Posted: 1/2/07
Students win first ëYear of the Writerí awards
Editorís note: ISD #299 is doing a project called "The Year of the Writer" this school year. It is a competition in which students enter articles showing a different type of writing each quarter.
The first quarter theme was essay writing. Judges named the following students winners.
Grade five: Shay Rohrer, first; Lauren Perry, second; Jackie Domabyl, third.
Grade seven: Thor Kolle, first; Amber Doring, second; Allie Berg, third.
Grade eight: Amber Sorenson, first; Lyndon Becker, second; Allie Engan, third.
The first place winners are printed below.
Kicked
By Shay Rohrer
The day I thought I was going to die started when my family and I went to our farm. It was a big party! My dad and my uncles were about to put the horses away, and my dad let me come with. My dad and uncles started to run, and so did I. Also, the horses started running.
One horse got in front of me, and he kicked me right above my eye! I landed on a barbwire fence. It cut my back, and then I fell down off the fence.
My uncle stopped running. He heard me crying. He ran as fast as he could to me. Once he got to me he yelled for my father. My father looked and started running towards me. My mom looked and started to panic. Then my dad and my uncle took me to our van.
My mom drove as my aunt pinched my eye shut, but could still feel some blood gushing out.
When we got to the emergency room at Gundersen Lutheran, my mom ran up to a nurse and told her what happened. The nurse took us to a room. At least 5 doctors were in the room with me. My aunt waited in the waiting room. My mom held my hand as the doctors worked on the cut. It was about 11:00 p.m. or 12:00 a.m. when we got home. My family was waiting and threw a party for me!
I talked about how I got kicked and went to bed. Iím glad I didnít die.
The Circle of Pain
By Thor Kolle
Theyíre in every high, middle, and even elementary school. Youíre walking down the hall, minding your own business, when all of a sudden you hear that painfully familiar mocking voice of the - school bully.
Why do bullies feel the urge to make other people feel bad? There are two types of bullies, physical ones and mental ones. The mental bully finds your weak spot and picks at it until it bleeds. They comment on the stupidity of your recently deceased dog, tell you your head is too small for your body, or compare your new toy to their better one. The physical bully, however, threatens and beats you into doing their every whim.
Usually bullies are bullied themselves at home, either picked on by older siblings or abused by their parents. This is disgusting, but not the question lím asking. Why do bullies want to pick on others, especially if they know how it feels? One view is that by putting others down, they feel better than their victims, and feel better about themselves. Why donít they realize how bad they are making people feel?
This question may never be answered, but is there a way to stop it? I believe so. The circle of pain starts when someone feels bad about themselves without being picked on. They then pick on someone, and that person picks on someone and so on. The way to stop it is to resist the urge to hurt other people. When someone picks on you. ignore them. If they laugh at you, laugh with them. This is the long tenn way to stop the circle of pain. This is the hardest method, but the most effective.
I believe that everyone would be better off of they knew how to handle bullies. I hope that everyone who reads this will have a better understanding of them. I have thought about this many times and am happy to share it with you.
My Personal Hero
By Amber Sorenson
My hero or heros would have to be my parents. My mom is my hero because she is always telling me to do things because I like it and not because they want want me to. She also tells me that if I have a dream 1 should follow it because it might come true one day. Sometimes she says that it might not come true because there are more people than just me that want that same dream and if I donít get it I should just be happy about how far I really got. If I am sad she helps me get through it and tells me that everything will fall back into place. If they donít she says all that matters is that you did the best that you can do 1 like how she always tries to make us happy and healthy and feeds us all of the good stuff. She loves us good food and takes care of us when my dad isnít home. She even keeps the house clean.
My dad is also my hero. He is my hero because he teaches me all new things and tells me what I am doing wrong and what I am doing right. He also brings me to the football games, volleyball games. and all the other places I want to go even if he isnít going to be there When I am playing in sports, he acts like the coach for all of them even though he is only the coach for basketball. If I get into trouble he tells me that if I have learned my lesson and it wonít wonít happen again, I wonít get into very much trouble. My dad also feeds me when my mom is busy doing things for us or when she isnít at home. He is also a good husband because he cleans the house before my mom gets home so she can just relax after the days at work even if they were super easy or super hard.
My parents put together are like having a maid, cook, parent, chauffeur, and teacher all at the same time. I will always think that my parents are the best parents in the world even if they yell at us sometimes. They always help us with our homework. My mom helps me with my volleyball considering she was in the Bethany Hall of Fame at her college. My dad helps me with my basketball because he is the basketball coach for varsity. Put together, I would have to say they do everything they can to help us and that is all that we need. My brother and I always complain that we have to do things when we donít want to, but we should just be happy because I donít think that I could do any better than they have done for us. 1 am just happy because some people donít have two parents and some do, but they are divorced. I am very thankful that my parents are together and that they are the greatest they can be and the greatest that we want them to be.
Caledonia Argus
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