Teacher Madeline Levesque assigned ‘This I Believe’ essays to her Senior Composition classes. The newspaper staff chose the Top 3 stories. Here they are.

What My Life Looks Like
By Jenna Downing

Almost every day I encounter a new sense of having hope: usually it is either a really big chance of something better happening today, or a small chance of something good happening. I have heard many promising words, but I have also heard people talking about circumstances that crush all little hope I had left in me. Imagine every day there is a silver platter with an envelope on it waiting for you, which tells you that today could either be a good day or a really bad day. That is what it is like waking up in my house. However I do believe that everyone who tries their hardest can make a really bad situation turn into something really good and make that day a happy day.

Two years ago my dad was diagnosed with ALS. This completely turned my life upside down. It took me a long time to figure out why this was happening to my family. Hearing this kind of thing is really hard to wrap around your brain when you are only fifteen. I still remember the day my sisters and I were told. We walked into the house and it was dead silent, then we heard my mom call us to come into the living room. We walk in there and there is no light shining in from outside because it was a dark gloomy day. My parents weren’t saying anything as we sat down. You could hear the wind whistling outside and the trees brushing up against the house. It took them a few minutes to start talking at all. I knew that whatever they had to say wasn’t going to be good.

The minute they told me what was going on and what was going to happen in the future, I could feel my heart shatter, like a glass cup hitting the floor and all the tiny little pieces flying everywhere. My body got cold and I couldn’t move I couldn’t even react to what I was being told. Everyday his condition gets worse and worse. It is so hard to see him go through this and we can’t do anything to help. Watching my dad go through this whole thing is like watching a plant slowly die each day because it’s not getting enough water.

His nerves have been slowly shutting down for two years and he isn’t getting better. Each day my hope for him being there to see me get married and have children and a home is slowly being pulled out of me. It is very difficult to accept the reality that I have only so much time left with my dad and that I need to make the most of it. That is why everyday counts with him and I need to make sure that I spend these days right, which means no fighting with my sisters, and doing what my parents ask me to do and making sure that I spend time with him even if it’s just sitting on the couch with him or just having a conversation with him about my day.

Hope looks like a small candle in a room filled with darkness. I have hope every day,
maybe not a lot of hope but enough to get me through the day. I think every day is a new possibility for things to change and for something good to happen. I now cherish every minute I have with my dad and that is one thing that is good out of this bad situation because before all this happened I would take him for granted. But now I am so thankful for him any everything he has done for me. So, yes, I have hope.

Support is the Backbone of Relationships
By Megan Sawyer
Support is like a cup of hot earl gray tea on a cold winter night but not like feeling left out of being invited to something involving all your friends. In all the relationships I have with my family and friends I learned that having support for and from them is the most important aspect to the relationship. With support and care we can go through life easier and live freely.

I have lived with type one diabetes for my whole life and have experienced support from all my friends and family throughout the journey. It gets hard sometimes when I have to monitor my blood sugar and carbohydrate intake all day, or even stop doing an activity because my blood sugar is too low for me to function. My friends and family are always interested and willing to help me when I need it and know how to take care of me. I was diagnosed at 20 months old so I know how to take care of myself but having the extra support is always nice and has formed strong relationships for me.

I give my family and friends a lot of support as well when they are having a rough day or just going through some issue or decision. A few years back my grandpa passed away. I remember the day vividly and can still see my family members hysterically cry as they arrived to his house. Most of my family had been in town and at our cabin but we stayed back at home. They had tried to reach him on his new cell phone which he was so proud of, but he was not answering. Immediately my mom and I went to see if he was ok. We found him laying in his chair looking like he was peacefully sleeping. My mom got in the house and saw he had passed away and she began to cry. I was standing outside and looked at the garden in a dazed kind of state and had no idea what to do. I came back to reality and call 911. I comforted and cried with my mom until my dad and brother came. My grandma and cousin drove over the mountains from the cabin to join us. Shannon my cousin, threw her keys on the ground and stumbled in the doorway to see our deceased grandpa. His smiling face, his laughter, his meals containing some kind of meat and always desert, will be gone forever. All that is left is memories. We stayed with each other that night and supported each other. If my family was not there I don’t know what I would have done.

Times like these are tough, having support from my family and friends helped me get through it. Everyone should have and give support to the ones around them. Support feels like a big bear hug after a long day at school with lots of hard tests and assignments. Do you give and feel supported by your community?

We Need Each Other
By Jonathan Still

Beliefs may come and go just as the seasons. However, other beliefs stand like a boulder in the harsh winds of adversity. I have always believed in others and that we need one another. I used to be shy, and to a certain extent, I still am. Through the years, I have learned that making friends and coming to know other people is better than being secluded. This point was emphasized when I took the steps to volunteer at a camp for disabled kids. There, I came to realize that individuals need one another, for better or for worse. This I believe.

Unsure of what was about to become of the experience, I sat quietly in my friend’s car. We headed to the middle of nowhere. Never have passed through this quaint, little town, I gazed in awe at the old west styled buildings. Continuing down the road, we reached our destination. I was about to embark on a week long camp for physically and mentally disabled kids.The woman in charge of the horses station at this summer camp told me to walk along
side the horses, ensuring the kids would be safe while on top of these massive creatures. When the kids walked up to our station, I greeted them with a smile and much excitement. After the campers of all ages were hoisted up on the well used western saddle, the fun began.

“Hey, how you doing?!” The voice arose from inside of me, unexpected but welcomed a the same time. My enthusiastic gesture was usually followed by a short response of “good.” As we proceeded down the trail, a line of friendly volunteers greeted campers in the same manor.

The other people and I hoped to build a positive relationship with all the campers, in efforts to show that walking down an unknown trail can lead you to a fantastic destination.

It was there, on that uneven path of the wilderness, that I grew to appreciate strangers. I tend to shy away from unknown people, unwilling to remove the mask of my identity too suddenly. Well, some times doing so is the best way to make friends. These strangers that quickly became my friends, lead me to the vantage point of an ideal. Unveiling the realization was priceless. Humanity needs other people to recognize its self-worth. In this same manor, I needed
these people that I had not met before because they also needed me. I wasn’t just helping disabled kids enjoy a summer camp, they were helping me realize this key message.

As I stood next to the campers, it was hard not to see that people need other people as a system of dependence. Looking back, such a revelation was just around the corner, without knowing it was so close. And to think, of all the other revelations just waiting to be discovered.