Congratulations to everyone who participated in our Back to School contest! We were overwhelmed by the response with more than 1,000 students writing essays on what they were most looking forward to this school year!
Here are our winning essays:
Elementary: First Place, Anna B., Pape Avenue Public School
This Year Change Will Happen!
I used to live in a small town in Maine where I went to a tiny little Montessori school. Then I moved to Toronto where I go to a big school, in a big city. Living in the city is fun and busy. After a while I started to develop a group of friends. One of the things we all had in common was we wanted to change our world.
In Gr.4 my class and I were doing a unit on agents of change. This inspired me to start a fundraising club with my friends to help people less fortunate than us. When I asked our teacher-librarian to help us with the group she was keen right away. We started almost immediately with fundraisers. Each time we tell everybody exactly what we’re doing and that they are helping change the world around them by buying a cookie. Over only a couple of years “Donation Dreams” has raised lots of money for both Japan and Haiti. Both of these places have had natural disasters and been helped and then forgotten by many. We decided that we would not forget and reach out to them through school and Free The Children.
Pape School has been very supportive of our group. This year I am hoping to have more fundraisers like Popsicle sales, friendship bracelets and other simple things like that. This year my friends and I are going to change the world!
Elementary: Second Place, Almutaz H., Firgrove Public School
Door Monitor
Summer is over and this 2011-2012 school year is around the corner. There is no reason to moan because the fun never ends even when you’re at school. I’m looking forward to a lot of things this school year: the new class, new teacher, making new friends, leaning new things, joining the poetry club, purchasing books from Scholastic, learning about Canada, and even my trip to Casa Loma.
But what I am most looking forward to is the honour to be a Door Monitor. Door Monitors have the responsibility of escorting people to the washroom and managing the long lines at the drinking fountain during recess. Kids have so much respect for the Door Monitor. They listen to all their words. They are leaders who tell you when to go either to get a drink or to use the washroom. Door Monitors are always the oldest kids in the school who are in grade 4 or 5 in the school. Everyone loves to be a Door Monitor. It makes me feel big like adults, but we are younger. In my opinion, being a Door Monitor is a great achievement as well as an honour.
Secondary: First Place, Ann Marie B., Central Technical School
New School, New Look, New Me
“Your success in life is a reflection of how hard you worked to get there.”
That is a quote that my grandmother told me and I live by it everyday. I am a new student at Central Technical School and this is my last year prior to going to college. I had intended to graduate last year, but I had a major set back that wouldn’t allow me to attend school. I got kicked out of my house and had to live in a shelter, Covenant House. Four months later I moved to a transitional housing shelter called Eva’s Phoenix. During last year I was forced to work because it was too late to register for school. That was a very upsetting time in my life because all I wanted to do was graduate and go to George Brown College to study Culinary Management. That is something I’ve wanted to do for a long time. Now, even though I am still living in a shelter, I am back in school and looking forward to an amazing year of new friends and a fresh start. Because of what I went through, I am very open-minded now, and the motivation from my experience will help me to achieve my goals in graduating and going to college. I am ready for the adventures that this school year brings me and look forward to the end.
Secondary: Second Place, Esther C., Albert Campbell CI
School is Music
Summer was a time of relaxation and recovery -- perhaps a bit too much time. The long-awaited school with balance and rhythm forever seemed to be in the distance. Now that school is finally here, I wonder what the future holds.
Experiencing the contrast between courses of opposite melodies is purely demonstrated in school. Art and literature-related courses often stress that there are many different perspectives and possibilities when interpreting a problem, but the student must be capable of explaining the opinion chosen. For the other melody, math and science-related courses engrave in the viewer's mind that there are many different ways of achieving the answer to a problem, yet there is only one answer. Two entirely dissimilar courses, but only one student. The sense of balance of a pupil taking courses from both ends is an indescribable harmony.
Listening to the beats of a song is not the only time a person can experience rhythm. Each day of the school year has a tempo, but the tunes of the song vary. Going to school allows the student to eat, leave home, go to class, come home, relax, and do homework at almost regular intervals. Nevertheless, any slight changes, whether during class or in devoured food, create surprises and excitements that motivate one to continue. In this case, repetition can actually generate differences. Who would have known?
The arrival of school allows me to undergo the sensation of equilibrium and new experiences every day. Both of these advantages in school are what I have been dreaming about all summer long!