Students Are The Future
A word from our teen contributors
Wyatt Migues: "A way we could build each other up and really connect with one another is through free fishing tournaments hosted for the youth. As they get to have fun learning about the Galveston sea life and connecting through the art of fishing, the community could come together and supply the kids with various fishing equipment. While going to certain areas and fishing, before we start, we will walk around and help pick up any trash we find that has gotten on the dunes and the beach. Throughout the event, kids will be assigned to teams of four; every hour, the teams will switch, helping people to get to know one another.
Also, there will be challenges, such as asking someone how's their day going, where they're from, or what's the common practices they do in their household. This is helping the children learn about all different kinds of cultures and where people come from. Throughout the event, we will be hosting several food stations that supply water, drinks, and various kinds of food with all options. That way, we can help those with food allergies.
By doing all these things, we can uplift each other as people, and as a community, with older kids helping the younger kids and giving them positive examples, they can have through life.
That way, they can find the right mindset to do good things and bless others while also being able to understand where people are coming from throughout life. With this being said, we can once again let Galveston's light shine brightly through our youth."
Peyton Moore:
Have you ever felt the soft embrace of a loved one? Have you ever smiled ear-to-ear at a sweet compliment? Have you ever felt the warmness of someone telling you that you matter? As humans, we are constantly beaten down. Failure, rejection, and hard times after hard times. When will we reach our limit?
We aren’t meant to withstand such hardships. That’s why it’s incredibly important to tell that single mom she’s doing a great job raising her beautiful kids, a co-worker that you appreciate them being there for you, and a stranger on the street that they are loved. This is the mindset that Galvestonians must have to uplift the community and build better relationships. Together, if we work toward this goal, we can create a life for ourselves that we never could have imagined.
Galveston is home to people from all walks of life. Our island has a population of about 53,000 people. That’s 53,000 lives. Imagine the impact if we were able to change the culture of Galveston for that many people. But you may be asking yourself, “I want to make a change, but how can I?” Change is a word that can be easy to say, but difficult to practice. It’s hard to believe that one small action can have a huge result. Think about a time in your life when someone did something simple according to them but life-changing for you.
A quote I like to keep in the back of my mind when I talk to people every day is one by Mother Teresa. She said, “Spread love everywhere you go. Let no one ever come to you without leaving happier.” I think this quote holds a lot of meaning. As we speak to people, it’s easy to judge them, to speak harshly, and to be closed off. It’s hard to build relationships with people. But Mother Teresa’s quote shines light on the positive effect this effort can have on the people you put it towards. Making people happier than they were when they first came to you shows that you made an impact. You made a difference in a person’s life.
Now imagine doing this for every single person you ever talk to. What if you put the effort towards an older woman who you see struggling to reach something at the grocery store? What if you put in the effort to be a shoulder for a stranger to cry on when they have nothing else? What if you told a friend you haven’t talked to in a while that you appreciate everything about them? This is how we make change.
Change doesn’t have to be big. It doesn’t have to be loud. It doesn’t have to be hard. Change is attainable. Change is possible.
To make the Galveston community a place where we all can feel important, we have to be brave and try. Put in the effort. The “what if” questions will only lead us forward. Be the person you would look up to. Be the person who would make your day. You never know what someone else is going through. All you have to do is give love.
Wesley Frank:
As a member of the beautiful Galveston community, we strive to make this island a better place day by day. We also like to give back to our community and build relations with one another to achieve our goals as a union to make Galveston a great place. Hi, my name is Wesley Frank, and I am a sophomore here at Ball High School. Ways I like to help my community is by doing community services and events. For the past year, I have been a part of a great non-profit organization called the high kicking Ball High Tornettes. The Tornettes are one of the first ever drill teams in Texas, so to be on the team is an honor and also a great way to help our community.
Every year we go to the Alzheimer's Walk and cheer on our older people in the community who have unfortunately lost some/all of their memories. Also, we do events for the children of this community who admire the Tornettes and want to be like us. We call it our Jr. dance camp, and basically we have a day when we get to teach those kids a little simple dance that they get to perform at one of our football games with us. This is so fun to do and just seeing how happy it makes the kids makes me feel good about what I do. Honestly, joining the Tornettes was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made and wouldn’t have it any other way.This is my way of spreading the love throughout the community and wouldn’t change a thing. I love Galveston!
Faith Penlington:
As a member of Galveston we can lift each other up and build better communities by making spaces for people of all kinds to feel safe in and just be kinder to each other. Some people struggle with finding a place in the world and their communities, having a place for everyone would help people build better relationships with people like them. If we all had someone to relate to or talk to we might be able to lift each other up and make one another feel better. Teaching others from a young age and on to be kind to each other and supportive to any level may also help, like doing something small but nice every once in a while makes a difference for people and can significantly lift them up.
Then there’s the factor of finding friends outside of or in school, it can be a struggle for anyone. If there was a third place for people like school clubs, a building where kids can hang out, events, and etc. to allow others to meet new people and build friendships with them, people might have less of such a struggle. A big result of lack of socialization is the fact that there is no ‘third place’ for kids/teenagers, a third place is somewhere outside of school and home, it's a place like the mall, parks, cafes, and such. While we have some of these places there aren’t enough for people. Another issue is getting people to go to these places, maybe if there was an incentive to attend people would be more likely to go and as a result of attending they would build relationships.
Micah Simmons:
In the fourth grade, at the very end of the year, an orange sheet was handed out to each student. On this sheet, students (really their parents) were given the option to pick the middle school they wanted to attend. The big “next.” There were three main choices, Austin, Central, and Collegiate. All of these schools had their own stereotypes, but it was nearly impossible to be in the fourth grade and not have heard word on the playground that Austin was the school for the “academics;” the school for the kids seen as “better.” While my teacher played no part in this assumption, it was heavily implied that if you went to Austin you were smarter, which was clearly not the best thing to put into the heads of developing children. Even as one of the top students in the school, I began to feel like I wasn't worthy of attending this seemingly prestigious school.
My overthinking was shortly proven wrong, as I was accepted into Austin Middle School early the following summer. I was so happy to have regained my academic confidence. Even so, there were many students who were either rejected or never even applied because they weren't given any hope. Elementary school was easy, but with the wrong teacher, it could be where a decline in self-worth was born.
To quote Bell Hooks, “If we give our children sound self-love, they will be able to deal with whatever life puts before them.”
Adolescents are extremely impressionable, and it is important to make sure they're aware that they are worthy to go for whatever dreams they may have.
The elementary kids entering varied middle schools were not drastically different from one another. We were all kids with wild imaginations and the same cringeworthy humor. What did set us apart, however, were our home lives. Oftentimes, the children who had too many “behavioral issues” to go to Austin came from stressful homes. From the perspective of someone attending Austin, vaping was the most shocking thing someone could do. The vast majority of us were economically comfortable. Most of us were blissfully unaware of physical fights, neglectful teaching, and unfortunate home lives. For us, school was about learning, completing our work, and socializing when we could. In contrast, the perspectives I’ve heard from those who attended Central and Collegiate were centered around staying out of trouble and appealing to your teachers. These differences in priority led to harsh perspectives regarding students of the other schools. To some, Austin students were seen as “goody-two-shoes” and snitches. To us, kids at both Central and Collegiate were rowdy and “always fighting.” Even though we were all quite similar in regards to interests, dreams, and humor, we saw each other in a negative light because we were made to believe we were so contrasted.
Going into high school, I knew it’d be an interesting switch because nearly every teen aged 14-18 in Galveston went to Ball High School. This chance was both scary and thrilling. There would finally be new people and increased integration. Once again, my perspective had quickly switched. I watched peers who were incredibly smart be placed in classes that didn't allow them their full potential, solely because no one had taken the time to give them the guidance they needed. They gave up their excellence because adults, especially school staff such as teachers, hadn't taken the time to see past the surface level of how they presented themselves. Students that were more than capable hadn't been given the same opportunities as Austin students because of this. When I noticed this happening, it sucked. I saw people getting dress-coded, getting in trouble for not having an ID, but almost never saw a teacher who truly tried to know and compensate for the needs of their students. If you’ve ever seen a “lightbulb” go off in someone’s head when they understood what you were explaining, you’ll recognize the look of pleasure and shock that comes with it. When you watch someone experience generosity for one of the first times in their life, you watch how stunned they are. You can't make change by speaking it, you make change by doing it.
This leads to the general point of this essay. Even with all of these impudent assumptions we hold, we can still build bonds. To increase connection throughout the portion of our community who attends school, we need to stop allowing ourselves to succumb to believing shallow thoughts about people who are just as passionate as ourselves. We need to stop normalizing staff only worrying about stomachs showing.
We need to speak up against unfair justifications for presumptuous behaviors. We need to listen to people regardless of their grades or classes. We need to see people on a deeper level as well as truly understand and respect their needs.
If we are in a position to do so, we should help someone out in any way we can. Leo Buscaglia once said, “Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.” To build a connected community, we have to show that we care.
Kyrin Hall:
“We rise by lifting others” according to Robert Ingersoll and I believe that Galveston as a community should come together and help others in order to become a tight-knit community. Galveston Independent School District is where it starts for most Galvestonians. It’s where you’ve most likely met life long friends and formed strong bonds. As a student of GISD who has attended Parker Elementary, Austin Middle School, Central Middle School, and Ball High, I can give a first hand account of the diversity represented in these schools and the wide variety of extracurriculars for everyone. When I joined Ball High Choir my freshmen year 2023, everyone was very welcoming which made it easier to adjust to high school. In my opinion, the people of Galveston should contribute to the feel of inclusivity and encourage other communities to do the same.
Kids are the future and if you put money into the schools, libraries, sports, fine arts, and clubs then you will see the results within Galveston.
When you think of Ball high extracurriculars you probably think of football or volleyball but we also have tons of clubs to join such as book club, ARK (acts of random kindness), interact, NHS, student council and more. By including everyone, we can build better relationships and have a close knit community. Also, there are a large number of homeless individuals and families financially struggling due to lack of affordable housing. The people of Galveston need to make it known to city council members that this is an important issue that needs to be addressed. One potential solution to this problem is to build more inexpensive houses all around the island. We have acres and acres of land on the east end of Galveston that we keep building million dollar houses on, when we could just fix the problem we have at hand. If you want to make a difference in the Galveston community and you want to lift others up, you should consider some of the points made in this piece.
Graciela Norris:
My name is Gracie Norris. I am a member of the Galveston Community and have been since I was born. Over the years, I have seen different sides of Galveston. Some parts are so put together, but others are falling apart. This makes me think. How can I, as a person who has everything they need, help someone with nothing?
While I can help them financially, sometimes a personal relationship can go much further. We can lift people up and create relationships by being involved within our community.
Throughout my time in Galveston, I have witnessed my family being involved in events.
For example, my mom volunteers for festivals and events throughout town. One of those being the Yaga’s cook-off. I look up to my mom for giving back to the community and offering her time and help. When people attend these events we can learn more about each other and meet new people all while giving back. Events allow us to build better relationships in our community because we are getting involved and informed. Although we can’t force people to come to these, we can advertise as much as possible. Facebook is a good way to learn about our town and get to meet new people. People use this platform if they need help or to get updates around town. One way we can lift someone up is offer help when they need it. For example, during the recent Hurricane, many people were without food, water, and power. As a community, those who were fortunate enough to have access to those things came together to help those in need. People started cooking meals and delivering them around town. This is a wonderful result of building relationships and lifting each other up.
Even Though I am only a Sophomore in high school, I hope that my opinions and ideas have an impact on our community. I am looking forward to seeing the outcome. I encourage everyone to attend a festival or market so we can build important relationships throughout our community.
Aws Hasan:
As a community, we must be inviting and inclusive to ensure that everyone feels comfortable. Living in Galveston, you see people from all sorts of upbringings, yet they end up at the same place as you. We need to remember we are all equal human beings, instead of belittling others and making others feel less of themselves. This requires simple but small changes, which have to occur in the hearts of each and every person in this county.
As a community, we need to be more accepting of new members as they begin to join the community and share their unique experiences. We should not judge others for not knowing, or for being different. If anything, we should accept them with open arms and embrace them and their culture into our community. However, this problem can’t be fixed if people continue to hold stereotypes and prejudice against people who are different. For example, as an Arab living in Galveston, it took time for people to see me as another member. This is because the majority of the population is Hispanic, White, or African American. This makes me feel like an odd one out at times. It took me many years to truly feel accepted in the community as I began to blend in with others. However, I believe I shouldn’t have had to blend in. If our community was more accepting, we would have an overall unique culture which would create many opportunities to learn about things we never would have before. Overall, I believe our community should become more accepting and inclusive to improve the relationships we have.
Adan Carcano:
For my whole life, I have called this beautiful island home and wouldn't want to grow up anywhere else but this little sandbar on the coast. There is such a rich and deep culture, amazing food from all over the world, and beautiful sights and architecture that will blow you away. Galveston is an amazing place to live, but of course, like everything, it has its ups and downs. In 1900, the deadliest natural disaster in U.S. history hit Galveston, killing approximately 10,000 people and stripping another 10,000 from their homes, leaving the island completely devastated and destroyed. In 2008, Galveston had yet another devastating hurricane that left approximately 30,000 people homeless, leaving the island in despair.
But every time, even when the island was destroyed, with only a handful of structures still standing, we worked together and came back stronger than ever. This is the attitude we need to have when trying to make the Galveston community better, we need to remember that we have all been through so much as a whole, and nothing can stop us from rising up and building a strong community and environment. To make a change, you have to be the change.
You can start by going to something that helps your community, like beach cleanups, it's a small but meaningful act that has a huge impact on our island since our beach is the main attraction. You can also volunteer for jobs to better our city, like volunteering at the humane society, the homeless shelter, and so many other great things. Our island can grow and thrive more than ever if we all just put a little bit of our time into helping raise our community into something so much better. Be the change YOU want to see in the world.
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