Committed to Radiant Peace

First Annual Peace Essay Awards for High School Seniors
(Class of '95)

Table of Contents

First Place Essay

Theme:
As a High School Senior About to Graduate and Go Out into The World Community, I Would Like to Contribute to World Peace By ...

As graduation Day approaches, I become more and more apprehensive about journeying into the "real world." For some odd reason I feel that this is a feeling none of us should be having. It isn't right that we should be scared of things that people do within our world.

World Peace has to begin somewhere. We have to look within ourselves for the right answer to this question. Total World Peace begins at home within our communities and small towns. It has to be taught in the schools and churches in every neighborhood on the entire planet. The children of today are responsible for whether our tomorrows will be peaceful. Reaching the children is the goal.

I have already started this contribution in my own way. I teach children that the only way to get what they want is to cooperate. Through babysitting I can effectively get the cooperation point across by denying the children the things they want if they don't work together. This effort will continue after I graduate and into when I have children of my own.

I would like to start a program for children that teaches the basics of World Peace. I would teach them that no matter what color we are, we are all equal. They would also learn that cooperation is the key to a peaceful society.

Peace is defined as the absence of war or other hostilities. Without the basic knowledge of peace, our society cannot grow. If people aren't taught what is right and wrong, they will never succeed. The absence of the elements that poison our society is the key to Total World Peace.

Lauren Hart Lesinski, Age 17
South Broward High School, Hollywood
Teacher: Mrs. Andersen

Second Place Essay

Theme:
As a High School Senior About to Graduate and Go Out into The World Community, I Would Like to Contribute to World Peace By ...

A college campus is a place of change and revolution. It is a magical piece of earth where people of every race, religion, and creed gather, to open their eyes and minds to knowledge and each other. As a graduating high school senior, I have the opportunity to enter this exciting institution of constant expression and controversy. It is here that I can spread my ideas and opinions, and set my life's course for the world community.

This is where I can contribute to world peace. Simply by entering a university, and becoming an active, viable member of that community. By relating to others in this environment, finding common ground, and sharing our differences, I can take significant steps toward a broader world peace. A peace that begins with me, and is spread one person, one idea, one understanding at a time.

I have been given the chance to enter this world of new people, cultures, customs, beliefs and opinions, conflicts and solutions. In an atmosphere where a collective group of strangers gathers to live and work together, there is no better place to achieve peace and understanding.

I plan to become an active member of many campus activities designed to bridge together the groups that inhabit my university. I will spread my message of peace through these mediums, and will take the knowledge gathered here for use in my continuing crusade.

World peace is a massive concept, but strides can be made, one step at a time. I intend to enter the world community with a voice and a message. I plan to speak of my views and listen to others, to offer ideas and accept those of my peers. I hope to cause change, maybe small in magnitude, but change leads to revolutions, and this is where world peace begins.

Wendy Reingold, Age 17
Miami Palmetto Senior High, Miami
Teacher: Mrs. Johnson

Third Place Essays (Tie)

Theme:
As a High School Senior About to Graduate and Go Out into The World Community, I Would Like to Contribute to World Peace By ...

As a high school senior about to graduate and go out into the world community, I would like to contribute to world peace by going on to finish my education at an accredited university. I could also contribute by teaching younger children to love and respect one another. This may ensure that they grow up to live peacefully.

I said I could contribute by continuing my education. By this I mean, my education will be a stepping stone to becoming the best I can. After I am, myself, established in the world community, I can then try to give back whatever I can afford, to a community that has given me so much. If I do not continue on with my education, then it may be very difficult for me to try to give knowledge to someone, the knowledge that I have not yet learned.

With or without my education, I still plan to pass on to the younger children of the world, the importance of showing basic respect to everyone. For kids to be learning at such a young age why it is important to show respect, they in turn will grow up showing that respect. I feel that when children are taught at that young age, what they have learned becomes second nature, never forgotten and used every day. The kids of today who grow up using basic respect, may want to turn around and teach what was taught them. This may be the start of generations respecting each other, therefore contributing to well-being of the world.

As a high school senior, this is how I plan to contribute to world peace. I hope to be around to see the effects of what may be the start of a world united, because of me!!!

Suzaye A. Titus, Age 18
Miami Norland Senior High, Miami
Teacher: Mr. Brown

Third Place Essays (Tie)

Peace Be With You

As Children we were taught to "make a difference" as adults. To become doctors, lawyers, or teachers. We were told that those were the important jobs. Sometimes it felt as if they were the only ways to benefit the community. As we approached adolescence we became less concerned with how to help others and more involved in what was happening to us. The latest hairstyles or fashions and who had a new boyfriend seemed more important than ending poverty and spreading peace throughout the nations.

Once we entered high school the superficial concepts of junior high were still present, but they began to take a back seat to moderately relevant issues. We had more "mature" decisions to make. What classes should we take? What clubs and sports should we join? Even more dramatically: Where should we apply to college? The responsibilities that seemed so grown up and distant were suddenly rushing at us all at once. Now that our senior year is nearly completed, the time has come to choose our futures. Some of us will put our effort into making money, others will devote our time as volunteers or counselors. The mainstream will take on average jobs and lead average lives. The difference will be in how we make them special.

All my life I've striven to help others and make an honest difference. Now that I'm faced with entering the real world and being an adult, I realize it's not what one does, but how they do it. It's not about the profession but the person and the attitude. As I've grown up I've come to realize it's about spreading peace to all those I encounter. It can be as simple as saying, "Peace be with you." That's the difference.

Jessica Williams, Age 17
C. Leon King High School, Tampa, FL
Teacher: Brenda Tipps