My name is Simone Moore and I’m a 6th grade student at Tech International Charter School. I live with my mom, dad, my older sister, and my fraternal twin brother named Stephen, who also goes to TI Charter.
The TI Pride pillar that I am writing about is empathy because I think it has made me stronger and taught me that I should look out for others. Once I had to speak up for a classmate who was being bullied and even though it was not the easiest thing for me to do I still stood up for him because it was the right thing to do. This happened about a year ago when I was in fifth grade at Ampark Neighborhood School.
One morning my teacher Ms. Fairly announced that we had a new classmate named Jeremy. When I first heard him speak he had a familiar accent. Then I figured it out! He was from Jamaica. I knew this because my mom, who is also from Jamaica, has a similar accent.
I didn’t pay too much attention to Jeremy
until a few weeks later when I heard some of my classmates teasing him. They made fun of the size of his head and
said that he talked funny. At first I
was laughing, but then I felt guilty. I knew I should say something but I didn’t
want them to get mad at me. I knew it was wrong because when I looked at
Jeremy’s face he looked liked he wanted to cry. It made me think of when I first started going
to Ampark. We had just moved to the
neighborhood and I was in the 3rd grade. Almost all the kids in the classroom already knew
each other and I was nervous about making new friends. Would they like me? Would I
make new friends? Would they be nice to
me? These questions ran through my head and I thought Jeremy could be
feeling the same way. It was even harder
for him since he came from another country.
I
thought if that was me I wouldn't like it. So I decided to stand up for Jeremy.
I told my classmates to stop teasing
him. I asked them to put themselves in
his shoes and told them they would feel bad if someone was saying the same
thing to them. After I said that, everyone
who was teasing him stopped talking and I was happy that they listened to me.
Over
the next few weeks I noticed that some of my classmates were nicer to him and
that Jeremy and some of the boys were becoming friends. Jeremy looked more comfortable and that made
me feel happy and we even became friends.
I
learned from this experience to be friendly and sensitive towards new
people. When I empathize, I put myself in other’s shoes and ask myself, how would I feel if the same thing
happened to me?. I am not scared to stand up for others anymore. I think I’m a better person today because of
Jeremy.
I
would really like to go to the Hilltop Diversity Conference because I believe I
would make a good representative for TI.
I am a hard worker, I love to learn ,and I am always eager to meet new
people. I would be happy to share what
I’ve learned with my classmates. I also
have a special connection to Fieldston because I have spent the last few
summers there making friends, not to mention that several current students that
attend Fieldston Middle School are former classmates of mine from Ampark.
I
am enthusiastic about possibly representing
Tech International Charter School at
this upcoming conference.
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