In the spring of 2005, Global Harmony Through Personal Excellence, Inc. held the 18th annual Celebration of Youth essay contest. The essay theme was "choice," and here is the question:


Below are the first place essays. Find the names of all winners and honorable mentions to the right. 

Donte Ellis, Elementary Division 

I would like to be the kind of person who helps people solve problems, a person who never acts up in school, laughs, talks, or plays a lot. I want to be the kind of person who everyone looks up to, the person who helps you with complicated things all the time. I want to be the kind of person who is kind to others. Every day. I have to make choices to be the kind of person who I want to be.

I could be the person I want to be, but I keep making bad choices. I make funny faces and make noises and say things to get attention. Sometimes people ignore me, that way I know when to stop. I need to stop trying to get other people’s attention.

I used to call kids in school names, and the kids called me names too. It was fun. The other kids called me “Teecah”. One day, four people called me this name, and it didn’t seem fun anymore. It made me feel so bad that I started to cry. My teacher asked me why I was crying, so I made a choice to tell her. I couldn’t sop crying so she asked me if wanted to talk with the school nurse. I wanted to talke to the school nurse. When I talked with her I made a choice to tell her that lots of kids were calling each other names. I told her all the names that were being called. It was a long list. I felt pretty good when I told her.

After I made the choice to tell about all the name calling, the school nurse, my teacher, and my principal started working hard to get the kids to stop calling each other names and to straighten the whole situation out.

I am very proud of myself for making the right decision. I finally did the right thing, and I was pretty excited. The people who were calling me names were probably playing, but my feelings were hurt. I guess I must hurt other people’s feelings when I call them names. I am very proud that I went to my teacher and nurse and told them what was happening. I am getting closer to being an excellent, kind, hard-working student.

Della Romano, Elementary Division

When I started playing baseball, I never thought of anything beyond the next game or practice. I didn’t know that I would end up being one of only a couple girls in my league or the only girl on my travel team. I didn’t think that I was making a point, or that I would have to work harder and harder as time wore on.

When I was five, I joined a baseball team just because I loved the game. I didn’t play for any other reason than my love of playing. And really, I still only play for the game. As I’ve gotten older though, I’ve seen consequences from my choice to play baseball. My travel team especially costs my parents money and has made my whole family have to change plans for my baseball schedule. But until I started writing this essay, I had never thought about the bigger consequences such as being an example for both girls and boys.

At first, several other girls played baseball. As they quit the game and I kept playing, I continued to think of myself as the same as any other baseball player. But I began to notice that often I would get more compliments or attention from adults. Other times, I felt that people underestimated me because I’m a girl. For example, I often asked my coach if he would watch me pitch. He was always busy and I think he assumed that I wasn’t strong enough. Then one day, almost by accident, he saw me pitch and decided to give me a chance. Now I’m the team’s pitcher.

As I’ve gotten older, I have had to work harder than the boys to keep my place on the team because boys become naturally stronger than girls. I know that I will have to work even harder if I want to keep on playing baseball, to be as strong as possible and to have the best technique. Even though my teammates treat me like any other player, I know that some people may not encourage a girl to play baseball. I hope I’ll always do things I really like, no matter what. I hope that a consequence of my playing baseball is that other girls won’t be intimidated and give up something they love, and that more boys and adults will see that girls can be competitive.

Becky Koretz, Junior High Division 

"Got Meat?"

The campfire is hot and orange, standing out against the cool, navy sky. I’m sitting on a log with my friends, talking and joking about the upcoming play our camp has worked hard to put together. We’re having fun, but when our counselor calls “Dinner!” we stop our games and hungrily head off to the tables where our meal is waiting. My face falls as I see what it is: fresh, tender hot dogs all ready to be roasted over our fire; everyone else eagerly grabs one and skewers it onto a branch of wood. Instead, I’m sifting through the packages of buns, looking for something I can eat; finally I find a small pack of tofu-dogs. I take one out and impale it on a stick, wincing at its slipperiness. A few minutes later, I put my roasted vegetarian hot dog onto a bun, smother it in ketchup, and take a wary bite.

Ah. It tastes like genuine rubber. I look jealously at everyone else, enjoying their succulent hot dogs, and resign myself to try to force down the rest of my dinner. No one died for this meal, I remind myself.

As you may have been able to guess, I’m a vegetarian: I don’t eat mammal, bird, or fish. Unlike most other veggies, though, I once loved those foods; my ideal dinner would probably have included steak and chicken wings. Just because I no longer eat meat doesn’t mean that I’m never tempted! I sulk at every barbecue; Thanksgiving is agony. Why did I choose to torment myself like this?

Well, we all remember our kindergarten trip to the farm, cooing over the funny chickens and the fat pigs and the spotted cows. At that age, I didn’t realize my fuzzy friends were to become my dinner, but about 2 years ago, I decided that eating something that had once been alive wasn’t very nice. So I decided to cut out meat from my diet. I didn’t know what I was getting into; before, I had taken protein and other essentials for granted. Now I was faced with all sorts of health problems, as well as nagging friends and family. And substituting a stale cheese sandwich for a luscious steak can be pretty grueling.

Despite all this, deciding to become a vegetarian was one of the best choices I’ve ever made. A quality that I want to have is the ability to stand up for what I believe in, even if I have to suffer the consequences. I don’t want to be the kind of feeble person who rides the bandwagon to get their opinions; I’ll think for myself. In addition, I want to have a lot of willpower; I don’t’ want anyone or anything to be able to control me. Becoming a vegetarian helped me to become the person I want to be: I express to the world that I think killing animals is cruel, despite the fact that most of the people in the world don’t care, or don’t do anything about it. Additionally, forcing myself not to eat meat is like aerobics for my will; now that I can (for the most part) conquer my meat cravings, I feel I can do anything that I set my mind to. These two qualities will help me become great in this world; I’ll be strong enough to stand up for my rights, and the rights of others. And I’ll do it all without the help of a hot dog.