Writing Scholarships - Winning Essays

There is a fictional story about a young man who while walking along the beach would pick up starfish and throw them back into the ocean. When asked why, he replied, “the sun is up and the tide is out and if I don’t they would die.” When questioned about the miles of beach lined with starfish and how he could possibly make a difference, the young man bent down, picked up another starfish and very gently threw it back into the sea. He replied, “It made a difference to that one”.
There is a real story about an old man who has a picture of the beach and the blissful ocean in his office. He humbly sits, filling out paper work, sending emails, and conducting meetings with the Jewish youth in Michigan. His name tag reads “Arnold Weiner, Executive Director,” but for him, this title is not a job but rather an opportunity to make a difference and change lives. Arnie, as he is known to the local Jewish teens is an ‘Everyday Hero’ who had made a difference in not only my life, but in the lives of many Jewish teens.

In 1969, Neil Armstrong took his famous steps on the moon, Vietnam was the topic of conversation, Beatles played through stereo speakers and Arnold Weiner was hired as an Assistant Director of Michigan Region BBYO and in 1972, became the Regional Director. When he was a member of the organization, he held the title of chapter president and attended high school in Grand Rapids. Upon graduation, he still wanted to be connected with the program, so while completing his major in Community Practice at the University of Michigan, School of Social Work, he volunteered his time as a chapter advisor.

BBYO is a youth led organization which provides opportunities for Jewish teens to develop their leadership potential, a positive Jewish identity and a commitment to their personal development. It is a great social opportunity to meet and make lasting friendships. The program allows teens to participate in small groups under the guidance of adult advisors and professional staff. BBYO is a co-ed program with teens joining gender segregated chapters, AZA (Aleph Zadik Aleph) for boys and BBG (Bnai Brith Girls) for girls.

As a freshman in high school, I was asked to be involved on a committee that was planning a program for a weekend leadership retreat. Being the new kid at the table, I sat and observed. Arnie asked my opinion, encouraged my participation and I no longer was the new kid, but an active, confident participant. During my four years of my involvement in BBYO, what I got out of this program had far exceeded my expectations. I started chairing committees, which lead to becoming Vice President then President of my chapter, and ultimately to Vice President of the region. Being involved with BBYO and more importantly, under the supervision and guidance of Arnie Weiner, I feel the reward of getting involved in my community. I feel the impact of tenacious work. I feel the difference one person can make. He taught me, as well as hundreds of other teens, that you have to be the change you wish to see. Be involved, get involved, make a difference, it’s our community and we are the future.

Not much has changed in the 39 years that Arnie Weiner has been involved in BBYO; there are the challenges that every teenager has to deal with, war is still a topic for discussion, and the Beatles is still played in his office. My four years in this organization have come and will soon be gone, but the subtle lessons Arnie has taught me will stay with me for eternity. After 39 years of creating programs, dealing with teen issues and encouraging Jewish teens to find their identity, Arnold Weiner, as of June 30, 2008, is retiring, and I for one want to thank him for making the difference, for taking the time, and for throwing the starfish back into the ocean.

 

A fireman pulls a lady from a burning building. A mom makes you breakfast, lunch, and dinner everyday. Which task is more heroic? We all know that firemen are considered to be heroes above all other heroes, but we cannot forget about the everyday heroes like the moms. Everyday heroes can be hard to come by. In this corrupt world, there are not many people that young people can look up to. One person that you can admire is Mr. James Stelter. He owns StelterPartners, which manufactures furniture like desks, chairs, and other school related items. They also make a patented rolling rack for the Gap stores. The reason why I know him is my sister works there in the Accounting department, and I got a job there this summer. I assembled the school desk and chairs on a day to day basis while also doing odd and end jobs that were required of me. By working for him, I realized what a great person Mr. Stelter is.

Mr. Stelter worked with Steelcase internationally for twenty five years in the office furniture business. He was the senior vice president of sales and marketing. He also worked as president for Brayton International which is a subsidiary of Steelcase. The company makes modern home and office furniture. That is when he entered the second part of his life. Mr. Stelter realized that he was at the top of his game with nowhere else to go. He was getting bored with what he was doing and wanted to do something else. That is when he decided to start his own company.

StelterPartners was founded in 2003 and is based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The company has approximately fifty employees. It makes an estimated ten million dollars a year in gross revenue which infers a very profitable business. Their mission statement is to provide affordable designs for all people. They want to be bold, efficient, financially successful, and be good to each other and the community.

Mr. Stelter and the company are deeply involved in helping downtown Grand Rapids. His business is located in the heart of the city. The building that the business is located in is a prime example of the help he has brought to Grand Rapids. They are in their third physical space. The first was in an office with a small start up space. Then, they purchased a building that was vacant in a marginal area of Grand Rapids, renovated it, and brought twenty jobs to the area. Several years later, they had outgrown that building and sold it to another company moving to the area. The third and current building represented their biggest challenge. It was an abandoned building on the state’s environmental watch list. They redid the building, working with the state and the previous owner on the environmental and abatement issues. They created an exciting, collaborative work and manufacturing space in the abandoned automotive chrome plating facility. A new vibrant building with tax-playing workers now exists in a disadvantaged area of the city.

The problem with the new building is that the location is a very crime ridden area. Mr. Stelter has his place broken into all of the time, but he takes it in stride. He has never thought of moving because of the break-ins. He just tries to work around them. He may lose money, but he feels it is worth the time and money that he is putting into helping Grand Rapids.

Mr. Stelter has thought of moving from the current area before, however, this is only because his business is getting too big for the current building. The building is very crowded, which is a good thing. It means the business is growing.

One of the best things about Mr. Stelter is that he tries to help all people. He tries to hire low-income people and those with disabilities to work for him. He wants all people to get a chance in life. Take for example, the secretary of the business. She is one hundred percent blind. Yet that does not stop her from doing the every day duties of a secretary. She can send e-mails, answer the phones, or do anything else that would be required of her. She is part of the StelterPartners team like everybody else. Another example would be the people that he hires for the summer help. They are usually from Mel Trotter or other homeless shelters. Mr. Stelter tries to help all people that may come to him for a job.

Mr. Stelter has also recently received recognition for his help in the community. He received the 2007 Employer Achievement Honor Award from the Michigan Commission for the Blind for all the work he does for and with the blind. The company has also received many awards for the work they do at God’s Kitchen, Mel Trotter Mission, and other places like that. Mr. Stelter has done so much for the community that all of us should take notice and try to follow his example.

Mr. Stelter is one of the greatest men I have ever met. He has done so much for the people in his life. He never thinks about himself, only about others. He has accomplished much more in his life than an ordinary man will never achieve, yet he is that ordinary man. His company has set a standard in Grand Rapids as one that strives to help out the community but still gets their work done and is profitable. I have never seen a man so humble about what he has done. He feels like this is what he is called to do, so he does it with a willing heart and a cheerful mind. Mr. Stelter is a role model, whose example should be followed by all. Mr. James Stelter is my everyday hero.

 

My Every Day hero is Mrs. Debora Culver, the Student Success Coordinator for Swartz Creek High School. Mrs. Culver’s student involvement at Swartz Creek High School is unparalleled. She goes above and beyond what her job entails in order to brighten the lives of others. Children are our future and Mrs. Culver works to ensure that the future will be brighter than ever imagined.

Each Monday and Wednesday Mrs. Culver runs an after school Peer Tutoring program. For an hour and a half, my peers and I are able to receive help with our studies or help others understand their work, while enjoying a healthy snack provided by Mrs. Culver. She never fails to lighten the mood in the library as she roams around the room with a smile, telling a quick story or joke. Mrs. Culver is a stern believer that improvement in the classroom starts with a smile.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays Mrs. Culver is busy directing Club S.C.C.A.T., Swartz Creek Cares About Teens. Club S.C.C.A.T., located at the local Methodist Church, provides a safe environment for Middle School and High School students to hang out after school, and creates a safe alternative to other negative activities. Whether she is greeting students at the door, competing in the dodge ball tournament, helping someone with their arts and crafts, passing out pizza, or assisting in the study room, Mrs. Culver always stays involved at S.C.C.A.T. She has worked hard to improve S.C.C.A.T. and it is now one of the most popular and celebrated school programs in our community. Because of Mrs. Culver’s involvement, local businesses have gotten involved at S.C.C.A.T, ensuring it will make a difference in the life’s of Swartz Creek kids for years to come. Mrs. Culver has made a difference in the lives of each student that attends Club S.C.C.A.T. and has made a positive influence in our community.

Every December Mrs. Culver kicks off the holiday season with the annual Giving Tree program. She encourages each third hour classroom to pick a needy individual from the tree, hoping to make there Christmas wishes come true. Mrs. Culver ensures that the charity is given for all the right reasons. No prize or incentive is given to those classes who participate; only the gratification of knowing you made a difference in someone’s life. She brings out the giving spirit in all of us and spreads holiday cheer throughout Swartz Creek High School, as every class in the school participates.

Mrs. Culver was instrumental in bringing Challenge Day to Swartz Creek High School. She fought diligently to receive the funds to bring the day long seminar to our school so students and faculty could experience all that Challenge Day had to offer. Everyone left Challenge Day with new knowledge of acceptance and diversity and the same goal: to unite our school. Because of Mrs. Culver, our school was able to come together. Violence is down and school pride is high. Mrs. Culver has truly been a pioneer in making our school a safer and happier place.

Finally, Mrs. Culver heads my high school’s unique program, Peers Who Care, a peer counseling group that offers a lending ear for students in need. Mrs. Culver took over the Peers Who Care Program nine years ago and has had the opportunity of working with over one hundred Peer Counselors. She has made an individual positive impact on each of their lives. P.W.C. is Mrs. Culver’s pride and joy, and because of that, she holds each of her students to an extremely high standard, expecting each of them someday change the world, and because of their actions, however big or small, the world will be a better place. Mrs. Culver has taught all of her peers that their days as Peers Who Care do not end at graduation. They merely become Persons Who Care, which is all the more important.

Currently, I am a peer tutor, volunteer regularly at Club S.C.C.A.T., a graduate of Challenge Day and the active President of Peers Who Care. I have seen first hand the effect Mrs. Culver has on the lives of students and adults alike. Her actions prove that she is undoubtedly an Everyday Hero and has been a true difference maker in the Swartz Creek Community. I am proud to say that Mrs. Culver has not only been a strong mentor to me but also a true friend.

 

On an any given day, one might run into Mr. Considine as he races between classes to get another cup of coffee, or chatting away at breakneck speed with one of the other teachers about innovative ideas. He seems to be moving about in a world of his own; the pace and thought patterns of which are seldom matched by the world at large. You might also find him singing Irish ballads in the hallways or following a student to his bus in order to get a proper response to his questions. But regardless of how or why you meet him, John Considine is guaranteed to change your life.

As the product of two feuding nations and belief systems, Mr. John Considine’s childhood distinguished him from other British transplants to America. He moved to Michigan as a college student from England. His father was a farmer in Ireland, but John Considine grew up in Great Britain. He found that the constricting atmosphere of a private college did not provide him with what he had imagined as an ideal American experience, so he set out on the road. He spent a summer hitchhiking across the United States on one dollar a day, building relationships and gaining the kind of unique knowledge that he would bring to his classroom years later. After college, he embarked on a trip to Jamaica to help teach disenfranchised coffee farmers modern and efficient means of production. Some of his most famous stories evolved out of the time that he spent teaching alternative education classes for my school district.

His extraordinary and at times unbelievable life is only one piece of the remarkable puzzle that is John Considine. What makes him an “Everyday Hero” is the way that he has incorporated his deep convictions and life experiences into his daily routines and interactions with people. He is certainly unconventional. As an Advanced Placement teacher, he requires his students to incorporate real life experiences and rigorous writing schedules into a curriculum filled with college level theories and texts. He forces students out of their comfort zones and pushes them to reach beyond their limitations. By sharing his stories and quirky antidotes with students, Mr. Considine has become an icon for every student who dreams of something bigger than an office and a pension for his life. He has been one of the few examples in my life of people who went above and beyond the norms of society, paving his own way and never fully accepting defeat.

I feel that taking classes with Mr. Considine has been an honor, and it is with regret that I could not enroll in any of his classes this year. However, his relationship as one of my mentors has continued to grow. He read and edited my college application essays, wrote glowing letters of recommendation, and has continued to be an integral part of my school’s student-run Environmental Action Council. He suggested that I look into Kalamazoo College, and without his advice I never would have been able to find my dream school. His sense of morality and conviction has rubbed off on me; he is well known for catching plagiarizers and has inspired constant vigilance in my own citations. In one conversation with Mr. Considine, I feel that he summed up his work philosophy for me by stating, “It’s not the job that matters to me. It’s that you students are getting the best education possible.”

As a leader both inside and outside of the school setting, Mr. Considine has inspired me to live my life to the fullest, to pursue even my seemingly unrealistic dreams, and to fight with passion for causes both great and small. Every Friday at the end of class, John Considine asks his students to “Be safe, and whatever situation you find yourself in, ask will it bring value, meaning, and dignity to you.” As he has passed the torch to myself and my peers, I know that I will always strive my hardest to live my life with value, meaning, and dignity.