‘This I Believe’

For the past several years, Stockbridge High School and the Stockbridge Friends of the Library have collaborated to offer an essay-writing contest in order to engage Stockbridge High School students in an exploration of the core beliefs that guide their daily lives. Held twice a year, the contest is based on NPR’s four-year-running and now defunct “This I Believe” program.

Winners of the semiannual “This I Believe” contest are in, and there is a third place tie between Xavier Curtis and Isabella Eccleton. The second-place winner is Clare Beutler. The first-place winner would like to remain anonymous, but we are happy to still be able to publish their essay.

SCN is pleased to publish both third-place winners Curtis and Eccleton’s essays below as SCN’s monthly student-written column. The second- and first-place winning essays will be published in our May and June editions respectively.

Third-place winning essay, ‘I believe in kindness’

by Isabella Eccleton

As I walked through the front door my heart was racing. It was the first day of high school and I barely knew anyone. Being the new kid last year was a struggle and I wanted that to change. Knowing basically no one, not even my teachers, was nerve racking. Walking to my first block class I didn’t know what to expect. It was cold like  winter in the school and everyone seemed to be so happy to be there.  As I sat down in the first block, I started to calm down. Now, recognizing some faces, I knew it wasn’t going to be horrible.

Last year was hard, I was new and it was extremely difficult to talk to people considering I was online for the past 2 years and forgot how in person school was. I feel like it has been easier this year because we weren’t in masks in the beginning. The fact that people talked to me helped me get out of my head and get in the moment. It was lunchtime and I was worrying where I was going to sit. I knew I was friends with one girl and I considered sitting with her but just decided to wait for her to bring it up.

As I walked to lunch, the girl asked if I wanted to sit with her. I told her yes. As we sat down at our lunch table, I was very skeptical sitting there because I didn’t know any of the girls very well. Nervously eating my lunch, sad that no one has talked to me, Sammi looks at everyone and says something along the lines of “How is everyone’s day going so far?” Everyone answered besides me. She then looked at me and asked “what about you” and I  just said “fine”.  The girls at the table keep talking and I think Sammi can tell I was nervous or that something was wrong. She says “Bella your eyes are really pretty” slowly my  frown turned into a smile. She knew my name AND complemented me. When lunch was over I already knew my day was so much better. I got a complement out of the blue, that never happens to me. To this day I don’t think she knew that it made coming to school so much easier knowing that someone thought something nice of me.

I believe in being kind. I believe this because I learned a lot that day. Being alone, and sad at school, and not knowing anybody, and waiting for people to talk to me- it helped me to become more confident and make new friends when she showed me kindness. My essay could make someone’s life better in two different ways 1) It could make someone realize they need to be more kind. 2) This could help someone make a friend. Kids my age are very shy including me (sometimes) and that should change. I feel like I would have more friends if I talked more or if I put myself out there so people know who I am. I feel it is important for teens to understand that even if they are stressed they should never take it out on their peers because from my past experience I know it will make someone’s day just as bad as yours. I have learned to stand up for people when they are getting picked on and I am still trying to keep my negative thoughts about people to myself. This could make our school a better place  because maybe some people will realize they make a fool of themselves when they pick on their peers. It would make everyone more excited to go to school.

I believe that more kindness will solve a lot of problems that we face in our daily life. This is because there are a lot of kids out there that are extremely depressed because they get bullied or picked on. There is no reason kids should be picking on someone for things the kid can’t control. Kindness can give people confidence and it can make people happier. I have been bullied all my life and it basically all changed when I started standing up for myself. I learned I had to reach out and show kindness. Kindness can cure your problems.