Jerry Baker was a good student. He had a solid ‘B’ average, but that was not always the case. He owed his success to his English teacher; Mr. Kevin Riddle. English class was Jerry’s favorite class, partially, because he loved to write, but mainly because of his admiration for Mr. Riddle.
Mr. Riddle had been teaching for almost thirty years, and had been at Woodrow Wilson High School for the past six years. His students loved his class and had a lot of respect for him as a teacher. He taught with so much enthusiasm, that his students looked forward to school days, just to attend his classes.
When Mr. Riddle’s students graduated from high school, their writing and speaking abilities were well above average, helping them get into good colleges, and later to get hired at the more prestigious firms.
When Jerry started high school, he was a ‘C’ student. On the very first day of Freshman English, Mr. Riddle assigned the class to write a story about something that happened during their summer vacation.
When the essays had been graded and passed back to the class, Jerry was pleased to get a ‘B’ on his story. Mr. Riddle asked him to stay after class. Later, when they were alone, Mr. Riddle sat down with Jerry to discuss his story.
“If your grammar, punctuation and spelling were better, you would have received an ‘A’. I can teach you grammar, punctuation and help you to become a better speller, Jerry, but there is not much you can do to improve your writing style. You have a gift for writing. Your essay had me captivated from start to finish. You have the potential to be a great writer.”
With Mr. Riddle’s encouragement, Jerry tried harder, not only in English class, but in the rest of his classes as well. He began to love school, especially English, and his grades reflected that.
When Mr. Riddle gave his classes writing assignments, he chose topics that force his students to do research, but more importantly, to make the students think about the subject and include their thoughts and opinions in their papers.
For Jerry, this meant spending at least a couple of hours in deep thought, before beginning the assignment. He would usually write two or three rough drafts, before writing the final paper.
In October of his junior year, Jerry was given the most difficult challenge in writing. Mr. Riddle informed the class that he had an assignment that was optional. It would not affect their grade either way.
The assignment was to write an essay for submission to a national competition, for high school juniors. The top five finalists would receive an all expense paid trip to the nation’s capitol for the final judging. The winner of the top essay would receive a ten thousand dollar scholarship to the university, of their choice.
About half of the students showed interest in the competition. “The essays” said Mr. Riddle, “need to be mailed to Washington, D.C., and need to be postmarked before December 31st. The top five finalists will be announced in May of the next year.”
“Because this is a national competition, teachers are not permitted to read the essays, or give pointers or suggestions to the students. The applications and rules for the competition will be on my desk for you to pick up after class. Good luck to all of you who accept this challenge.”
After class was over, Jerry waited until everyone else had gone, before he approached Mr. Riddle’s desk. As he picked up the application and rules, Jerry asked Mr. Riddle, “Do you think I have a chance of winning this competition?”
Mr. Riddle was silent for a moment, and then replied, in my thirty years of teaching; I have had a handful of students, whom I considered gifted writers. I consider you to be among them. You write from the heart. When I read your essays and papers, I can almost feel your emotions.”
Jerry put the packet in his notebook and went to his next class. He forgot about the competition, until that night when he opened his notebook.
He opened the packet and removed the papers from it. He began to read the rules. The topic of the essay was “Who in your family do consider your hero, and why?” He was instructed to include several reasons to explain his choice.
Jerry started jotting down ideas on paper, as he pondered the question. This was part of his writing style. He looked at the topic from every possible angle.
Two hours later, he still did not have a clear-cut answer. There were several members of his family who he considered heroes.
Jerry’s older brother was a star quarterback on a college football team, so, he was a sports hero.
His mother was an Emergency Room nurse, and his uncle was a firefighter. Both of them were also heroes.
His father, grandfather, great grandfather and great, great, great grandfather served in the military during wartime during World War I, The Korean War, Vietnam War, and Desert Storm.
By this time, Jerry was getting tired, so he went to bed, hoping that an idea would come to him while he slept.
The next day was Saturday. When Jerry woke up, he forgot about the essay. He was going to his grandmother’s house for the day.
Jerry’s grandmother was fifty-six, but she looked much younger. People often mistook her for Jerry’s mother.
Jerry and his grandmother ran a few errands, before they went to visit Jerry’s great grandmother, and his great, great grandfather. Jerry’s great grandmother was eighty, and his great, great grandfather was one hundred and eight years old. The two of them shared a small house, across town.
Considering his age, Grandpa Jack Taylor was mentally sharp, and he always had exciting stories to tell Jerry. When Jerry saw his great, great grandfather, he remembered the essay competition. Since Grandpa Jack was a retired English teacher, Jerry asked his advice about the assignment.
Grandpa Jack thought it over for a moment and then replied; “The first thing you need to do, is to decide what the word ‘hero’ means to you.”
That evening, when he returned home, Jerry got out a dictionary and looked up the word ‘hero’. He carefully read each definition. When he found the definition that he felt, best described a hero, he immediately thought of Grandpa Jack.
An idea began forming in Jerry’s mind. He began jotting down notes as fast as he could. He realized that if he wanted to do a good job on the essay, he needed to do a lot of research.
Over the next month, Jerry spent a lot of time doing the research for his essay. He had many resources of information; the local library, the newspapers, the internet, and dozens of people. He read as much as he could, and listened to several people that gave him information he never knew before.
In late November, five generations of Jerry’s family gathered for Thanksgiving dinner. Jerry felt very fortunate to be part of such a close-knit family.
Grandpa Jack asked Jerry how his essay was coming along. Jerry replied, “I’m just about finished.” Everybody started asking Jerry about the essay, making him feel uncomfortable. Grandpa Jack saw that he did not want to tell the rest of the family yet, and he quickly changed the subject and winked at Jerry. Jerry winked back, with a sigh of relief.
The deadline for the essay was approaching. This was the hardest essay that Jerry had ever written. It was no longer, just a competition. It was a tribute to his Grandpa Jack.
After going through several sheets of paper, and after several rough drafts, Jerry finally finished his essay on December 10th. He typed it up on his computer, spell checked and grammar checked it. When he was certain that it was perfect, he printed the essay, put in a large envelope and mailed it to Washington, D.C., by certified mail.
Once Jerry had mailed his essay, he was able to relax and he tried not to think about the competition any more. He knew that it would be five more mon
ths before the finalists were announced. Jerry knew that it would drive him crazy if he thought about the essay for five months.
Over the next several months, Jerry focused all of his attention on his classes and preparing for his SAT exams.
One afternoon in mid May, Mr. Riddle told Jerry to stay after class for a moment. Jerry thought that he was in trouble for something, he did, or that he had gotten a low grade on a paper.
When they were the only two left in the classroom, Mr. Riddle walked over to Jerry and stuck out his hand. “I want to be the first to congratulate you, Jerry. Out of more than four hundred thousand juniors nationwide, who submitted essays, you were selected as one of the top five finalists. You will be going to Washington, D.C., to read your essay in front of a panel of educators and award winning authors. One of you five will win the ten thousand dollar scholarship I am so proud of you, Jerry.
“Jerry just sat there. He was too shocked to speak. He had hoped that he would make the final cut, but he knew that his chances were very slim.
Mr. Riddle gave Jerry a sheet of paper with all of the details of his trip to Washington, The final judging of the top five essays, would be held at the White House on Monday, May 25th. The expenses of Jerry and his parents would be paid by the school district.
Mr. Riddle shook Jerry’s hand again and said, “I knew that