Portales Public library essay contest results

Three Roosevelt County girls recently described their picture of America in a Portales Public Library essay contest.

As part of the library’s program “Express Yourself,” the girls read several books presenting different views of the country, said Children’s Librarian Heather Christensen. Then, they considered their own perspective in less than 500 words.

The contest was open to sixth- through 12th-graders and ran July 7-28. Three judges scored each entry with a rubric.

First Place

A Bird’s-eye View

By Megan Byrd, Floyd home school, incoming sophomore

When I look back I can remember my travels with my father in his Semi. I see things from a child’s point of view, but even though I’ve grown and learned more since I’ve been away from the road, it all seems to tell the same story. While I was on the road, I saw ninety-nine percent of America from the view of a trucks front seat. I saw what a wonderful land that we live in and how lucky we are to live in it! I saw some of the large cities such as New York and Boston and was awed by how hard mankind had to work to create such a marvelous structure. I’ve seen storms that you could not see through at all, tornados, ice, dirt, and blizzards! I saw the rolling plains of the prairie lands, the dirt roads that lead to the small towns that wrote our history. I saw people of all races living and working together and I heard the sounds of the men on the docks laughing and shouting. I’ve seen the colors of the sky in the early morning from California to Florida. I saw the mountains, beautiful and majestic, the deserts, hot but radiating its own sense of beauty. The powerful prairie lands, wild and captivating, they can and will drag you into they’re waving walls of prairie grass. America might not be a bed of roses, but who or what can say that they are perfect?

So tell me this; where in the world can you find a place just like America? Somewhere that all women are treated as equally as men, where all races of people can work and strive to live a life together in peace? A place where you can control and own your own life, and live in peace and happiness? Is there any other place like America? Peace, freedom, and happiness are few and far between in other countries. They fight for greed, treat their women like dirt, and in some countries train their children at young ages to hate and fight. Some say that America is a bad place, full of hate and crime! Compared to which country? What country does not have war, hate, or greed? But tell me which has less, and which strives to be greater and better than that hate and greed? I say America; I saw that at least America tries for peace and happiness, not war and blood.

All in all I came to one conclusion, though we are not perfect, though we may not be the brightest star in the sky, we are our own unique one, though we may never be the best, we should try never to be the worst. Some say that we are so different, how can we be one? But that is what makes us special. So my conclusion is: Through thick and thin, bright and dull, black and white, we are America!

Second Place

A Nation of Choice

By Katie Bickley, Dora Middle School, incoming eighth-grader

Picture this: You’re going shopping. Probably you’re with your friend or your children or your spouse. You want to buy a bottle of shampoo. But when you get to the right aisle, there seem to be thousands of brands and scents and colors and sizes. Would we like to tame our curls, or heal our split ends and dandruff? Green or pink? Yellow or red? Purple? Blue? Family size?

It’s kind of overwhelming, isn’t it? And that’s just shampoo — what if you were actually going grocery shopping?

There’s a lot of choice, isn’t there? Fact of the matter is, Americans have choice every single place we look, and not just in places like Wal-Mart or the mall. There are some far more serious issues that we have the exact same freedom of choice about — and that’s what defines America. We’re a nation of many things; we are a nation of choice.

For example, I’m a girl, and if I had been born and raised in a country in the Middle East, such as Iran or Iraq, I would be treated basically like dirt because of my gender. However, because I live in America I can grow up many different ways. I can go into any profession, stay single my whole life or be married as soon as I turn eighteen. Along with every other woman in the country, I am considered entirely — and rightly — equal to any man.

Backing away from that, there are other choices that both women and men make every day. We can pray to any god we choose, and many other countries can’t. We elect our own leaders, rather than having them appointed to us. And if we don’t like something, we can try to have it changed though legislation. In some countries, children are trained a certain way, given a very specific education, without option. In China, potential parents don’t even have much of a choice about how many children to have! It’s one or none. Americans can have as many as we want (a dubious privilege, but a privilege nonetheless) — one, seventeen, or none at all. The choice is ours.

Think back to the shampoo, though. America has so much. Can’t choice become overwhelming?

Well, yes. Of course it can. Ultimately, however, through this choice we all have the chance to do anything: save the world, become president, even make some improvements on our own country. Really, I’m not going to pretend we’re anything close to perfect. But with the choice that each and every American is given, we have the opportunity to try and work on that.

I believe that we will take it.

Third Place

My America

By Jennifer Salomon, Portales Junior High School, eighth-grader

Ever since I can remember the United States of America has been a very fair country. Respect, freedom, and protection are three little facts I could state about America. In my perspective, small little things in everyday life make huge differences on the way we see things. I have always thought of America as a fair country.

Respect is my first little description of America being fair. However, respect is shown in every single day of America. Like said in paragraph one, respect can be shown in the littlest things people can thing of that make it an enormous deal. One example I will use is the simple gesture of a boy opening the door for an elder. This is a BIG sign of respect even as little as it seems. This is very important to me because my parents have thought me a lot about respecting other people, especially our elders. Being fair in America can be shown with things like Respect.

Now I will talk about my next topic which is VERY important in the United States... our Freedom!! Freedom is the reason in which America is a very successful country. The reasons we feel lots of freedom in this country are stuff like equal rights no matter what race you are, or religion. Little things like those make us feel confident in America. Freedom is an important feeling in America.

Finally, I am going to talk about my last topic ... protection. Protection is also shown in small but important ways in America. Things like the evacuation, fire, and tornado drills we do in school. These are small drills we do that help protect and, prepare us students in case of any incidents. The children's protection in America is really special. Protection is really needed in America.

To me there is only one word in which I can describe America, which is fairness. America is pair in the ways of respect, freedom, and last but not least protection. As big and important as these words are, they don't always have to be shown with big gestures in order for them to be important. They can also be shown with little impressions in a fair way, for them to still be shown in a important way.