PERSPECTIVE: Laws of Life

Citizenship, cooperation, courage, fairness, honesty, kindness, patriotism, perseverance, respect, responsibility, self-control and tolerance.

Those are the Laws of Life championed by annual essay contests of the same name.

The contest — sponsored by the city of Naples, Collier County Sheriff's Office, Southwest Florida YPO 49'ers (whose members were CEOs by the age of 49) and Collier County Public Schools — attracted more than 3,900 entries from students in public and privates schools' grades 4 through 12.

This year's contest featured a twist: All entries were asked to focus on citizenship.

An awards banquet for finalists in all four categories was held this past week at the Naples Hilton.

Here are excerpts from the essays of the winners.

Elementary Division

Mo Palmer

Corkscrew Elementary School

Teacher – Andrew Klatzkow

With all of the famous and historic individuals that have demonstrated the attributes of citizenship; there may just be one of these honorable citizens in your own family. For me, my Grandma, Bonnie Nordyke, is a role model.

Her ability to put others' needs before her own is an example of how all of us should act.

In 1972, my Aunt Linda, her oldest daughter and my mom's sister, was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. Back then there was little information for parents of a child with this disease. My grandma researched all the information that existed at the time, and found the best doctors to help her. For the next 39 years and through many hardships along the way, she maintained a positive attitude of hope and faith.

Though she may be small on the outside, she has more strength, love, and determination that a giant.

For 16 years she has served on the Florida Hospital Diabetes Foundation, raising money to create an educational program for patients diagnosed with diabetes, and their parents. She has devoted her life to caring for her family and sharing her knowledge and kindness with her community. Her countless volunteer hours have inspired others to do the same. In 2000, my grandma even donated one of her kidneys to her daughter to save her life.

At the beginning of this year my aunt lost her battle against diabetes. In sorrow, my grandma continues to raise awareness for the disease. I hope I am an inspiring citizen when I am older, just like she is.

Middle School Division

Jackie Zeller

Community School of Naples

Teacher – Deborah Lefebvre

I feel that one of the highest forms of citizenship was demonstrated in America in the 1960s by the Freedom Riders. The Freedom Riders showed true citizenship because they set out to change the then-segregated standard in order to make their county a better place for everyone. This same idea of potentially sacrificing comfort and well-being, or even life, in order to create a better community for others is present in modern society as well. Today, young men and women across our country are volunteering to fight over seas in order to give others a better life. Certainly, without our armed forces, we would not be able to live our lives with the same sense of comfort and security that we have now.

Citizenship is a unique character trait because it requires one to integrate several other core values into their lives. Once again, the Freedom Riders set an unsurpassed example of how one might execute this idea. The Freedom Riders used values such as courage, fairness, and tolerance to accomplish their goals. But most of all, the Freedom Riders recognized that as citizens of this country, it was their responsibility to create equal opportunities and an equal environment for all people in this nation. In fact, every one of us, as American Citizens, has certain responsibilities that we are expected to uphold. For our country, we are expected to vote and utilize the rights that were earned for us by our forefathers. Within our communities, we are expected to be generous and help those who cannot help themselves.

High School Grades 9-10 Division

Thanise Marc

Golden Gate High School

Teacher – Constance PinckneyI admit I haven't been on the planet for very long, but I have been here long enough to know that one person can make a difference.

After school every day I go to a place called The Boys' and Girls' Club where I get help with my homework, and I volunteer at animal shelters and nursing homes. In addition, I help supervise younger children. I see needs and opportunities come together all the time. One such time involved seven-year-old Aiesha.

When I arrived at The Boys and Girls Club, I saw Aiesha sitting in the corner of the snack room away from the rest of her group, crying. I went up to her and asked, "Why are you crying and not sitting with the rest of your group?

She replied, "My group makes fun of me because of the way I dress." Aiesha wore a variety of brightly-colored clothes. Yellow sneakers with fluorescent pink laces. A neon-green shirt with an orange-pleated skirt. She certainly stood out on a cloudy day!

I thought she was creative; perhaps she would grow up to be the latest fashionista! I knew what it felt like to be bullied and outcast. Here was a need and an opportunity, and I took it.

"I love your style," I said loudly, turning the heads of the other kids. "We should draw up our own fashion line." About 10 minutes later our snack table was littered with a myriad of markers, crayons, drawing paper, and multicolored tissue paper.

One by one, the rest of the group joined us.

That group has never been the same: they now work together and include everyone. We don't have to start big just end big.

Today more that ever we realize that all people on our planet are connected: jobs, economy, entertainment, technology all tie us together. What affects one, affects us all.

High School Grades 11-12 Division

Alex Fogg

Community School of Naples

Teacher – Jack Bovee

As I walked into Gary Nicholson's M-10 classroom on the first day of my freshman year, he yelled, "HELLO!" in his characteristic Pittsburgh accent with a contagious smile on his face.

From that moment, he became the first individual I think of when someone mentions good citizenship.

Dr. Nicholson is a retired chemist in his seventies who used to work for the Baer chemical company. A die-hard Steelers fan, he lives with his wife in Pittsburgh, but during the school year, he used to live in Naples so he could teach at my school.

I once asked him why he made such an effort to teach when he could have enjoyed retirement on his Pennsylvania farm. He said, "Alex! This is my community service to the world!''

He taught not because he had to, but because he wanted to share his knowledge and experiences with young people like my classmates and me who are the leaders of tomorrow.

Dr. Nicholson also donated his time to sponsor our academic team club. He was at every Monday practice and all of the competitions.

In class, when I had that "light bulb moment" and finally understood stoichiometry or how to balance a challenging kinetic equation, he was probably more excited than I was, his face lit up with excitement and pride.

"The Docta", as we called him, exemplified citizenship because of his charismatic approach to life and his genuine kindness and care for us as students. Too often, we limit our definition of "good citizen" to people related to well-established charity organizations or who appear on the news for spending time working in local soup kitchens. These individuals are all undoubtedly great stewards of society, but we must be careful not to forget about people like Dr. Nicholson who get relatively little fame or recognition, but who donate their time simply because they want to make a positive difference and give back to society.

My classmates and I still remember his quotes, once telling us, "You are the youth of America — ROCKETS TO THE MOON!''