Teens awarded for essays on youth violence
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No comments [ Add Comment ]By JESSE FRUHWIRTH
Standard-Examiner Davis Bureau
Read the essays from the contest
SALT LAKE CITY -- Three Ogden teens from Highland Middle School received awards at the governor's mansion Friday for essays they wrote about youth violence.
Eighth-graders Rachel Rowley, Alexandra Maiava and Michael Roche were three of 12 state finalists honored. All three are students in teacher Kim Irvine's English class.
Rowley barely missed the grand prize and was chosen as one of two runners-up. Two winners, from Springville and St. George, were selected and will spend a week in Washington, D.C., presenting their essays to national leaders.
Rowley's essay, "The Day My Best Friend Left," is a homage to her uncle Scotty, a fan of the Beatles and puzzles, who had Down syndrome. When he died, Rowley said, she had difficulty adjusting.
"I was violent to other people after the death of my uncle," she said. "I felt so much pain because I was angry that he died."
In her essay, Rowley wrote, "I no longer gained happiness by being mean, but I didn't lose anything and I didn't feel guilty anymore for the things that I said that I knew weren't even true. ... I think uncontrollable amounts of pain cause violence when you feel like you have nothing left in your life."
Maiava wrote about being the victim of violence and her forgiveness of the aggressor. "I have forgiven him for his wrongs, but I still have a wall up against him."
Writing since age 2, Maiava said she hopes to go to medical school but plans to write novels "as a hobby."
Roche, who was not in attendance at the luncheon, wrote in his essay about the responsibility of those who witness violence.
"Something just as bad as violence is watching violence being committed and not doing anything about it," Roche wrote. "Sometimes you feel that it is not your business, so you don't have to do anything about it. But, I have one thing to tell you: It is 100 percent your business."
The essays were judged by a panel of state leaders and celebrities including Bill Schuffenhauer, the former Roy High and Weber State track star who earned a silver medal in the four-man bobsled at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics.
The students were praised by Utah First Lady Mary Kay Huntsman and Attorney General Mark Shurtleff.
Shurtleff told the students they are capable of great good and evil. Stories of schools electing a mentally disabled student as homecoming queen or students shaving their heads in solidarity with a cancer patient reveal their deep goodness.
But, he said, teens also have an evil side and their peers often see it. His own daughter, who struggled with depression growing up, experienced that side.
"Kids can be really nice, but kids can be really mean, too," Shurtleff said. "With Danielle, it was 'Oh, there's the depressed girl. What are you gonna do? Kill yourself?' "
He urged students to inject themselves into the lives of troubled teens because adults may not be able to connect with them in the same way.
"You can step in and change their lives," he said.
The "Do the Write Thing Challenge" is organized locally by the Utah Board of Juvenile Justice.
The national contest is organized by the Kuwait-America Foundation and began in 1991. This is the seventh year Utah has sent essayists to the national competition.
