When do you become an adult? (Essay contest)

“I will never be an adult

1st place winner, $50
Fausto Duran, SEA Charter School, St. Michael’s

I can say that I am ready for responsibility, but never will I be an adult.
Many kids say that they won’t change, but as time passes, they act old. Some start at 17, some at 20. My older cousins in their 20s look old. Too old! They start sounding like fathers, something they themselves were probably fearing when they were coming up. They tell me to start growing up and they trip out on how I dress.
I figure you can’t be a man if you aren’t a kid. It’s like, I keep my world. I love being 17. I’m a hip-hop head. What can I say? I love bumping my music loud, bobbing my head and being mad rowdy. I’m rough and rugged. I love being geared up and forming my hair in different wicked styles, being different, something that makes grown-ups stare in amazement.
Even my mom says, “He’ll never change!” I don’t think I will, mom. See, I don’t see myself at 20 with slacks, being all serious. I see myself crazied out with a hip-hop look, jumping up and down.
Some people will say, “Well, you haven’t hit that stage yet.” But I know I won’t go through that. Don’t get me wrong though. I know I can face responsibility. Responsibility is like a hustle and I love hustling and getting what I know I worked hard for. As I get older, I learn to get more knowledge, but stay the same.
My dad and family (except my mom) tell me that if I look this way as I get older, people won’t take me seriously. But I would like to surprise them. Older people would be talking something smart, thinking I don’t know what they are talking about, and I come in and bust some skills on them. It would be funny.
When are you an adult? Well, some people at 18, some at 20. Me? God knows I won’t. I’m just starting to be a youngster. That’s my word. Kid!

Being an adult means many things
2nd place winner, $30
Jennifer Williams, North High School

Quoting a well-known jingle, “I don’t wanna grow up, ’cause if I did, I wouldn’t be a Toys R Us Kid.” True; you wouldn’t. What you’d be is an adult.
So what makes you an adult? Does it happen on your eighteenth birthday when you wake up, look in the mirror and see an oracle of knowledge standing before you? Or is it when you feel that first wave of alcohol burn inside your body that you’re welcomed into adulthood?
Maybe it’s that first sexual experience that makes you an adult. Yeah, that’s the one, you’re aging now! Perhaps a new car will do the trick. The feeling of freedom as you soar past insignificant others on your way to “Destination-Anywhere-I-want.”
Now for the truth. Are you ready? Becoming an adult is when you realize that the preceding theories are untrue. It’s when you take control of your own life. It’s seeing the good in other people and striving to bring out the best in yourself. It’s when you can sit alone with your thoughts and not feel alone.
“I don’t want to grow up, ’cause if I did, I wouldn’t be a Toys R Us Kid.” Untrue. Becoming an adult doesn’t mean losing the child inside. Being an adult is knowing when to let that inner child shine.
So when will you be an adult? Be patient; it happens when you least expect it.

I’m not quite an adult yet, and I know it
3rd place winner, $20
Alma Aguirre, Woodrow Wilson High

Nobody can state a time or age for when someone reaches adulthood. I personally can only speak for myself. I think “being adult” is the minute you start wishing you were a child again because you know you’ve entered a whole new world different to that one you knew before. Where everything and everyone was easier to deal with. I would say being an adult is when you start taking responsibilities for your actions. But many so called “adults” don’t do that. It proves nothing about the word “adult.” There are a lot of children who take responsibility for what they do, but does that make them adults?
There is no “certain” or “right” age for being an adult. When you become an adult, you become an adult, no matter what age it is. Some people never “grow up” to be adults. Whoever said someone is an adult at 18? To me, an adult is someone who takes full responsibilities for the actions they take and can guide others.
Do I want more freedom? Yes! Who wouldn’t? Am I ready for more responsibilities with my freedom? M-m-m, not really, which is why I’m not quite an adult yet, and I know it. Having freedom means taking the responsibility that comes along with the freedom, whether it’s at home, school, on the streets, etc. I want more freedom, therefore, I deserve responsibilities.”

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