The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/1429961
The Press-Dispatch Wednesday, November 17, 2021 C-7 items: 812-354-8500 schoolnews@pressdispatch.net Petersburg edition ads@pressdispatch.net anywhere! Otwell Miller Academy Third grade students Paisley Collins, Anson Luff, Aubrey Sturgeon, Bristal Grubb, Alivia Dawson and Jocilyn Woosley met their AR goal for the first grading period. They received a special prize from the office staff, a certificate and a free book. Ms. Nicole Sutton's third grade class will receive a free book from Scholastic Book Clubs each month of the school year, thanks to generous donors. Pictured are their free books for September and October. These third grade students read each weeknight in the month of October. They chose a book as their prize. Left to right: Bristal Grubb, Paisley Collins, Alayah Willis, Alivia Dawson, Aubrey Sturgeon, Rylee Nelson and Cheyenne Doades. PATRIOT'S PEN ESSAY WINNER: How can I be a good American? By Channing Sorgius I believe that Patriot means being fair, loyal and showing love for your country. I would like to tell you about the things I would do to help the commu- nities and the world. I can be a good American by helping the community and world to end world hunger for children. I can also help clean up trash around my city and world. I can help people that have cancer and are old. Peo- ple in the elderly homes need to be cared for and helped with illnesses. I can help the ani- mals by giving them homes, food, love, shelter and water. They should be treated well and not like they don't matter. What our country should do to make the world a better place is that we should com- pliment friends and family. We should give away our un- wanted things to the poor and people that are homeless so they can have stuff that peo- ple with homes have. I can do all these things and help a person in need. If I or some- one gives a person a happy thought or a compliment, that could change their whole en- tire day just from one person. Our world might not be good or safe right now, but I am trying to stay safe and wear a mask so I won't get sick or anyone else sick, too. I would talk to people that are going through depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts, and help them and understand what they are going through. They need our help to save their lives and not be bullied just because they are differ- ent. I don't like it when people talk and say bad things, and hurt people just because they are different. They should have the same life as we do and not be put down and dis- graced. More than 132 people in the U.S. die from suicide a day and that is not helping our world. I would like to help every- one that is suffering from mental health issues. I don't want to be a bystander, but a hero to people all around the world. Just giving simple compliments to people is re- ally great and fun. They soon will realize that you care for everyone. Life is really great once you are a person who is kind, loving and caring about the world. VOICE OF DEMOCRACY ESSAY WINNER: Where do we go from here? By Peyton Chanley In every aspect, we are un- reservedly divided. From our family and friends, peers and mutuals, to the entire com- munity of our country as one. Here we sojourn in comfort, but are defined by five ba- sic terms; division, disunity, conflict, discord and strife. We often attempt to subside these thoughts, but they are present in all of us, and come out whenever we experience a slight mental uprising. We act horribly, but entirely, con- tradictory to what is right, but avoid ever correcting our mis- haps. We as a whole society need reform, but reform starts with the individual. The indi- vidual creates mass societal breakdown. The individual creates indifference amongst the masses. The individual lies in the leader, but the in- dividual also lies in you. Ma- ny ask where to go from here, which roots from dissatisfac- tion of our current path. Well where we go from here, lies in you; the individual. Be- cause the individual mind is the most important tool to re- form a world you aren't satis- fied with. In recent years, Ameri- ca has seen a major conflict amongst the people. In the year 2020, in the midst of a major division amongst the American people over politi- cal views, we were hit with one of the most major events in re- cent time. During March of 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic took over the world, leaving ev- erybody at a standstill in their homes. Stuck at home, all we had was our household items, and our electronics. With so- cial media being a growing point of interest, people that were stuck at home were of- ten scrolling through social media sites like Twitter, Ins- tagram, and Facebook. With all of this time to ourselves, we were given great oppor- tunity to think about the pan- demic, politics, the wrongs of our government, and much more. Many people took to social media to share their thoughts on these topics, and this was the start of a major division amongst Americans. America, in the course of a few months, grew into a fu- rious nest of anger, indiffer- ence, and complete division. The world became split on our opinions. We were split on our opinions of right and wrong, our opinions on who we should elect, and our opinions on how to handle pandemics and so- cial injustice. The life of Amer- icans had changed drastically. This country resembled noth- ing of the land of freedom, and everything of a land of in- carceration. The land where our thoughts and opinions should be locked away, for if disagreement were to occur, the boundaries of disrespect towards one another would be pushed far beyond the point of righteousness. We were physically quarantined, yet to stay safe, we had to quaran- tine our minds too. America wasn't America anymore, and the future looked dire. Where do you go from this? How do you rebuild from this extreme state of detriment? Where we go from here lies far beyond any government re- form. Where we go from here isn't answered by the next presidential election. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, "A genuine leader is not a search- er for consensus but a molder of consensus." America needs a genuine leader, but what dif- ference does a genuine leader make when we're so divided that no matter how good the consensus is, we will still fight and whine when our leader doesn't fulfill our own selfish desires? Where we go from here doesn't lie in the hands of our leaders. A leader can only do so much when their people are in constant conflict. A lead- er can only do so much when nobody will listen to them. We sit here and argue for hours at a time about how bad our lead- ers are, yet we don't listen to what our leaders have to say. We always turn a blind eye to our negligence that noth- ing ever gets done. Instead we fight. We as Americans do nothing more than bicker and whine. We want reform, and we want direction on where to go from here. Yet, we don't want to put in the effort to get there. Where we go from here requires us to change. If we can't learn to love and respect each other, we will never be able to move forward. We need to change for the better of mankind. We need to change for the better of our rights. We need to change for our beautiful Earth. We need to change so we can come to- gether, and tackle issues as one. To progress, we need to combat the pressing issues in ourselves in order to com- bat the pressing issues of our world. We need to combat the rights of all people. We need to combat the destruction of our Earth. We need to com- bat the carbon emissions and greenhouse gases that are killing our planet. We need to combat the overwhelming consumption of energy on our planet. We need to fight for free healthcare. We need to fight for the people of Ye- men and A fghanistan. We need to do so much, but on the pace we're going, we will never get there. Because we are too stubborn as a society. We need to fight all of these things, but instead we fight each other. From here, we love and unite. From here, we need to drop our stubbornness and come together as one. That is where we go from here. Today, America is cruel. Not to other nations, but to each other. We haven't been fighting a war against anoth- er country, but a war against ourselves. Living in America is like living on the battlefront. People fight everyday because of indifference. There's a com- mon saying that states, "Love is sacrifice." For us to love again, as one whole nation, we must sacrifice something. We must sacrifice selfish hatred. To move forward, we must sacrifice something, because that's what love, peace and union is all about. Sacrifice. Pike Central Middle School sixth grader Channing Sorgius won the VFW Post 3587 Patriot Pen award this past week and will advance to district and state com- petition. Pictured with Channing are Post Commander Chris Kinman, Quarter- master D.R. Minnis, teacher Christine Waddell, and parents, Heather and B.J. Sorgius. James Capozella photo Pike Central High School eleventh grade student Peyton Chanley won the VFW Post 3587 Voice of Democracy award this week and advances to district and state competition. Pictured with Peyton are VFW Post Commander Chris Kinman, Quartermaster D.R. Minnis and teacher Beth Bohnert. James Capozella photo Chanley and Sorgius win Voice of Democracy and Patriot Pen By James Capozella The Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3587 annual Voice and Democracy and Patriot Pen winners this year are Pey- ton Chanley and Channing Sor- gius respectively. Pike Central junior Peyton Chanley wrote and recorded his opinion on the topic "America, Where Do We Go From Here? " For the Patriot Pen contest, sixth grad- er Channing Sorgius wrote on the topic "How Can I Be a Good American." Both Peyton and Chan- ning are entered in the VFW 8th District contest, which in- volves more than a dozen ar- ea VFW Posts. The district winners will be entered in the state competition and state winners go on to the nation- als, where the winner receives $ 30,000. Locally, the Voice of Democracy paid $200 and the Patriot Pen $100. The following are the en- tries from Peyton Chanley and Channing Sorius. 50% Off New Year's greetings when you buy a Christmas greeting Me y Christmas Wish your customers a... 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