During the COVID-19 quarantine, he is learning to bake and is building a forge. Theo plays the euphonium and trumpet, and is an expert in Star Wars movies and music. Theo Cooksey, an eighth grader from Lynnwood, Washington, is an avid reader and video game player. By keeping my head up and moving forward with a plan, I no longer need to be the kid who internalized everything.īecoming a better me now, at 13, will make me a better person who may just be able to influence climate change and build a more equitable wealth distribution system when I get older. I will earn Life Scout rank to put me one step closer to Eagle Scout. I will dust off my trumpet and give myself the chance to hit the high notes.
I will continue to hone my skills in archery. I will build the forge in our backyard with my dad to pursue blacksmithing together. For me, these are working on what affects me directly, like school and what I enjoy outside of school. My opinion will not be hidden from others.Īs I lift my head up, I will start with the small things and my familiar spaces.
I will slowly rebuild my motor into an impervious hurricane that will break out of the box that limited me. As I uncoil the past, undo the steps and remember the moments that quieted and contained me, stole my voice, and seized my motor, I am determined to recreate what I lost. How do I get back to looking up and out into the world? I believe that this assignment has given me the chance to start doing just that. I spoke less so I wouldn’t constantly be told to stop talking and stop interrupting.Īfter spending so much energy shrinking my personality, I hardly had time to look up and think about what I wanted to do. I suppressed my motor, so I wouldn’t be told to stop moving. Why did that happen? I quieted my voice, so I wouldn’t be told I was too loud. Going from a storm to no more than a summer breeze, my motor was barely able to push paper. However, over years of school, my personality withered, and my motor followed suit. I was a giant, perpetual motor hurling questions, wanting answers, always moving. When I was young, I possessed an immense personality that couldn’t be contained. If you’re always working hard at fitting into a world by other’s standards, how do you have time to dream of your possibilities? This made me ask, “When did I allow this box to contain me?” When I realized I wasn’t accepted as myself. What made me narrow my scope and start looking down, rather than seeing my potential? I believed I couldn’t possibly change the world if I could hardly impact myself.
This led me to wonder why I stopped thinking about my ability to influence the future in a way where anything is possible. Why would I open myself up to that level of critique, especially in middle school? Although I would love to see advancements to reduce the effects of climate change and uneven wealth distribution, I can’t visualize myself impacting these issues right now. Sharing dreams of how I could positively change the world makes me uncomfortable. I’m 13, so shouldn’t I just, well, be a kid? Isn’t goal planning and future planning something adults do? To be honest, when I read the article and learned what the topic was, I locked up like a clam. Other than my goal of reaching Eagle Scout before I turn 18, I tend to live day to day. I’ve never really looked at long-term goals for myself, as Alicia Garza suggests in the YES! article “How to Prepare for 2020” by Kate Werning. Be prepared to be inspired! Thank you to author and Irresistible’s founding director Kate Werning for sharing these powerful stories.įrom the author Kate Werning: Response to Essay Winners You can hear four students read their winning essays on the Irresistible podcast. Be sure to read the author’s response to the essay winners and literary gems that caught our eye. Students wrote about what they might accomplish in their wildest dreams for themselves or for this nation-and the steps they would take to make this vision a reality.įrom the hundreds of essays written, these seven were chosen as winners. Alicia Garza, co-founder of #BlackLivesMatter offered this advice, “Clarity inside of chaos can help us find direction when it seems like everything around us is unstable.” Lots of things may keep students up at night or make them anxious.
#HIGH SCHOOL DREAMS BEST FRIENDS FOREVER SONG HOW TO#
For the spring 2020 student writing contest, we invited students to read the YES! article “ Alicia Garza: How to Prepare for 2020” by Kate Werning.
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