for them and make a difference in their life. So that they stop trying to grow up before their time, stop being influenced by other people, stop thinking that that is the only way for them to live and stop taking in all the abuse and stress. And then, maybe then, we can stop this serious epidemic.

fighting again. Things like these put us in the right direction to stop violence. If I didn’t do what I did the counselor would’ve believed the bullies and the bullies would’ve still done that for the rest of the year. We can’t just do one big thing and fix bullying completely, we have to show people what is nice and respectful so little by little they fix it and know what’s right.

This experience showed me how bad bullying is and how this is a real big problem. I used to think that bullying isn’t that bad, it doesn’t affect me much. Now after being there and seeing people treat others with disrespect, that is no joke. That tells me that something needs to be done about this. Just because I don’t see violence doesn’t mean other people don’t see it or experience it. Something must be done to stop this from happening.

In the end I showed an example of violence and how I handled it in my own way. I also showed you how it affected my life. But I’m not the only one who can stop bullying. If you do what is right and you want to make a change you can stop bullying and help those who are bullied every day. If you are bullied you can speak out because there are people who are trying to help you. Everyone wants the same thing and that’s to live in a better place. I want to make that reality.

W

e all know that bullying is a problem, but until the topic arose in English class, I didn’t even give youth violence a thought. But it’s as much or more of a problem than just bullying. We actually even watched a (very graphic and ugly) documentary called “The Interrupters.” This opened my eyes to everyday reality for some people. Youth violence is cause by influence by surroundings and lack of communication.

I think that I can help stop it by educating people about it. And from experience, having violence directly or semi-directly affect you isn’t fun.

First off, I do think that everything starts in the home. If parents are being violent, kids will think it’s okay to be violent. If a father is hitting his wife, their son will think that’s acceptable. It’s not, the home needs to be controlled, and free of violence and abuse. I don’t think this is always the case, and no one should point fingers until it’s known for sure. Peers sometimes influence kids. Why do you think there are gangs of high school students?

People aren’t born with the thought that they want to be in a gang and hurt people. Violence in children and teenagers is influenced by their surroundings. Statistics say that 45 percent of high school students say that there are gangs in their school. 35 percent of middle school students say there are gangs in their school. This may not seem like very much, but just think. If there were 700 students in a high school, then 315 of them would say there are gangs. Who knows, some may even be dishonest because they’re scared! If there’s violence in schools, and people are scared to speak up, then wouldn’t some be scared enough to join in? Wouldn’t they want that power? I also think that simple things such as the violent movies, video games and music, particularly a lot of today’s hip hop, talk abut sexually

A

lmost all teenagers have cried themselves to sleep from bullying. They all come to a phase in their life where they are overwhelmed and have felt unconfident about themselves. Both verbal and physical violence is a significant problem that should be addressed in all schools and families.

My past experience with violence started in my teenage years. At first, everything seemed like a joke and it didn’t really affect me but as they continuously taunted me, it just became my worst nightmare. The reason that I was a victim of bullying was because of my race. I was a new student and was previously living in Korea. Because the majority of people in my new school were either African American or Hispanic, I was considered different. The first thing that comes to a person’s mind when they see me is “she’s Asian.” They call me “the Asian” and I am teased for being an Asian—it’s almost like being Asian is a sin. They would call me Chinese, chink, ugly, annoying and so many more and sometimes I let those words get to me. It made me feel insecure and as ugly of a person they told me I am. I wanted to ask them, how is it my fault that I am born this way? Only if people had the ability to choose their race, hair color, face, body and sexuality they wanted to be born as—then would all this hating stop? It’s normal for people to think about the stereotypes when meeting a new person with a different background but they shouldn’t discriminate them and intend to hurt or damage them. Let’s face it, everyone has flaws and everyone has beauty in their own ways. We’re all equal and we’re all the same so nobody has the rights to make someone feel like they don’t belong. Calling someone stupid won’t make you smart, calling someone weak won’t make you strong, and calling someone ugly won’t make you beautiful—so tell me, what good does wounding other people do to you? It may be

abusing women, and hitting them, and gangs on the street. Children who grow up surrounded by this are more likely to end up in bad situations!

Communication is also very important. I need to commit to expressing my feelings while being respectful even in angry situations. I know that when I’m angry, I’ll go away and rant and rant and rant to myself. At least I’m not holding in feelings, but it is better to discuss it with the other person (or people) involved.

Holding in deep feelings is what drives people to hurt other people. I think that if two people are angry with each other it would be healthy to just talk it out in a respectful manner. There can’t be challenges, bringing up, “Well he said this” and “She told me that.” Just calmly talk about the current situation. If two people can just talk things out before they jump to conclusions, violence can be avoided for everyone’s benefit. Who knows?

Maybe there were some miscommunications in the mix, and no harm was intended at all.

Youth violence. How could I stop it? How could I, one person, stop something that every being on the planet is capable of? I couldn’t stop violence any more than I could stop time.

Perhaps if I knew for sure why people committed such hateful, unjustifiable acts of violence, I would try and stop it. However, I do think that education is the key. I think that if groups of middle school students and/or high school students go to schools, and talk about youth violence and how it can be stopped, and what the causes are, and so much more, students will benefit from the new knowledge, and try to do something, too. And I specifically say middle and/or high school students for two reasons.

Firstly, this is our responsibility as today’s youth. Not everyone is violent, but this is youth violence. Believe it or not, today’s funny at that time but nobody knows whether the “loser” people called today came home and cried until they couldn’t breathe anymore.

Furthermore, I have seen many cases of mayhem in my community—starting from my school to my neighborhood. In our school, there are not many brawls but I have seen a few. I noticed that it was all started by anger and frustration they had towards each other and ended up throwing fists. These people that got into fights wanted to prove to their opponent on how strong they were and to put themselves in a higher rank. Another factor that encourages violence is the audience and how they cheer you on to fight. Having the attention makes the fighter feel more powerful and gets more motivated to impress.

A single voice can’t stop violence; everyone needs to cooperate and try to make a difference. People need to know that violence will never be the solution to any problem nor will it make you a better person. It’s considered foolish, pathetic and unintelligent—it’s time people think before they act. They should have a conversation and discuss their matter in question instead of trying to physically and verbally hurt each other.

The problem will always remain even after the assault. I do know that violence and fights will always exist no matter what we do—it’s something that all types of animals do. It’s unrealistic to try and stop violence everywhere because humans are built this way; they have emotions and can get upset, angry, happy, annoyed and even scared. No matter how many times you read your child “The Ugly Duckling,” they will grow up to judge each other—that’s how life works and it’s natural. However, there is a chance that all of us could slim down the amount of violence by starting with ourselves.

So, what can I do to at least decrease bullying? I shouldn’t tease anybody or try to offend him or her because sometimes

Chloe K.

youth can make an impact, too. My second reason is that I believe that students will pay more attention, and take it in better if their peers are showing them these things. Out of experience, sometimes it’s a bit boring when groups of adults come in to talk about issues in the world.

But if students are coming in, they know what their peers are interested in, and they know what will get them listening.

Finally, I sat here thinking long and hard about how violence affects my life. At first, I didn’t think it did. But then I remembered that sometimes I see violence in the street. That scares me.

It makes me paranoid, and cautious about my surroundings. I’m allowed to walk to and from school by myself, but I have two “checkpoints” from which I call my dad—the halfway point, and when I leave or get to school. It isn’t because my parents don’t trust me, it’s because my parents don’t trust other people. I have witnessed someone being assaulted before. That person was my dad. It isn’t easy to watch someone charge at your dad at 10 at night. My dad didn’t even do anything wrong. Luckily, my dad wasn’t hurt. But it has made me aware that anything can happen to anyone. Violence doesn’t choose who it affects. If violence can affect kids just trying to learn in high school, and great people like my dad, it can affect anyone. Even though this isn’t specifically youth violence, violence is violence, and it’s all scary.

What it all boils down to is this: violence is something that is hard to control, but it has to be done. I believe that the cause of youth violence can be multiple things such as surroundings and bottled up feelings and emotions. I think that today’s youth can make a huge difference. I also know what it’s like to see violence happening, and it’s scary. For all of these reasons, I think it’s time to do the write thing. people may be hurting the other person without realizing it.

I admit it, I do talk badly about people, I argue back at them when they offend me, I sometimes come off brutally honest and hurt their feelings. “If you have nothing nice to say, then don’t say anything at all.” I could’ve prevented some people feeling bad about themselves if I hadn’t killed their joy with my single opinion.

I have called so many people dumb, annoying, stupid, worthless, pathetic and rude. It might’ve been a simple “I-didn’tmean-anything-at-all” thing for me but to the other person, it could’ve made them feel damaged. I can save a hurt feeling if I just don’t say a single insulting thing; in fact we should all say pleasant things to each other before it’s too late. Whenever I see a lonely and distressed kid, I will try and talk to him and ask him what’s wrong. That may just take 5 minutes of my time but for the kid, it might’ve meant the world to him. The small kind gestures people make to one another can be the first big step into making our community a better place.

When someone commits suicide, everyone suddenly says “it’s a shame, they were so beautiful”—tell them that while they are still alive, then maybe they’ll stick around to hear it.

Lastly, another thing that I can do is make sure is that victims of bullying get help and let them know that they’re not alone. I should report to teachers right away if I’m informed about any violence between students and if it’s a bigger situation, tell my parents and inform a police. It’s always important to make sure that an adult has knowledge about what’s going on.

Something that you might ask is “Why should we help?” Is it because of love? Sympathy? Generosity? And my answer is humanity. It’s something that exists in all souls and we all are born equally and we die equally.

Tiffany Y.

S

eeds of violence have been planted throughout the Earth ready to sprout and corrupt young minds to inflict pain and sorrow to one another.

“Seriously just shut up. I’m trying to work here. You’re my group mates stop acting like Kindergarten. If you can’t handle sixth grade maturity level then I’ll gladly tell Ms. Sims for you two to be sent back to second grade.

I don’t like being your daddy and telling you what and what not to do. I can’t be responsible for your actions and I cannot spoon feed you everything,” I stated quickly. My classmates were watching and burst into applause as soon as I finished. As we were about to enter our new class I looked back and saw the two people I yelled to filled with sorrow and embarrassment. My hurtful words pierced through their minds and kept telling them how useless they were.

Why? What did they do to get yelled at by me? They didn’t deserve that.

The example above is true. I was a bully. Even if I didn’t punch them or inflict physical violence, my words hurt them. My anger, negative emotions, stress and few prejudices consumed me. My classmates cheering me on only encouraged the behavior. Peer pressure and social status.

“Nerd, loner.” I am also a victim. Why do we pay attention so much to a person’s social status? Why can’t we learn how to accept one another without judging? Are we humans that spiteful and hateful to one another? Race, jealousy, anger, competitiveness, all of these consume us too much and make us do the wrong. There is no solution to remove all this negativity. All of us have jealousy and anger. What we can do is control them; if we can do that then we shouldn’t be tempted to do the wrong.

We classify ourselves too much. For example, the jock table, nerd table, “cool” table. There’s way too much separation, and I believe that’s one of the causes of hate. Hate is a strong negative emotion and in my belief it is what causes violence. Again there is no solution to remove hate, we all get it at some point. We can however, be much more forgiving and have less prejudice. A classmate is always irritated at what another classmate does and starts yelling. In that situation, the said classmate must learn how to adapt to the other classmate’s behavior and forgive him/her for his annoyance.

Forgiveness is virtue. If we are able to “shrug off” other people’s mistakes then there would be no need for hate and revenge. “He that has revenge in his power, and does not use it, is the greater man.” (Wellins Calcott) Revenge does NOTHING. It harms you more than it does to the person. Forgiveness is a vital step towards the path of a nonviolent life.

The other step I believe is to take consideration of other people’s feelings. Be in someone else’s shoes. People should see how others feel and see how they would feel being in the same situation. If people thought about the sorrow and negativity they would inflict then they would think twice about their actions. In my Language Arts class we wrote conflicts that we have experienced and wrote alternative endings if we thought about our actions. If the same applied to everyday life where people think twice about their actions and think about its effects then there would be no violence.

So the big question is what can we as humans do to establish peace? Nothing, peace is impossible to achieve. We as human beings have too many flaws, hate, prejudice to fully achieve this so-called peace.

What we can do however is improve our relations and dramatically lessen violence. In an essay by Barbara Jordan called “All Together Now” it says that the key to a harmonious society is tolerance. If we learn how to love and accept one another without any negative thoughts then I believe that all violence will subside. With tolerance we give everyone a chance and see what they can bring to the table, with tolerance we can live in a helpful community where everyone is welcomed and belongs. By having tolerance then only then can we improve and perhaps reduce violence.

“Nonviolence means avoiding not only external physical violence but also internal violence of spirit. You not only refuse to shoot a man, but you refuse to hate him.” (Martin Luther King, Jr.) Get rid of all your negativity and learn to accept the key emotion to a harmonious society; love.

One thing Barbara Jordan also believes in was that the new generation inherits prejudice. “I have yet to find a racist baby.” To some degree that is true. So how can that be stopped? For the older, not just parents, to not teach the youth discrimination. This way the new generation can grow with a mindset that color or looks doesn’t matter. “We, as human beings, must be willing to accept people who are different from ourselves.” The statement is so true! Everyone should be willing to befriend everyone no matter the color of skin, looks. That shouldn’t be measured, what should be measured is their behavior. If we have the mindset that we don’t care about the physical appearance of other people then truly violence can be reduced. Some people tease others or exclude them from the community for their looks.

I also believe that those who cause violence are hurt themselves and feel lonely. If we watch our actions perhaps youth violence can subside. What I mean is, include everybody. I know how it feels when being alone. I had many negative thoughts toward human beings and if people had not included me then those thoughts could’ve become a reality. The point is welcome everyone to the group, by doing so they can feel their existence is important and without a doubt enjoy what life has to offer.

However, at the end of the day the decision comes to you and you only. It is up to you which decision to make, it is up to you to make the right decisions and hopefully not the wrong decisions. Your surroundings can only influence you to a certain level. It is up to you whether to be influenced or make your own right path. You are to blame if you cause violence. Even if these other things may have contributed but all in all you did it. It is up to you whether to follow your surroundings or take the road less traveled and be a leader who takes the path to righteousness.

If we can establish all these steps then maybe just maybe we can achieve the impossible: peace.

Kim C.

W

Marie

B.

e are the youth. We are cracked. We are broken.

We don’t cry tears, we cry blood. We don’t die of old age, we die from a gun. We’re not being killed by adults, we’re killing each other. Our guardian angel has left our side because we took advantage of her peace. We can’t have peace because we want to fit in. So we pick up the gun and cradle it in our hands. We grow loyal to it. It’s the only way we can solve our problems. We are the youth and we are condoned by violence.

I’m a young girl like many others who could shoot a gun if it was right in front of my face. Why? Because I’ve been surrounded by so many other teens who have done so. Violence has taken me in a tight hold and tattooed its presence onto me. When I am angry I don’t want to go to an adult about it, I want to ball my fist and cause others pain that my anger has given me. Why? Because around every corner I see teenagers; people of my generation nearly killing each other. If they’re doing it, doesn’t that make it okay?.... Look what violence has done to me. To me and many others like me. It’s affected who I am because when I needed a hand to hold, the only one who seemed to care was violence itself.

It’s ironic how we the youth bring this upon ourselves. We take violence by the hand and allow it permission into our lives. It fills that empty hole in our chest. But the hole just doesn’t appear from anywhere. Many of us live with families who are in bad shape and can’t provide us what we need. So we go out and wrongly provide for ourselves. Or both parents aren’t there to show us the love and support that we all crave and the parent who is there just doesn’t care. Many of us are beat by our families—the ones who are supposed to protect us not hurt us so our souls are soar and angry. Or even the most common, many of us don’t feel protected. We feel as if the world has betrayed us. There is always someone looking down to us so we go out and we get protection. Violence feeds off the pain all of that causes us. It comes to us as a youth since we’re young and naive and it offers us warmth. It puts the gun or knife in our hand and promises us that no one will ever try to mess with us now. We sit there and allow it. We don’t say no because the world has stopped caring so we’re vulnerable and afraid.

In all honesty, we don’t have to take this abuse. Like drugs we are addicted to the power that violence allows us, but after a while we will be shut down. It’s time to go to rehab and throw the violence away. We could try to be in more extra curriculuars at school to keep us off the streets. We can get involved into more programs that teach us how to make a future, not dig a grave. We can help more to make our communities better for ourselves and everyone in it. We could lead people who have been in situations like ours to the right direction and let them know that everything can be okay. But we can’t just say these things—we have to do them. August 16th 2011 in Oakland, California, Carlos Nava a 3-year-old child was laid to rest by a drive by shooting. Little did his mother know that when he was born he had no future. After he died everyone wanted to help the community and make things better. Everyone wanted to cry and try to help teenagers going through hard times so that they don’t lead into becoming a murderer. Where was that hope right before the bullet hit Carlos?

Instead of crying about how much we want the violence to go away how about we actually make it go away. We’re the reason it’s here in the first place, we have no one to blame but ourselves. Waiting until another breath is taken away to want to stop violence won’t do any good because by then it has already won this battle. The only way to win this war is to take our weapons of hope and fight to stop all of the heartbreak violence has caused us. At the end of the day when running with violence nobody wins, because you’ll end up dead. The only way to win is by doing the right thing.

Samantha got out of her mom’s car. I can’t believe we moved, she thought. Samantha grabbed her luggage and walked inside of the house. Samantha thought that it wasn’t that bad. Samantha walked up to her room and looked out the window. Suddenly, she saw a cave. Then, she ran downstairs, when her brother bumped into her.

“What are you doing?” Chad said.

“There’s a cave outside, and I want to go and look in it,” Samantha said.

Chad said, “Well, you can’t go...alone, so I’ll come with.”

“Fine,” Samantha said. “Let’s go!”

Samantha and Chad ran to the cave.

“What do you think is in it?” Chad asked.

“I’m not sure,” Samantha replied. “But let’s find out.”

Samantha and Chad held hands. Then they walked in. The closer they got to the end, the darker it got. Soon, Samantha tripped on a rock and twisted her ankle.

“Ow, help Chad,” Samantha whispered.

“Okay, I got you,” Chad says.

Chad picked up Samantha and helped her walk. They both walked home.

—Persefoni S.

Courage is a gift, that everyone needs in order to succeed. Courage makes you brave and fearless. If you have courage you can have the strength to not be afraid of anything. If you have courage you can do things that other people can’t do.

They will be so surprised. You will also be surprised. You can stand up for yourself.

You can also stand up for your friends.

— Kira F.

Every day, my mom makes me do the study island test. It makes me really mad when I get questions wrong. But whenever I get one wrong I get real down on myself. So instead of taking the test over and over, I go outside and do something I’m actually good at. I shoot hoops. I’m not the smartest in my class, but I am one of the most athletic, and I also have a casual lifestyle and am not a nerd. So that’s what makes me get out of bed in the morning and I’m the guy I am. I have courage.

—Erik Y. As we got out of the car I looked at all the slides that were racing with pool water and the giant pools. I looked at my friend and we both ran to the lounge chairs to put down our towels and flip flops. I ran over to one of the slides and ran on the stairs to get in line.

It was finally my turn. I sat on the edge of the slide as the lifeguard motioned for me to go. Before I had even blinked I was being dropped into the pool.

“Well that was lame,” I said to my friend.

Then, I saw something. A diving board! A really high one too! I fast walked to the small pool that the diving board sat over. I climbed up the ladder and (of course) made the mistake I always make when I’m somewhere high. I looked down. (Did I mention I was afraid of heights back then?) Of course it seemed like a million-foot drop! (It was actually 7.) I walked to the edge......then I walked back. I walked back to the edge and splash! I hit the water! My friend had pushed me! Believe it or not, I was happy! I went on the diving board for the next 30 minutes!

That is the story of the time my friend pushed me off the diving board! Just kidding!

That is actually the story of the time I had enough courage to try the high dive for the first time! (Although, the first way is true too.) —Zoe G.

With the amazing horror comedy show, Courage The Cowardly Dog, this shows inspiration to kids all over the world that watch this show that even with people that get kidnapped by talking cats or UFOs, you can still have the courage to help save them. When someone is in danger in this show, Courage always has the courage to go and help save them. When someone sees a good friend of his or a family member in trouble, you must help them, but if it involves any weaponry or big guys then don’t, let the police officers handle it. When you feel like you’re scared or one of your fears keeps coming back to you, stand up for yourself, don’t be afraid, try to overcome your fears so it will stop haunting you. If someone’s making fun of you, have the courage to tell a teacher or principal. If you see anybody hurt or getting hurt have courage to stand up for yourself and not to fight back but tell a parent so they can help you. In Courage The Cowardly Dog, Courage the dog is always afraid to help his family Eustace and Muriel from dangers of criminals in the show, but he always has enough courage to go and rescue his family from the bad guy. Sometimes he’s afraid to go up against the bad guys for a reason and for one reason only, he is a dog that has a body full of fright and courage but still goes to help his family that adopted him a long time ago. Courage is in everybody, if you look deep inside you, you find pieces of courage, waiting to be let out and be seen. —Eddy D. personally don’t have any courageous experiences so this story will be about a fictional character.

Today was my first day at school. It was a bright sunny day. “Have a good day at school honey!” said Mom. “Okay Mom!” I shouted back from the school pavement. Hi, I’m Geofrey.

Today is my first day of school. I start first grade today. When Mom dropped me off I was a nervous wreck! I didn’t know anyone here so I tried to make a good impression. “Hi,” I said to a kid walking nearby. He ignored me and just walked on. I was in the school hallway when I saw a kid being bullied. By the look of it the bully was in third grade. The kid being bullied was about my age. I was scared. I didn’t know what to do. The bully looked at me and said, “Beat it punk!”

I was in fear. “Or you’re next!” The bully walked away and left the kid. I decided to help the kid up. “Thanks,” said the kid. “I’m Curtis.” I looked at him and said, “I’m Geofrey, nice to meet you.

Who was that?” I asked. “That’s Dennis. The school bully. He’s the toughest kid around here. If you don’t do what he says he pounds you! Even the teachers are afraid to confront him!” “Wow,” I said in shock. “Nobody has ever stood up to him,” said Curtis. I was in stunned silence. “Maybe I will,” I said foolishly. “Have you gone nuts?!” screamed Curtis. “If you stand up to him or say no to him he’ll cream you!” “So what?” I said. “It seems this school is tired of that bully, so I’ll take him down a peg!” “Boy, you crazy!” said Curtis. The bell rang it was time for class. “Hello I’m your new teacher, Mrs. Shabbot. Nice to meet you. Will you be as kind as to write your name on the board?” said Mrs. Shabbot. I wrote my name on the chalkboard. For some reason he class laughed.

I looked behind me and saw that somehow I spelled my name “Blokorgo.” The teacher took me out into the hallway. “Is everything all right?” asked Mrs. Shabbot. “Kind of,” I said. “It’s just that I’m new here and I’m already afraid of a bully!” “A bully?” asked Mrs. Shabbot. “Dennis,” I said. A chill rolled down my spine. It felt like he heard me and was going to pound me. Then the image came to my head. The big strong bully. Wearing what represents death, black. I was afraid that I said too much. So I said, “never mind,” and returned to class. Oh and about the Blokorgo thing, if you were scared straight and had no idea what to do, you would be so scared you wouldn’t be able to think straight. Finally, school was over. I was outside when Curtis (the boy from before) came to my side.

“Are you really going to do it? asked Curtis. “Yep. But hear me,” I looked at the scrawny little kid with huge blue eyes. “If I die tell my family I love them.” “But I don’t know your family!” responded Curtis. And there he was, the most feared kid, Dennis. I walked up to him and said, “Dennis, why do you bully?” He looked at me and said, “Because it’s fun.” “But there must be a more complex reason.” As I said that I knew I was dead. Then I figured why am I afraid? Why is everyone scared of him? I built up the courage and said, “It’s because you have no friends isn’t it Dennis?” The bully looked at me with a sad face and said, “Yeah.” I looked at him and asked why he didn’t have any friends. He replied, “Because I’m big and people fear me and see me as a bully or an outcast. All I want is a friend. Somebody who will treat me like a normal person.” I looked at him and said, “I’ll be your friend.” Curtis looked at me and then looked at Dennis. “Me too.” For once Dennis smiled and he squealed with joy. From that day Dennis was not a bully but a friendly student. Then I saw Mom’s car waiting. I hopped in and we drove home. Mom asked me what I did today and I replied, “I made two new friends today, one of which was an ex-bully. I changed him from being a bully to a kind sweet person.” “That sounds pretty courageous buddy. I’m proud of you.” We then drove off back to my house. And I continued life as it is. —Chance M.

Courage is the ability to do something. If you are afraid to sing and you eventually do it, you overcame your fears. Some people have a lot of courage. Athletes have courage because they try out for teams knowing that they may not make it. Athletes are brave.

—Jameel W.

All you need is courage to be a man or woman. All you need is a plan.

In rain, sun and snow you will have courage. Wherever you go, courage will follow you. When a cow says moo, it has courage. Everybody has courage no matter what. —Christian B.

Rocky S.

Courage is defeating that nervous feeling in your stomach.

—Levens

Everything we do we use courage whether it’s climbing Mt. Everest or hitting your first homerun everything we do has courage.

Courage: having mental or mutual strength, to withstand pain, fear or distraction.

—Emmy B.

Courage is something you do but you’re scared sort of, like brave!

—Penny Lou

Anxious hands reach out, trembling with excitement.

A box, nothing more.

Brass décor and olive wood.

A box, nothing more…

I think.

The cold pool water slid over my skin, the shallow water barely coming up to my knees. I had spent years in the shallow end of the pool; I had never had the guts to swim to the deep end. While all the other kids my age had taken the deep end test, I was still splashing around with 7 years olds. Was I being a coward?

Yes. Did I care?

Maybe.

But it didn’t matter; I would get there eventually.

I think.

I had many chances to open the box.

Although it was right in front of me, I didn’t grasp it: My chance.

But today is different.

I’ll open it.

I think.

Michael stuck his tongue out at me again. Even though he was all the way on the deep end, I could see his pompous glare. He dove down into the azure water, disappearing, showing off the advantages of the deep end. He knew I

couldn’t go there, not after I had almost drowned. He continued to taunt me, diving deeper than I ever had, and was doing cannonballs. I grit my teeth and make my way towards the deep end.

I’ll do this.

I think.

The temptation grows, bulges, and sifts through the very core of my heart.

My hands tremble as I put the key into the hole.

It clicks softly and lets out a puff of dust.

The lid immediately pops up.

The room goes cold and I feel fear.

The lifeguard ignored me as I swam from the shallow waters to medium, the subtle transition sending my heart rate up. I wouldn’t repeat the same mistake. By now the pool floor and my feet had lost contact. I kicked my legs and propel. Michael saw me and grins slyly. He dove; deep. Deeper than I would ever have dreamt of diving.

But I filled my lungs with the salty chlorine smelling air. I dove deeper and deeper. The water slid around me like quicksilver.

It gets cold, and dark.

And I feel fear.

Pain, pride.

Fear, sloth.

Despair, greed.

Sickness, envy.

Famine, gluttony.

The box wasn’t a gift, it was a curse! My head aches and pounds.

I scream with a silent voice, and weep veiled tears.

Cold cold cold.

The darkness from below seems so close. It isn’t until I noticed the burning in my lungs is when I realized I’m drowning! I panicked, terror and fear try to squeeze out what little breath I have left. I couldn’t see or hear, the pressure from the water hurts my head.

Someone.

Help.

Is this it?

I can’t close it.

I was a fool to open it.

I’m scared I can’t close it.

I can’t.

I can’t.

All these horrible things keep coming out and into me.

The fear.

Fear spreads.

I step away from the box but I stop.

A white orb, pure and small flutters from the box, like all the other feelings, it goes straight to my heart.

I feel it.

Hope.

Faith.

Courage.

I suddenly looked up and see the light from above. I felt myself gain something unknown. I didn’t go up. I swallowed my fear instead of the water as I swim towards the end of the pool. The fear threatened to resurface but I stood firm. I reach my goal, and see everyone is surrounding the edge of the pool; some smiling with disbelief while others frowned in relief. Michael stared in the background, a look of solace on his face. I coughed and gasp for the delicious air, my lungs inhaled with jubilation. I could feel my last bit of fear dissipate.

Have Found My Courage.

Courage is an emotion that can empower a person with the strength that is needed to conquer hurtles.

Courage isn’t obtained overnight.

Before you gain courage you have to undergo torments.

But once you grasp courage, you can end the torment, close the box.

Evana J.

A True American Hero

We all think of courage in different ways. I myself believe it to be when someone stands up for who they are, in the face of danger.

Someone who stares death straight in the eye, and doesn’t back down because they believe in what they are doing. Someone who wants to make the world a better place, no matter the consequence. When we think of courage we often think of people like Martin Luther King Jr., Gandhi, and Nelson Mandela. However very few people know of someone who was just as courageous, is Audie Murphy. He was an officer in the army, a movie star as well as a musician. However it is his military career in which I find him inspiring as well as courageous.

Ever since the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Audie Murphy wanted to join the armed forces to fight for his country. However, Audie, at just 5’5 and 110 pounds was seen as to small for joining the armed forces, and was denied entry by the Marines, Army Paratroopers and the Navy. Nevertheless, he was determined to fight for the U.S. and was eventually accepted into the Army. However he was still far from going into battle. Others wanted him to be turned into a cook rather than to be on the front lines. But Audie was persistent and was eventually shipped out into Morocco as a replacement soldier. Audie had finally made it into the war zone but did not see action until later in 1943 in Sicily. He quickly proved that he was meant to be there and proved useful throughout various battles.

Audie Murphy displayed courageous feats throughout his military career. His drive to be the best, also left him with many injuries including being shot in the leg and then later damaged by a mortar round. He also obtained malaria while in Sicily and was hospitalized multiple times due to it. Despite all these setbacks, Audie Murphy kept fighting for his country. One particular act of valor and courage took place on January 26 1945 in Holtzwihr, France. Murphy’s unit had been reduced to just 19 out of an original 128 men. Murphy sent all of his remaining men to his rear and then single handedly started shooting at the opposing Germans with his M1 rifle. Once he ran out of ammunition he then climbed upon a burning M10 tank and used its 50 caliber machine gun to shoot at the Germans. He then used a landline telephone to call in artillery fire. He continually fought the Germans for another hour despite wounding his leg. He stopped once the telephone line was cut by enemy artillery and then organized his men in a counter-strike which resulted in pushing the enemy out of Holtzwihr. Because of these heroic actions Murphy was awarded with the most prestigious military award, The Medal of Honor.

This is just one of many courageous things that Audie Murphy did while enlisted in the army. He would eventually be awarded with every US military medal available, as well as numerous awards from other countries. He is the most decorated soldier of all time. I don’t think Audie Murphy was in it for the awards or the fame that came with his actions. Audie Murphy never intended on being where he ended up, he just wanted to do something for his country as well as prove that he was able to be effective in war. He stared death in the face numerous times, yet didn’t let it get the best of him. However in 1971 death finally caught up to him, and he died in a plane crash in Virginia. Audie Murphy was then entered into the Arlington cemetery with full military honors. His grave is the second most visited grave in Arlington cemetery behind John F. Kennedy’s. Although Audie Murphy is dead, his courageous feats and his ability to persevere through the hardships has allowed him to live on and to keep his legacy going. —Yuri K.

Courage, Courage is what makes you special, which takes you on a journey to a better life, which helps people know that your brain is not a cake that needs to get baked, also courage is what makes people like your personality which also lets you get a good career, and a good job, and that’s what I think courage is.

—Marla G.

I am a good companion because I care for my friends. I am a good companion because I would listen and let my friend speak. I am a good companion because I would stick by a friend when they are hurt. I am a good companion.

—Robert B.

Joey D. Daddy gave a kidney to Aunt Laura because she had 0 kidneys left. Ed shoveled 5 feet of snow. Someone else might shovel the snow for our block, because Ed did.

Courage is what makes us Courage is what changes us I know I’ll be there for you.

Thank Courage for that Courage is the key to a life of family and friendship The only question is if you have enough courage to have the key?

—Casteel L.

I hope you enjoyed the COURAGE issue of StudentsXpress.

In order to cover the costs of producing additional issues and growing StudentsXpress to include more schools, I am always looking for new advertisers, donors and sponsors.

If you or your company would like to help support the future of StudentsXpress, along with the future of Chicago’s youth, please don’t hesitate to contact me at rachel@studentsxpress.com.

S

Connecting Chicago Students Through

T h e i r Wo r d s a n d A r t

E S S C A R Y T H E C G H M E K X V S A N R I N F O N X G L I P C W E O K D V A N I F Q Y F P A E P L U C Y P F D X G Y I R O P L R R V P D I N W B I E D U W A L K A E G D A E N P C S X N E P E N E K E T G T D Q L C H T R I N J F N S A S R L E P O H M G R C F C R R Q A E F I I R P M L L E E E U B N C O U E T N D R B R Q D O R P N Z T E R U S S E R P N C A D R E S P E C T F U L B U J V D D W S J K F G H D P L R I E J M U P V M A O Q L E Z N G P V AWARE

HOPE

BRAVE

POWER

CONFIDENCE

PRESSURE

COURAGE

RESPECTFUL

DETERMINED

SCARY

ENDURANCE

SUPPORT

EXCELLENCE

UNDERSTANDING

FEARLESS