The Diversity Conference and Me, Perfect Together

by Bryce, 6th grade student

Who am I? I am Bryce Collings; I have been in situations from airplane emergency landings to helping others when they are being severely bullied. When I was in first grade, I was faced with a very important choice. I had the decision to help somebody that really needed it, or walk away. I was in first grade, and I had to go to the bathroom, so I did. 

There was a boy named Andrew that a lot of people called a “nerd” because he wore glasses. He was in the bathroom stall, and I just walked in. There were two fifth graders in there. They were making fun of Andrew because of his weight and how he looked and acted. I knew something was wrong because I heard laughing and crying. I walked closer to the noises and inside the stall I saw the door was open with Andrew and two fifth graders in there. They were picking on Andrew and laughing at him. At that moment I knew what I had to do try to stop them. I tried to stop them, but after several futile attempts of trying to stop them, I did what any first grader can do, tell a teacher. 

I told my teacher first, Mrs.Schessel. She called the main office to tell the principal so he can go and stop what was happening. I was told to tell all the teachers on the first floor what was happening. So I walked very fast to about eleven classrooms. By the time I was done, the principal caught the two perpetrators. I was told to go to the main office to tell my side of the story of-what happened, so I told exactly what I saw. After that, it was back and forth to the office, for the next two days. On the last day I had to write a report of what happened. I learned many things from this experience, like have empathy for others. If I didn’t help him, maybe nobody would have, and who knows what could have happened to him. My takeaway from this experience was just the feeling of knowing that I did something good to help someone. 

Another thing that happened to me during my eleven years is becoming a peer mediator. A peer mediator is someone who helps solve problems or conflicts that students may be having. I was a peer mediator in grades four and five. Being a peer mediator was a very good experience for me because it gave me a taste of student leadership. Peer mediation also taught me skills on helping resolve conflicts and stopping problems while they are in the midst of getting bigger. Peer mediation was a much respected thing at my old school and due to this, there were very important rules. For example you couldn’t get several detentions, you couldn’t tell anybody about conflicts that you helped solved, and you had to come to all of the meetings. My takeaway from this experience was learning to help others when they need help. The experience of being a mediator also helped to shape how I wanted to be viewed. Also mediators had to display their integrity, because we were student leaders.  

           

Another thing that I am proud of myself for is being a part of a program with the New York Philharmonic. The program is called the Bridge. This program teaches me more about music composition and theory. I have my music I composed played by famous ensembles like Loadbang and Classical Jam, and even one of the most prestigious orchestras in the world, the New York Philharmonic. The New York Philharmonic played my orchestrated piece “Out in the Woods”. Not only do I compose, I also play clarinet. 

I have been playing for about three years now. I am also learning how to play piano, and I am planning on starting to learn saxophone by the end of the year. Composing and playing music can be very stressful, and it requires a lot of dedication, because at times you just want to give up yet you know you can’t, because you can only get better I get the question, “do you want to be a musician or a composer when you grow up?” a lot. The answer is, “I do not”. I like composing, but it’s not something I would want to make into a career. If I have the choice, I would want to be an airline pilot or an architect. In a worst case scenario my plan B, would be a musician or composer. My takeaway from this is learning new things like how to compose, notate, and read music.

Another thing that happened to me in my life was being on the Dr. Oz show. This gave me my 15 minutes of fame. I was able to be on the show when my former second grade teacher sent out an email telling all the parents about how the Dr. Oz show was looking for fourth graders to be in a segment on their show. I asked my mom about responding and telling her that we were interested and my mom did. A few days later my mom called and told me that the Dr. Oz show is going to call later for a phone interview. Later that day the producer called and he asked me a lot of questions that I thought were irrelevant to the topic. One of the questions was what my favorite TV shows is, of course I said the Dr. Oz Show. I guess I passed that interview because the next day they called my mom and told her that they would want to have an in person interview. So I went to Manhattan to meet them. I went to the studio in the NBC building. I met the producers of the show and we talked for about 30 minutes, and said that we would hear from them tomorrow. I came home that day and I was told that I am going to be on the show. I was very excited and couldn’t wait until the next day (the taping of the show).

The Dr. Oz Show took care of all the transportation and they sent a limo to pick us up. We got to the studio at about 7:00 AM and the taping was at 9:00PM. We had our own dressing room for that day. A few hours later I was taped, and a few months later it was aired on national television. Today I am still noticed by people who saw the episode. When I was on the Dr. Oz show, I had to be resilient, because even though I was nervous I couldn’t let it show.

I would like to participate at the Diversity Conference, because I think it would be a great experience for me to learn new things, like learn about different programs I may be able to be a part of. The conference would also give me the chance to meet new people, with different backgrounds, and who come from different places. I also think that this conference would also open me up to new things that I didn’t know about. I think another reason why I should attend, is because if I learn a lot of new things and meet a lot of new people, my takeaway from this experience is going to be huge, and filled with a lot of things that I can teach and tell my fellow students about.  This experience may be something I would never have the chance to do again, and this conference would probably leave me with a lot of good memories, and I may establish new friendships with people I otherwise wouldn’t have the opportunity to meet. If I go to this conference, it may shape my full potential.