Character

List of 4 items.

• Change Can Happen

  Mikey K. – February 8, 2019
  
  

  The day was Wednesday, February 14, 2018. We got out of school, and I looked at my phone. I saw one twitter notification: Parkland school shooting; 17 dead. My heart hurt for the students at Parkland and the people affected. So many questions started to pop up in my brain. Why would someone do this? Why is there so much hate in the world? Why can’t our country fix this?

  
  But that's not the point of this speech. Let me set the scene. Wednesday, February 21st, exactly one week after the shooting, some of the Parkland High School students held a rally at the capitol to protest gun control. Me being me and wanting to get out of school, I decided to go to the protest. I asked my mom if I could go, and she said if I did, it would be with my church group who was going to volunteer to pass out food and water to those kids who were protesting. That worked for me. So we packed all the donated food and water
  into 3 or 4 cars and headed downtown. When we got to the old capitol there were some protesters, but the official event had not started yet. As time went on, more news vans rolled up, and more people started to crowd by the steps. By this point, the students were protesting. The loud chants echoed through the streets of downtown Tallahassee. I grabbed bottles of water and headed out into the crowd. I probably gave out 100 or so bottles of water to the protestors. I was in the middle of the protest, the kids were screaming chants and doing what protesters do. In the midst of all of this, I realized one main thing - these kids were working to fix the problem.
  
  There is a saying and it goes like this, “You don't have to be old to change the world.” Every time I heard this, I would always think, “There is no way I could change the world - I’m too young.” I didn’t even take into consideration what I could do. Not even a thought crossed my mind. But, I realized those kids on the steps were only two or three years older than me. I went into this protest just wanting to get out of school. I didn't think
  twice about what lessons I could learn. But, the one major lesson I learned from being in that crowd is when people come together, any age, change can happen and voices are heard. This I believe.

• Keeping God in Mind

  Camille R. – January 28, 2019
  
  

  Two years ago when I was at camp, I heard a speech that changed my perspective on life. I was 12 years old, and one of the staff members gave a speech about when she was little and her relationship with God. She talked about how she had always gone to church and grew up in a Christian home, but when someone asked if she died right then she wasn’t sure if she would actually go to Heaven or not. This was when she really caught my attention. She talked about how she always considered herself a Christian, but she didn’t really live like a Christian. She never thought about Jesus on a day to day basis. She

  spoke to us about how she was living her life without the major influence of God.
  
  I realized that I was actually the same way. Of course, I knew about God and I
  believed in Him, but I never really incorporated God into my everyday life. I realized that I hadn’t really fully accepted the Lord into my heart. After the speech, I found the staff member and talked to her about how I had this realization. She sat me down and we had a really good talk. She told me that what I realized is really great, and it was good that I was being honest with myself and that I wanted to make a change. After we talked I felt so much
  better. I realized that I was ready to start living in God’s way more.
  
  This was actually pretty easy at camp. We had chapel in the morning and talked
  about Jesus a lot, so it was easy to stay focused on Jesus. We also didn’t have our phones at camp, so we didn’t get sucked into social media drama or anything like that. It became difficult when I went home. That was when I got my phone back, I didn't have church every day, and I got flooded with all sorts of responsibilities again. I started gossiping with my friends over text, or I stopped going to church for a little while, or maybe I just felt like I didn’t even have time to think about Jesus because I had so much to do. Life got in the way.
  
  One night I was laying in bed and realized how long I had gone without praying. It had been weeks. I realized that I got off track again. I tried to get back to the way I was living at camp, but it was difficult. Sometimes it’s hard to do the right thing. The important thing is to realize it and to try to fix it. I started to pray more, and I tried to remember to ask for forgiveness. I was on a roll for a while. I picked up a devotion and tried to live more like a Christian. But just like before that didn’t last forever. It’s easy to slip out of a Christian state of mind. Like when a loved one dies, or bad grades start appearing, or when things just aren’t going great. It is easy to want to put the blame on God, and get frustrated with Him.
  
  It’s very tempting to stop my devotional, stop praying, and stop living the way God wants me to live. This still happens to me every now and then. I have to reel myself back in and remind myself of who I am and who I worship. Instead of going straight to sleep, I read a nightly devotional. Maybe I pray if I’m feeling really anxious about an upcoming test or quiz. These are all little things that help me get back on track. Even to this day, it’s extremely tempting to stop living like a Christian. Being a Christian is hard work, but the extra effort is worth it. This I believe.

• Try Again

  Owen M. – December 12, 2018
  
  

  Try Again

  On January 1, 2015, Florida State played Oregon in the Rose Bowl as a semifinal game in the first year of the new FBS playoff system. FSU did not win, so we didn’t move on to the National Championship game. Before this game, I was used to winning, from a college football perspective at least, and it was great. After that year, things went downhill for our team, and the program began to decline. And throughout this downward spiral, especially after this season, my frustration and anger have continued to grow. But I need to figure out how to stay calm and just move on, but it can be really hard to do that sometimes.
  
  I know that I, personally, cannot help FSU become a better team; I can just take the loss and move on while continuing to cheer them on. But I obviously lose in my own life as well, some losses are small - like last week when I wanted to eat at Chick-fil-A but I had to go home and eat instead, and some are bigger, especially to 7 year old me. On Christmas day in 2011, I got a brand new bike; I was so excited that I immediately asked my dad if we could go on a ride. This was my first bike with the brakes on the handles, which meant I was a little bit nervous and confused on how to steer it. So when I went down my first hill I
  squeezed the brakes too hard and then flew over the handlebars, onto the road, to the hospital, and back to my house. Except in real life, it felt a little longer than that. After that, I did not ride my bike again for over 4 months. Looking back, I realize that I was taking two losses for the price of one thing. The first loss was my injury, and the second loss was that I was denying myself the fun of riding my bike because I was too scared to ride again. All through my life, I have experienced things I would call losses. Some are big, and some are small.
  
  Looking back, some of the things that I thought at the time were HUGE losses seem pretty silly now. The difference is in how I deal with the loss. I’ve realized that if I just accept the outcome and move on, I have won half the battle. To win the other half, I have to get back up and keep trying. FSU never once this season forfeited a game because it would be too hard to win. They continued to play. Just like how I got back on my bike after my crash. In the end, life is full of loses, but I can turn my losses into wins if I am willing to get back up and improve in the end. This I believe.

• Trying New Things

  Camdon P. – January 28, 2019
  
  

  I have never been one to try new things. Going outside of my comfort zone has

  always been hard for me. The thought of doing something I have never done before with people I don’t usually talk to has always made me nervous. This has caused me to very rarely do something new, and when I do, I never really enjoy it as much as I could. Last year, however, I decided to face my fears, and try something new.
  
  It was the beginning of seventh grade, and the year before I had decided I would be in Opening Night. I had been in acting classes and lower school musicals before, and I usually enjoyed them, so I wasn’t too nervous and thought I would like it. But when I went to the class for the first time, that idea changed quickly. We started the year off by doing small exercises that involved acting in groups in front of the class, and unlike my original thought, it terrified me. After this, my main outlook on the class was, ‘If I’m too scared to do this in front of thirty people, how will I be able to act in front of the whole school?’
  
  After a couple of months of these exercises, we had to audition for roles in our show, The Lion King. This, again, involved acting in front of the class, but also required singing a portion of one of the songs from the show. We spent several weeks preparing, and once the stress of these auditions passed, I felt relieved. Though I didn’t get the role I had hoped for, I felt that I could relax a little and focus on rehearsing for the show.
  
  After many months of rehearsals, it was time for the show. I had quickly become nervous several days before, and I wasn’t ready to face these nerves. But after being onstage for the first scene, my outlook on the show changed, but this time it was in a positive way. I had been worried about being onstage in front of a bunch of people, when, in reality, there was so much that I needed to focus on that I didn’t even notice the audience. For the rest of the performance, and the performances afterwards, I was more confident and enjoyed them instead of worrying.
  
  Ever since this experience, I have changed my mindset on trying new things. Whenever I step outside of my comfort zone, I think of how it could benefit me instead of everything that I don’t like about approaching it. Walt Disney once said, “We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we’re curious, and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.” Even if it still may make me nervous, I start something new with a positive attitude because I never know if I will enjoy it until I try. This I believe.