Essay winner - Keira Sadur
5th Grade Winner from Wood Rose Academy
Council 6038 Winner
Catholic Stewardship Essay
My role models are my uncle Yuri and aunt Mila, who inspire me to dream big, work hard and cherish my family. Yuri and Mila have been married for 5 years and have three young kids, my first cousins. Mila and Yuri are so nice and do so much for my family. Although Mila is a lawyer, she is talented in many things but is especially good at cooking, doing interior designs in homes and baking. Uncle Yuri is a periodontist and makes a good living for his family. Mila and Yuri are very smart and seem to always make good decisions. I look up to them and hope to be as successful as they are when I grow up.
Uncle Yuri and Mila's marriage is like pieces of a puzzle that come together perfectly.
Uncle Yuri earns the money through his hard work and Mila works equally hard to ensure that the money is invested in the right places, that their homes are well maintained, and that there is always nutritious food for their kids to eat. Even though uncle Yuri works hard at his job, he comes home and still finds time to spend with his kids and help around the home. Watching uncle Yuri and Mila around their house, teaches me the importance of being able to provide for my family and raise them with love and care. When I spend time with Yuri and Mila on the weekends, they also teach me to cook delicious meals. These cooking achievements help me feel confident in myself and in trying out new things. I also feel more responsible after being able to cook for others and know that I will be a good mom one day with the great meals I'm learning to make.
Mila is also very kind and teaches me to help others that may be in need. She shows me
how to do this by giving me some of her purses, scarves and clothes that she no longer uses or wears. I appreciate the nice things she passes down to me and will be able to do the same with other people in need in the future. Mila also gives out the home-grown fruits and vegetables that grow at their vacation house. Mila and Yuri teach me how to grow and take care of fruits and vegetables. Uncle Yuri even showed me how to pickle freshly picked olives from their orchard. Yuri and Mila are both patient and kind and enjoy teaching me and their kids all about nature.
I am very grateful to have such amazing family members that teach, inspire and lead their kids and relatives as role models. I love spending time with my uncle and aunt and especially enjoy being at their vacation home in Sacramento, where we get to go boating, fruit picking, and playing all around their large property. They are kind people who have taught me a lot and continue to inspire me to always do better.
Essay Winner - Abigail Choi
6th Grade winner from Wood Rose Academy
Council 6038 Winner
Catholic Stewardship Essay
Treat others the way you want to be treated, that's what our parents always tell us and the rule that we should follow throughout our entire lives. They also tell us how much we can help people on a daily basis. Even if you're at a store and an older person drops something, your parents always tell you to help pick it up, or at least that's what my mother tells me to do. Today, I'm going to be talking about how I help the people around me.
First off, my mom is very hard working to support me and my siblings, sometimes it's nice to just do the little things that make her life more easy. For example, washing dishes, moving laundry from the washer to the dryer, or even watering plants. These things may seem very small, but you never realize how much one little thing can help ease your parents lives.
Next, are my siblings. My older brother has helped me with my homework before, and has been my role model for my entire life. Since he has inspired me so much, I use what he taught
me to help my little brother. My little brother is autistic, so it makes it much more difficult to help him learn and assist him in bis learning. He is doing very well in his learning and I'm very proud ofbim. Even sometimes when my older brother is acting immature, I assist him because I feel it's my job because I'm his sibling. I do thank both of my siblings because of how much
they've helped me throughout my lifetime.
Lastly, the people I have selected are my friends. I have done a lot of small things for my friends, because in the end it's really the little things that count. These things are such as giving tips on how to study something, helping them study something, or even doing assignments together and giving each other tips. These are some of the things I do to help my friends and my classmates.
Conclusively, these are some of the things I do to help the people most important to me. I'm not the only person who does these either, tons of kids everyday work diligently to assist their
family and friends. There are even some kids that take helping to the next step, but not only helping their family but helping their community and the people in need. If we all try hard enough, one day we could all become like all of these extraordinary children that have taken
things to the next level.
Essay Winner - CHRISTOPHER KREIGE
8th Grade winner from Wood Rose Academy
Council 6038 - Oakland Diocese Chapter - California State Winner
Catholic Stewardship Essay
My Catholic education has helped me modify my personal values to help myself be the best person I can be. I will explain four of some of my most important personal values, and some of the ways those values helped me.
My first value is to learn and grow in my Catholic faith. For example, I used to think of the Eucharist as just a piece of bread. Now I think of it as the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Jesus Christ when I receive it, it makes you more and more Christlike the more you receive it, and it is one of the Sacraments meant to give us the grace we need to be saved. Or, without the Sacraments, we would not be able to be saved. I want to know why we do certain things in church, instead of just doing them and not caring. I know now that the things we do in church have real meaning, and are not random things. Those are some of the most important things I found out about my faith because of my Catholic education.
My second value is respecting my elders. In class, I try not to to talk over my teachers, and to not argue with them as much as I can. I try to listen to my elders, and discuss things with them when they talk to me. I talk to them and let them talk to me. I like talking with my grandfather, and I think he likes talking to me, especially right now, when things are hard for him. My Catholic education made me realize how important that value is since it has shown me compassion.
My third value is to not do inappropriate things. I don't talk or listen to things I shouldn't. I don't go on Youtube unless I need to for school, and I only use social networking for my violin lesson. I also do not do any drugs whatsoever. I want to protect my body and not abuse it. My Catholic education made me realize the importance of
taking care of my body and mind.
My fourth value is to try to limit my screen time. I try to play outside instead of
playing videogames. I try to build towns with legos or blocks or practice a musical instrument instead of looking at a screen. I try to make things instead of having them made for me. I realize I should use my imagination instead of using a screen. I think those other activities are much more productive. My Catholic education helps me use my mind instead of a piece of plastic.
Those are some of my most important personal values. I think they help me become a better son and a better Catholic.
Essay Winners - IZUL MENDOZA
8th Grade winner from Wood Rose Academy
Catholic Citizenship Essay
There have been many times where I have struggled through tough times and asked God for help. Each time He has answered my prayers and helped me through the rough times.
However this essay won't focus on me my and my prayers, but on my Aunt Pualina and my family's prayers being answered by God.
It was about seven ye s ago. I was around six years old, and still way too young to remember things. My Aunt Paulina had recently been diagnosed with cancer in her kidney. She needed surgery to get rid of it. But with all surgeries comes a risk, and Paulina was scared. She didn't want to go through the surgery and have the procedure go wrong. After a few days of thinking it over, she made up her mind to go through with the surgery.
Everyone said their goodbyes in case something went wrong with the procedure. The people who could, sat outside, praying that everything would go well. Although my family wasn't there physically, we were still praying for her at our house. A few hours later we were heading to the hospital.
My dad got a call from my uncle and was told that something had gone wrong with the pr cedure. We wanted to see if everything was ok so we drove to the hospital. When we got there everyone was crying. The doctor told us that something went wrong during the procedure. They told us she was in a coma and would most likely never wake up. Even if she did wake up, she wouldn't be able to do anything for herself. She would no longer be able to eat food on her own, walk on her own, or even do something as simple as talking.
Everyone in the family was shocked because she told everyone about how she was scared of something going wrong and then the worst thing happened. At first, only a few people in the family were praying that she would have a successful surgery because almost everyone thought the surgery would go as planned but when they heard that it didn't go well, they all started
praying for her recovery.
After almost a week of mourning and praying, my Aunt Paulina woke up from her coma.
When she woke up, the doctors realized that she would need special care from a different hospital. Everyone was rejoicing and thanking God for answering their prayers. However, they still kept praying. The problem of her being disabled remained and they didn't know to what extent her recovery would be.
At first it was hard to communicate because she was not able to communicate or move. It took weeks for her to be able to communicate a little bit with them. They learned to communicate by asking questions and she was able to answer by nodding or shaking her head.
They figured out that she was being abused by the hospital staff. After that, they were able to continue her recovery treatment from home.
With a lot of hard work and continuous prayers, my Aunt Paulina was able to communicate a little a bit and was even able to walk with a walker. She was around the age of 44 when this happened and got to live 10 more years. She recently passed away when the cancer came back and spread to her lungs. Although everyone was grieving for her death, everyone was still extremely grateful for the extra years in life she was given, especially her kids.
