Michigan's Insurance Company
Other States
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America & Me Essay Contest
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Second Place Essay
Lauren Chance
Chippewa Middle School
Okemos
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If You Can Read This, Thank a Teacher
I had been at it for hours. Mi name iz loren and i luv too reed. I wasn't getting anywhere. I had been writing this sentence for over an hour, and yet only two words were spelled correctly. I didn't get it! I didn't understand what I was doing or what they wanted me to do. Here I was each morning in this stupid room writing these stupid sentences, feeling brainless, as all my friends went to recess. The teacher seemed confused, almost blown away as I failed yet again. Her smile was warm, yet doubtful, as she handed me another piece of paper. "No worries. How about we try again?" she said, barely above a whisper. I had heard this line too many times in my life already.
All I ever wanted was to be like the rest of the kids. Go out to play, read, and write. However, it never came to me as it came to all the other students in my 2nd grade class. My friends didn't understand it. Neither did the teachers. They would just send me down to the dreadful room every morning where I would pointlessly write sentences over and over again until it seemed my hand was going to fall off. And so I spent my entire 2nd grade year in that awful room. My family took notice, especially my grandmother. She would always tell me I was just as smart at those other kids, but it was hard to believe. Little did I know, my grandmother would soon change my life everlastingly.
My grandmother's name is Kay Howell, founder of the Michigan Dyslexia Institute - a non-profit organization for persons with dyslexia. That year I was diagnosed with it. Starting that month, my grandmother taught me the Orton-Gillingham approach. This teaches kids with dyslexia a different way to learn to read and write. My grandmother has been tutoring me to this day, and I have been undeniably and irrevocably changed. She has never questioned my intelligence and has put up with me through all these years. Not only this, but while tutoring me she has worked as hard as anyone I have ever met to broaden her business and has succeeded in helping thousands of others learn to read. She has saved my life and that of so many others. She has given us hope, a reason to dream, and the ability to be successful. She has worked harder and longer than anyone I have ever met, and probably ever will. She has never given up on the kids who learn a little bit differently.
When I think of heroes, I think of a person you would give anything to be like. You would long to walk in their footsteps and dream to achieve what they have. When I think of these things, there is no doubt my very own grandmother is a hero. I am confident that she is also a hero to those who have been helped by her organization. She has made a difference in the state of Michigan that is not recognized by everyone. Nevertheless, all the dyslexic kids blessed to be touched by her kindness and ability will always know her as our one of a kind hero.
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