Nine students in the sixth- through eighth-grades in Tracy won awards for their words in the Keena Turner essay contest earlier this month. Here are some of the top essays:

HEROES

By Miranda Gannon, seventh grade

Heroes are people who influence your life in a good way, not a bad way. Even if your hero is a celebrity, you have to realize that they have hard times, too, so knowing that they are your hero should make them feel good. My hero is my older brother, Josh. He’s a good role model, he encourages me, and he protects me.

In my life, my older brother is a good role model. He always makes good decisions for himself and the people around him, like his friends. He makes a lot of friends fast, so it’s hard for him to tell if they’re good or bad, at first. So usually he stays friends with them for a while, but if he finds out that they did something, he usually learns that they’re not making good decisions for him. So even if it’s hard, he finds some new friends to hang out with. This has helped me through life, as he shows me that it’s better to make good decisions instead of bad ones.

My brother is very encouraging. He helps and encourages me through the times when I need him the most. He pushes me to do my best in softball. When he knows I’m struggling on my pitching, he will give me advice to try to make me the best softball player I can be. Sometimes when I give up, like on my homework, he will push me to finish it. He will do anything to make sure I will get the best grade I can on that assignment. This has helped me through life when he shows me that it’s good to persevere and stick to what I have to do, so I can accomplish the thing I’m doing.

Josh is very protective. Sometimes it’s a good thing, and sometimes it’s not. Sometimes he has to understand that I’m getting older, and I’m starting to realize that making good choices is the key to life. When Josh realizes that I’m getting in trouble with my parents, he usually tries to change my parents’ minds, if he knows that I’m doing something good. I know protection isn’t really a bad thing, but when it comes to some things in my life, it just gets a little annoying.

Once again, my hero is my older brother, Josh. He protects me, he’s a good role model, and he encourages me to do better things if he knows I’m making a bad choice. He’s influenced my life by telling me right from wrong. Even though he’s getting older, I’ll always know that he’s here for me whenever I need him.

EDUCATION

By Kent Biado, sixth grade

Education is important, because it is used as a tool for seeking a better job. We use this every day in our lives. When we go to a supermarket and buy something, no one can ever fool us on how much we are going to pay and our change would be. We always have the knowledge to calculate how much we spend for it, because we know math. And that is where education plays a very important role in our daily lives.

Education is something we can call our own. Even when we go somewhere else, whatever we do, we carry it with us. This is something that no one can take away from us. This is also something that our parents can be proud of. And being an educated person, we can be proud, too, of ourselves.

Education is really important in one’s life. If you aim high and want to hit that target, for as long as you do the best you can, in everything you do, nothing is impossible. All these things can happen, because you have that education. And this will be yours forever.

Education is important, because it helps you make a good plan. It leads you the right way to success. It keeps you going every day. When you graduate from college, then later on find a good job, it does not stop there. Every day, you need to learn more things and new things. And that’s how education touches your life.

When you are an educated person, and with good deeds and the right conduct, you can always find a solution to a problem. You can help, too, because you have a better understanding to every situation. Everybody can do all these things if education is with us. If we want to explore, then we need to study hard and do the best.

EDUCATION

By Sienna Dunakin, sixth grade

Wow! There are so many reasons education is important to me. But most of all, I think it’s the confidence school instills in me. The feeling you’re smart and you can do things. That is why I am determined to stay in school. The smarter I am, the more things I can do, and I think that’s great! Like my teacher says, “Your brain is like a sponge; the more you learn, the more your brain gets hungry for information.”

I think you should take the opportunity to learn if you have it. I also think people would take school more seriously if they realized it was a privilege. Then there is family pride. I think if your parents or guardians take school lightly and don’t encourage you to stay in school, you’ll be quitting one of the most valuable things in life.

You see, we might think of the classroom only as a place to learn, but that’s not true. There is the playground, where you learn how to socialize and play different games. There are sports, like basketball and softball, which teach you to work together as a team. See, there are tons of things we can learn at school outside of the classroom. Every person can master the curriculum, social skills, and many other things. There are different things to learn, yes, but what is taught in the classroom is one, too!

Next time you do your homework, think of it as a way to show off how much you’ve accomplished by doing well. Don’t think of it as a boring thing that keeps you from watching television or playing on the computer; think of it as a way to shine.

You’ve already heard of this, but if you do well in school, you have a better chance of getting into a good college. Yes, that’s true, but there’s so much more! If you get into a good college, you can make great friends and stay on the right path. Without a doubt education is important to me.

VOTING

By Komalpreet Aulakh, eighth grade

Many people don’t vote, because they think their vote is like a drop of water in an enormous ocean. Well, it is easy to say, “If I don’t vote, it doesn’t make a difference,” but it actually does. In fact, every vote counts, and that’s why I also believe that everyone should vote. I feel everyone should vote, because it has a constitutional right to choose the people who will organize the laws of this country. Voting is an important part of living in a democracy. Living in a democracy means you get to decide who governs your country and how your country is directed.

I suppose if many people give up their vote, then the United States laws will be made by no more than a few powerful people. If you don’t vote, you are saying you don’t care how your country is run. If you don’t care, then you don’t have the right to complain about anything the government does. For example, if everyone in my class has the right to vote, and only two people actually vote, then those two might choose the wrong person to run our country, and then those who did not vote may regret it for the entire term of the new lawmakers.

Voting is a tremendous gift. Many young people fought and even died for the right to vote. Voting is a fair way for groups of people to make decisions. By voting, each person has a voice in deciding the rules and choosing the leaders. Polite citizens obey the country’s laws and rules and participate in government by voting on Election Day. Voting is a very important part of life. You should vote, because you can; if you don’t, you might wake up one day in a country where you can’t.