In their words
PAGE 1B | SUNDAY, MAY 26, 2019
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Student writings
In a first collaboration of its kind here in Suffolk, the Suffolk News-Herald and Suffolk Public Schools have partnered to bring you the magnificent written words of some of our local young people. We asked for submissions from the middle and high schools, and Suffolk Public Schools responded by sending selections from their students. We hope you enjoy the poems, short stories and essays on these pages.
What I’m Made Of Of new beginnings and endings Of 100 degree weather and heat waves Of crying brothers and loud music Of basketball courts and crystal clear oceans Of an aspiring author and dreams of the future Of an imaginative mind and a good swimmer Of trouble being patient and following rules Of expressing myself through stories and drawing what I love Of open minded ideas and crazy plans Of pillow forts and hide and seek And the end of bad grades Donte Duton Forest Glen Middle School
What I’m Made Of Of tornados and sunshine Of thunder and rivers and dreams of Playing in a band Of campsites and trickling water Of singing and playing the drums And bands and teachers Of struggles with group work And perfect with art I’m made of compassion Abigail Vick Forest Glen Middle School
We lit sparklers to celebrate Gianna’s birthday, and there were ten placed around the backyard in a circle. Each sparkler was to represent a year that she has been through. She was still out at her favorite restaurant, Ellie’s Fiery Buffet, with her friends and family. Gianna loved it because most of their food was spicy, however she should have taken into consideration that her guests may not be able to handle it. She and my parents were about to come home soon, so I had to finish decorating. I did not attend her dinner celebration so that I could surprise her with all of the decorations and desserts. My friend, Ellah, came over to help me out with everything. She was at the other side of the yard arranging the cupcakes around a large cake. We made sure to get a red velvet one, Gianna’s favorite kind of cake. It wasn’t specialized to say anything yet, we decided to do that ourselves. I ran inside to see how Ellah was doing, and I saw an amazing arrangement of balloons, streamers, set up confetti, and the cake. “Wow, you really put a lot of effort into this!” I exclaimed. “Yeah, I think I did quite a good job. I just need to set up the last few balloons.” she then started back inside. While admiring her work, I did not realize that a few drops of rain were coming down. Hurriedly, I took the cake and brought it in. “Ellah, it’s raining!” I yelled to her. She let go of her balloons and gathered the rest of the desserts. It was too much for her to handle, as she dropped half of them. While we were gathering the decorations, the rain started to pour down heavily. The sparklers were starting to go out, but I managed to save one. It was too late for everything else, they were all ruined. Just then, I hear my mother’s car pull up in the driveway. Me and Ellah looked at each other, and we realized there was nothing we could do. The house was a mess with all the decorations with attempted to throw in. My little sister walked in and she saw Ellah and me standing in the midst of all of the chaos. I take the one sparkler left from behind my back and pathetically held it out, “Happy Birthday, Gianna.” She smiled at both of us and took us into a big hug. Taking a step back, she said, “I can tell you both put so much effort into this. It’s not your fault that it all did not turn out well. I really appreciate it!” This made Ellah and me feel much better. Ellah gestured behind us and suggested, “I’m glad you feel that way, so let’s be thankful we saved the cake!” Zoe Cacanindin Col. Fred Cherry Middle School
Can you think of something really important to you? Everyone has something that they feel they could not live without. Personally, I could not live without my family and friends. There are many reasons I would not be able to live without them. First of all, they provide me with stuff. My family provides me with clothes, food, and a house to live in. When I want new clothes or games, my family usually gets it for me and I am so grateful. If I ever need something that I ever need something that I forgot, my friends will lend it to me. Like my granny always says, “Our family would give you the clothes off their backs!” Also, my family and friends always cheer me up. They have hearts of gold! When I’m bored, my friends make me laugh and we have fun. If I’m in a bad mood, my friends try to cheer me up. Sometimes I’ll get lonely, and when my friends are around I feel better. They are always there for me. In addition, I can always rely on them. My family is my rock! Whenever I have something to say, they listen. Whenever I get hurt, my family tries to make me feel better. They would walk a million miles to help me. My family and friends always give me good advice if I need it. I love them so much! In conclusion, I love my family and friends. They are always there for me and they are so caring. I would do anything in the world for them! I simply could NOT live without them. Allison Shannon Forest Glen Middle School
Civil rights leader Mahatma Gandhi wrote, “Be the change you want to see in the world.” There is a lot going on in the world, but if people treated mental illness differently, the world would be much better. Believe it or not, mental illness is all around the world in many different forms and a lot of people are making excuses to distract from the fact that something is wrong with themselves. One way I would like to change the world is changing how society approaches mental illness by making people aware of their options, volunteering with children to educate them on mental illness, and creating a safe app where teens with mental illness can discuss what is going on with themselves. First things first, making people aware of their options can be very important because most people are not aware that there is help or they just do not know where to go. An example of this is starting a support group and handing out contact information for places like suicide hotlines. Whether people believe it or not, behind people’s smiles there are bad days, weeks,
Imagine a world with nothing but creative minds and nobody cared if they knew or not. The world would not operate how it should because people would not know how to do anything themselves. Albert Einstein once said,” Imagination is more important than knowledge.” Frankly, I do not agree with this statement. I do not agree with this because without knowledge there would not be imagination, without pure knowledge we wouldn’t be able to do simple acts, and society or the world wouldn’t work without knowledge. To begin with, imagination would not exist without the help of knowledge. People may disagree with me because knowledge is limited to what we understand and what we know, but they feel as if that imagination embraces the world around us. However, education is the foundation of everything. For example, imagination is based on common knowledge. What I mean by this is that, imagination draws on our previous experiences and common understanding of the world around us. Which as a result, combines them with the complete unknown to create something new. Imagination fills in the blanks left from our knowledge. For example, fairy tales have talking animals, but we know that animals can’t communicate with us humans. So ideally, we would want to see if they speak to each other, so as a result, we fill in the blanks in our knowledge with our imagination. From that, you can conclude that you need experience for the vision to thrive. What I have just written is why I did not agree with Albert Einstein when he said, “Imagination is more important than knowledge.” Furthermore, without the knowledge that we have today, we would not be alive. However, without the collective understanding of being able to breathe, eat, or even drink, you would die. In this case, imagination won’t take you far when it comes to survival. To add to this thought, without knowledge we wouldn’t know how to hear or write. Consequently, there would be no such thing as fairy tales, movies, or plays. Without the advanced knowledge that we have in the 21st century, half of the population on this planet would not be here. The experience that we have today helps us with helping people, such as vaccines, surgeries, medications, physical therapy, or help for people with mental illnesses. Therefore, I do not agree with his thought that, “Imagination is more important than knowledge,” but I do think knowledge is more important. Finally, without knowledge, our society would not function properly. I say this because there would not be any schools. Which means that subjects such as English, writing, math, science, and history wouldn’t exist. As a result, nobody would have a job. Consequently, there would be a snowball effect, also known as the domino effect, where everything that we have spent years building would all go down in flames. For instance, if we didn’t have jobs, then we would not be able to pay taxes. As a result, the government would shut down, then all the services provided for us by the government would not be able to be supported. Consequently, the country that we live in and love would fail. In conclusion, knowledge is more important than imagination. To sum it up, I do not agree with Albert Einstein when he said,” Imagination is more important than knowledge.” I do not agree with this because without knowledge there would not be imagination, without pure knowledge we wouldn’t be able to do simple acts, and society or the world would not work without knowledge. Imaginations are very important, but knowledge is more important because without it we wouldn’t be alive. Kyra Riddick Col. Fred Cherry Middle School
or even months and when they finally break, they are not thinking clearly and need someone to talk to or process things with. People being aware might just be the reason that person is alive. Also, volunteering with children in middle or high school can make children understand that mental illness is real and teach them about it. There may be behaviors in a child that are considered abnormal and if those behaviors continue, they may need to be brought to someone’s attention. Some children tend to feel alone, so it is important to let them know that they are not alone. Feeling alone can lead to depression and once someone is in a depressive state it is hard to get them out of it. By volunteering to work with these children, I can help them through their problems. Finally I think it is important to create a mental health app for people. Let’s face it: teens will never give up their phones! So, if teens will not put their phones down long enough to have a conversation, then why not bring the conversation to them through their
phones? I could create an app that lets teens with mental illness talk to others that are going through the same things. Some people are too scared to go to therapy, so an app like this may help them feel safe. When people with a mental illness try communicating, it comes out sounding a little crazy sometimes, so talking to other people that have a mental illness makes it a little easier to understand each other. If I can create this app, then I would not only helping people through their issues but getting them to be more social with others. In conclusion, changing the way society deals with mental illness is very important to people with mental illness and to myself. Making people aware, volunteering with children, and creating an app are all part of how it could help people live with mental illness. For people struggling with mental illness, remember things get worse before they get better. I hope that I have given something helpful to the world, and have helped someone know you are not alone. Grace Feagans John F. Kennedy Middle School