Robert Redding
English 3^rd Period
Mr. Flores
9-4-07

An Eventful Old Soldiers’ Day Parade

My Boy Scout troop and I had finally gotten to the parade ground for the Old Soldiers’ Day Parade. It was a blazing hot, August afternoon in Alpharetta, Georgia. After the troop arrived, our members talked for awhile. Little did I know that it was going to be a long and eventful day. We talked about random things for about ten minutes. I don’t know how, but we got into a conversation about man-eating peanuts.

“If peanuts ate people, would they grow bigger?” I asked.

“No, they would shrink.” explained Matt.

“What makes you say that?” asked Drew.

“They would become able to do things that big people can’t, but would still be able to keep the extra power that they got from the person…duh!” exclaimed Matt.

After we solved the peanut question, the whole troop played with miniature American flags. My friends, Matt and Drew, played with the flags as if they were daggers, stabbing each other in the stomach, stab, stab… ouch! After that, Mr. Thompson, our scout leader, took the flags away. Then, our troop was surprised to hear a train’s horn.

An enormous train pulled up, and even though it wasn’t real, it had a horn louder than a real train. Whoooo-whoooo… the horn blew so many times that after it was done, I couldn’t hear for five seconds. I knew right away that this horn was going to get as annoying as a whippoorwill going on and on overnight when you are trying to sleep. I have had that happen to me before and it was very disturbing. Don’t ask me about it or I will get into another long story. Then I saw a familiar face.

The familiar face was Mrs. Bailey, one of our Milton City Council members. When she arrived, I was so happy to see her, because she had taught me in fourth grade when my regular teacher was out for a long time. I talked to Mrs. Bailey and she told me what running the Milton City Council was like. She said it was fun, but that it took a lot of hard work. Then, I asked her what kind of work, and she said that she serves the residents of the city by protecting their interests. I asked a lot of other questions and she gave me some interesting answers. Some of my questions were, “Do you have to do a lot of paperwork?” and, “How long do you work every day?” Then someone said it was our turn to march.

We finally got the American flags that we would use to lead the parade, and then we set up our group. I got to lead the troop, which was really exciting for me! Parker, Harrison, and Connor held the troop flag, and all the other troop members followed behind the four of us. My dad took a picture of us with his iPhone, then it got like a dinosaur terrorizing the city, everybody was talking about the iPhone all at once. It must have taken three minutes just to get them settled down for one minute. Then, they started up again. When they finally stopped, we were able to get going. As soon as we actually began marching, the “real fun” began.

The parade began at Main Street and ended at Wills Road. A third of the way through the parade, I got tired. Then, about half way through the march, I got sweaty. Even through all of that, I had fun, and I also got a lot of candy that was tossed to us. So, now wasn’t that Old Soldiers’ Day Parade quite a day, but still a blast!

This is a speech written by a 5th grader 2 ˝ years ago regarding their hero. It was written as their submission for the Roswell optimist club oratorical contest. Sarah Vautour, now an 8th grader, came in 2nd place overall with this speech. She asked that we share her speech from 2 ˝ years ago for others to read.

Today I would like to talk about who my hero is and why this person is my hero.

I am a swimmer. One day I was wearing a t-shirt that has a little boy kissing a little girl who is wearing a shirt with the words swimmer while another little girl with the words cheerleader on her shirt sits all by herself. The shirt says “He’s got the right one” on the back below the picture, while in the front it says “Swimming… the right choice”.

My mom’s friend saw my shirt and thought it was cute, but told me a story about when she was in high school.

She said “You know, I was a cheerleader and there were times when all my friends would be mean to someone and I refused to do it because it was the wrong thing to do. I didn’t care if they liked me or not”.

It was then that I thought, Wow, that must have been hard.

I am a fifth grader, and many times it feels like people judge you by your looks, who your friends are, what kind of clothes you wear and if you have a boyfriend or not. They do NOT judge you on what’s inside.

My hero was nice to everyone even if they weren’t popular and even if her friends didn’t like her anymore because of it.

She stood up for what she knew to be right when she was a teenager and she continues to do the same today as an adult, a parent and a community leader.

This is an important hero quality to me because now in school, sometimes I don’t have the courage to stand up for what I think is right because I am worried about the opinions of my friends and what they will think of me.

Who is my hero you ask? My hero is Julie Zahner-Bailey.

I got to know Mrs. Bailey because she and my mom are friends. They worked on community projects together and spent a lot of time together and therefore, so did the Bailey and Vautour kids.

Thinking about how Mrs. Bailey acted when she was in high school and how she stood up for what she thought was the right thing to do, makes me think that I need to do the same thing. I need to stand up for something if I believe it is right.

Thinking about how Mrs. Bailey acted when she was in high school makes me think that if someone is really my friend, they should accept me for who I am and what I believe is right, just like I should accept them.

And what if they make fun of me or stop being my friend because I stand up for something I believe is right?

Well, then maybe they aren’t truly a good friend.

Mrs. Bailey grew up trying to do the right thing.

It is not a surprise that Mrs. Bailey still does what she believes is the right thing.

One of the things that Mrs. Bailey believes in strongly is that we need to conserve the beautiful area where we live.

I admire Julie Bailey because she doesn’t just talk about the need to protect the land, she takes action to make a difference.

Taking action to make a difference is another hero quality to me. Some people just sit around and moan about what is not right, but they never do anything about it.

Julie takes action when she sees something that needs to be done. She is dedicated, loyal, and is a hard working woman.

I experienced this first hand, when I went to a Board of Commissioners meeting with Julie Bailey and my mom in downtown Atlanta. There Julie spoke to our elected officials to explain her opinion on different issues.

I learned this is not easy, it will take a lot of your time and a lot of work. We all have a voice and need to use it. We can all speak up for what we believe even if it is not what everyone wants to hear.

I can learn from her, to speak up, to be heard and to be confident when I do it.

Julie is one of the nicest people I know. She’s smart, funny, dedicated, and loving. She’s like part of our family.

Julie Bailey is my hero and after this speech I hope she’s yours, too.