Print This Post

I was born to teach

1st Place $50

By Elizabeth Crowell, Palos Verdes HS

A job can be simply defined as a regular activity performed in exchange for payment. I believe that today you have to be extremely gifted at a job in order to be able to stay with it your entire working career. Nowadays many people are thrown from job to job seeking stability in their lives. Almost everyone enters the work force to try and provide whatever they can for their family. It’s hard to compete in today’s occupations with more and more people striving to get to the top, to be the boss with the newly remodeled home, 2.5 kids, golden retriever, cabin in the mountains, and Mercedes Benz. People feel a great achievement when they have reached the point where they can provide these material things to their families no matter how they do it or what they have to go through to get it, whether it be working long hours or cheating the stock market. Unfortunately it’s the same people who forget who got them to the point where they can afford their Mercedes Benz. I feel that credit should not only be given to family, friends, and pastors, rabbis or priests, but also to teachers. Any school could always use another good teacher, one who truly cares about what they teach and who they are teaching to, which is why I want a job that will not only fulfill my life but also the lives of others around me. My dream job is to become a teacher.

I come from a long line of teachers, my great grandmother, my grandmother, mother, older sister, and soon my older brother. A part of me has also always wanted to be a high-powered, kick-butt businesswoman. But, I always knew that no matter now big my office was or how much I got paid would never match the feeling I could get at the end of the day when I know I made a difference in a child’s life. It’s my dream to help make a difference in people’s lives at an early age where it will impact the rest of their lives, even if it is something simple like the Union defeated the Confederacy in the civil war. If I teach a child who goes on to be a lawyer or professional football player and they can still remember that one fact, I will be proud. I want to be able to share my knowledge with kids who more than deserve the best education they could possibly receive. I have realized this through many days of going to school with my sister and helping her in her classroom. She teaches in a neighborhood that has less fortunate kids but that by no means they should receive less of an education than the kid who receives a BMW for their 16th birthday. I am very fortunate that my parents decided to raise their children in a community with great schools. I have been challenged and have learned a lot and I feel that it’s my turn to return the favor like my sister, to share what I have learned with the future or our world.

Even though I was probably born with a white board marker in hand, my dream of becoming a teacher doesn’t have to do with the fact I have come from generations and generations of teachers. It has to do with the fact that I couldn’t see myself being happy doing anything else. I honestly believe that God has pointed me in the direction of teaching and many times I forget why until I go help my sister in her class and it all comes back again. I can’t wait to be in her position and have a class or multiple classes of my own. Even if I inherited an insane amount of money or was offered a job doing nothing and getting paid for it, I wouldn’t do it because teaching is my passion and my dream.

l
A firefighter is like a superhero

2nd Place $30

By Jysiah Davis

My dream job is to be a firefighter. I think fire fighting would be a fun and exciting job. When I watch firefighters battling fires on the news, it makes me want to be out there fighting the fire with them. I also like the idea that I would be helping many people. For example, during 9/11 many firefighters risked and lost their lives going into the badly damaged World Trade Center towers to save the lives of people they did not even know.

Every little boy dreams of becoming a police officer or firefighter so that they can ride around in a car or truck with sirens blaring. Now that I have grown older I still want to be a firefighter. That is why I decided to join a six-week high school fire academy at West L.A. College last summer. During those six weeks I learned how to use a firefighter’s hose and how the different nozzles function. I learned the fire-fighting lingo, like “run” means an incident, or “size up” is a verbal picture of the incident that says, “I’m at… I need… I have.” One of the most important things I learned at the Fire Academy was teamwork and how not doing your job could result in the serious injury or even death of one of the members of your Engine Company. Although it was an extreme amount of work and it was a huge sacrifice to give up my summer, this experience only strengthened my desire to become a firefighter.

In my eyes a firefighter is not just somebody doing his or her job, he’s a super hero. When someone is trapped in a burning building, a firefighter battles the monster (fire) with his super powers (water) to save that person. A firefighter does not just fight fires, he also responds to 911 calls like stabbings, heart attacks, car accidents, etc. I would enjoy the exciting, on-the-edge job that fire fighting offers, because a job should not be something you do just for the money, it should be something you enjoy doing and do to the best of your abilities. A job should also not be done just for the glamour and fame, it should be something that helps others and betters the community. To me a firefighter meets all that criteria.

It is said that fire righting is a very difficult job to get into because there are many applicants and it takes a very long time to know if you get the job. I know I have a long way to go before I can become a firefighter, but that is my dream and I know if I work hard enough my dream will come true.


I would treasure every moment on the baseball field

3rd Place $20

By Kenneth Le, Gardena HS

My dream job would be becoming a professional baseball player. I grew up playing little league baseball. I was never the best player on the team; yet, playing baseball was something I would look forward to doing everyday and just have fun doing it. I haven’t played baseball in seven years. I really miss the times when I would just have that happy feeling when my dad would drive up to the park, when I would get a base hit, when I would catch a fly ball, or just the fact that I was part of a team.

So many baseball players these days take their jobs for granted. Many play baseball not just because they’re good at it, but because of the money. Alex Rodriguez signed a $252 million contract for the Texas Rangers in 2000. Anybody in the entire world would love to be in his shoes. After all, what would you do with $252 million? For myself, I would love to be in Alex Rodriguez’s shoes, not because of the money, not because of the fame, but because if I were in his shoes, I would just treasure every moment of every second that I am on that field. I would treasure every step I take in the dirt of such legendary baseball parks like Yankee Stadium, Fenway Park, Dodger Stadium and Wrigley Field. I would treasure every moment I get to spend in the same vicinity of such future Hall-of-Famers like Barry Bonds, Randy Johnson, Sammy Sosa and Roger Clemens.

I would feel like the luckiest person alive every time I am reminded that I am living the dream, a dream that many people like myself would die to get the chance to do. Twenty-five lucky people for each team get the honor to say to the whole world that they play baseball as a living ad support their families. I would give anything for the chance at becoming one of them. Yes, baseball players do make a great deal of money and more money than anyone could possibly imagine. But if you do give me the opportunity to be a professional baseball player, you wouldn’t have to pay me a single cent.