Winners of Ink Spot’s Essay Contest
Desire Buckhanon, Jade Alexandria Henry, JaKayla Rich were the winners of Ink Spot’s First Annual Essay Contest. They were awarded for their inspirational writing on August 14 at the Allen County Public Library’s main branch in downtown Fort Wayne.
This summer, the newspaper invited local children and teens to write essays related to the topic “Overcoming Hard Times, Defeating Obstacles.” Young essayists wrote about a range of issues, including overcoming stage fright, adjusting to life after a parent’s stroke, and the challenges of trust and friendship during the middle school years. Three award recipients were presented with a plaque and a $100 check.
Ink Spot extends its sincere thanks to the ACPL for sponsoring this year’s event. We cannot think of a more fitting partner.
Ink Spot is proud to present the work of each winner in an Ink Spot issues, as well as on our website. This week, we present Desire Buckhanon's essay.
Essay By Desire Buckhanon
Hi, my name is Desire Buckhanon I am a thirteen-year-old, eighth grade student leader at The Art Leadership Center and I aspire to be a vocalist. I have been in middle school for two years now.
When I joined middle school, I thought it was gonna be fun and easy to get along with people. But, however, going into middle school has been quite difficult. I have been introduced to many positive and negative people, actions and a lot of drama. You could say that it’s a lot of people to make friends in middle school but it is quite hard because sometimes the people that you make friends with aren’t the best for you so you might have to second-guess your decision or learn the hard way.
In middle school you will always be judged on the decision that you make or choose to make like the people you hang out with or what type of student you choose to be. Middle school has taught me a lot of things. It has taught me that sometimes the people that you think are your friends aren’t truly your friends and that you can’t please everybody in the world. I learned to distance myself from people that I think will pull me to the wrong direction, and lead me off the righteous path. I have to know how to remove myself from the situation if it’s not good for me. If I do that I can stay on the righteous path and be successful. It will help me not get distracted and off task when it comes to the assignments in school or just completing my life’s mission.