The Courage of Children: Boston and Beyond XXXI

Stefanie Perez Berganza
Kathleen McGonigle, Teacher
Thomas Edison K-8 School, Brighton, MA
Courage can mean many different things in many different ways. Courage to
me means you keep going even when it is difficult and stressful. These couple
of years have been hard. I had online school in my living room, on my couch
most of the time, filled with noise. I would log into Zoom every day at 9:00 AM
and end at 4:30 PM. Then at the end of the school year, I moved schools to the
Edison because my old school only went up to fifth grade. When I transferred
schools, I did not have a lot of friends, but I worked hard every day, and tried
being nice to everyone. School became more manageable after I changed
schools. I learned from my mistakes, made new friends, and moved on.
I live in an apartment that is not too big, but not too small. It has two
bedrooms and a big living room. Well, at least I think it’s big. I was about to
join my Zoom class again. I knew I didn’t want to log back in, but I did so
anyway because I needed to focus on school, and if I did not join back in, I
would get in trouble. I tried to pay attention, but it was so hard. There were
so many ways that I could get distracted.
I had my phone in front of me, and I was tempted to use it. And my seven
year-old brother wouldn’t stop kicking the soccer ball directly at me instead
of doing his school work. My WiFi was not the best either, so I was constantly
getting logged out of Zoom. This situation would go on for hours, and before
I knew it, it was already the end of the day. I would get a lot of homework
which stressed me out. I would think, I am home all day doing work in my
head. Why am I getting more homework? Nobody could answer that. Plus,
I would constantly get distracted, so I could barely finish my homework in
time. I knew I got distracted, but I kept trying anyway.
When school would finish, I always looked at my assignments, and I would try
doing them, but sometimes I did not understand the assignment. I would ask
my teacher, but she was not always online, so it was hard to get my support.
As the days went on, I would try and finish my missing assignments, but I
had no motivation or confidence. I felt as if I was the only one with missing
assignments and the only one that had no clue what we were doing. I would
open my Google Classroom each morning and look at my missing assignments
build up. I was very disappointed in myself, which made me less motivated.
“Finding courage was
the most difficult
thing for me to do,
but I learned if I
didn’t stand up for
myself it would
stay the same and
not get better.”
I woke up one morning, and my mom told me that I would go back to school
in person in a couple of days. I was thrilled, but I felt embarrassed. I thought
that the whole class would notice my missing assignments and make fun of me
or say rude things.
Although some days would be virtual and some days in person, I was pretty
excited because I knew I would finally be able to get my work done. I was still
slightly nervous because I was afraid of people finding out about my missing
assignments. I thought that it was super embarrassing. One morning at
school, I felt curious and decided to look at my missing assignments. I started
counting my assignments, looked at the final big number eleven, and wanted
to cry. I thought to myself, I wish all of these could just disappear. I decided
that I would try and do every single one of those assignments. I started with
the most important one, and I finished it before I knew it. I then did the ones
I could and finished. My missing assignments went down, and I was pretty
happy with it. I worked hard each day and never gave up, even if I wanted
to quit. I had my friends supporting me each day, and now that I’m older, I
realized that I showed courage even when it was difficult and stressful because
I knew that it would not be an accomplishment if I did not.
The Courage of Children: Boston and Beyond
Volume XXXI
42 43