When I was in Grade 6, I knew a girl. She 1 to point out my shortcomings and always said I was very thin, I wasn't a good student, and so on. I tried not to care what she said. 2 , I became very 3 in the end. I cried and ran to Daddy.

    Daddy asked, “Are the things she says true or not? Lisa, didn't you ever 4 what you're really like? Well, you now have that girl's 5 . Go and make a 6 of everything she said and 7 the points that are true. Pay no attention to the other things she said.”

    To my 8 , I discovered that about half the things were true. Some of them I couldn't 9 (like being very thin), 10 a good number I could and suddenly I11to change. For the first time I got a clear 12 of myself.

    I brought the list back to Daddy. He 13 to take it. “That's just for you,” he said. “You know better than anyone else the 14  about yourself. But you have to learn to 15 . Don't just close your ears in anger, feeling 16 . When something said about you is true, you'll find it will be 17 to you. Our world is full of people who think they know your duty. Don't 18 your ears. Listen to them all, but hear the truth and do what you think is 19 .”

    In my life, this is the best 20 that Daddy has given me.

    A teacher affects eternity(永久)：no one can tell where his influence stops. ——Henry Adams

    Mrs. Barrow, room 501, room 501, I repeated to myself as I scanned the hallways looking for the room number. It was my first day fifth grade and I was really 1.

    I came to the end of the hall and found an open door. Stepping into the room, I suddenly felt out of 2. I tried to act normal, but Mrs. Barrow saw right through me.

    “Good morning, Courtni. You may pick your 3. ”

    I 4 about the room and took an empty seat near a girl named Wendy Barer. As the year slowly 5, Wendy and I became good friends. I felt no closeness to Mrs. Barrow, 6.

    Mrs. Barrow had us write a paper on what we wanted to be when we grew up. Some kids asked7. She explained that when her former students8, she liked them to come back and share their fifth-grade dreams together, as a9 of their childhood. I10right then and there that I like Mrs. Barrow.

    Then, my grandmother, who lived with us, was diagnosed with cancer and about a month later died. Losing her was 11 for me. At the funeral, I was sitting there feeling sorry for myself12 I looked up and saw Mrs. Barrow standing there. She13me by reminding   me that now Grandma had no more pain or suffering. It had never occurred to me that it was 14for my grandma this way. All I thought about was how sad it was for me.

    After the15, we went to my aunt's house to see the flowers that had been sent. My mom handed me a pretty ivy plant in a pink pot. The attached card16：

    Courtni, I'm sorry about your grandmother. Never forget, I love you. You are like one of my children.

With love,

Mrs. Barrow

    I never thought a teacher could care that much about her17：now I know. I say this with all my heart：Anyone who is lucky enough to have a teacher like Mrs. Barrow in their life, even for a short while is privileged 18words. She may not know it, but she means more to me than she'll19 know. I can only hope this gives her inspiration and20 to her a tiny portion of what she has done for me.

    To Mrs. Barrow—love you very much. You're much more than a teacher—you are like a mother to me.

    I'm a seventeen-year-old, counting down the days till graduation, just like every other senior in the world. I've1a lot in my short seventeen years of life, but I have also made mistakes. I'm not2. I'm on the path of self-discovery, which as I've come to realize is not3.

    After many years, I still4remember the last time I had to5. At that moment, starting a new6wasn't really that big of a deal. I spent the next four and a half years in Mountain Home. I made four7friends anyone could ever ask for. When I had to8them, I was depressed.

    I soon9that starting a new high school was different from being the “10girl” in elementary or even middle school. It wasn't as easy to gain the “approval(认可)” of my11now as it had been back then. Back in elementary or middle school,12I was a freshman, I had my friends and people I knew. I could very easily13well over ninety percent of my class.14, at this new school, I15no one.

    I've been told over and over by my mom that I'll16have to enter the “real” world and that the17I have over all of these things will soon disappear. What adults18to realize is that every day in a teenager's life is a battle. We're no longer children, but not quite adults. We struggle to19who we are.

    Although I still have about a year and a half left, I honestly believe that being a teenager has been the hardest20in my life, something I'm sure I'll carry with me for the rest of my existence.

    The Youth Commission meeting only just started; I didn't even want to think about the piles of homework sitting on my desk at home. I didn't wanted to 1 the youth involvement in the annual holiday parade in the meeting, much less 2 the speech of Ray D.

    Ray D. came to every meeting of the Youth Commission. The local papers 3 him as "a thorn in public official's side-open, honest and overactive." He gave himself the 4 of "Citizen Ray" and even wore a baseball cap with this name printed on the front. He came to the meetings and 5 unsafe bike lanes and noise complaints, 6 they had nothing to do with our 7 and we could do nothing about them. He always went over the two-minute limit for guest speakers, and would not stop 8 until one of us told him his 9 was up.

    After countless nights of staying up to finish my 10 because of meetings that ran 11, largely due to distractions provided by Citizen Ray, I began to hate his 12. Why did he waste his time with the Youth Commission, when we couldn't 13 him with all of his issues? 14, we planned youth forums and relayed information about the town government to our peers; we didn't fix problems or give out building permits that he seemed to 15.

    It took me several months to 16 understand the motivations of Citizen Ray. Most people in their late seventies are 17 to leave the workplace and live in the relaxation provided by 18. Ray D., however, considered participating in the public good as his duty as a(n) 19. His efforts should be admired, not hated. After all, Ray is motivated, dedicated and ambitious. His persistence and 20would prove valuable in any field of study or work, and I realized I should value his presence.

    From a young age, Micheal Platt loved two things: Martin Luther King and cupcakes. He set down statistics about income inequality and childhood hunger. But he also1 afternoons at his computer in his home, astonished by YouTube bakers who changed eggs, flour and water2 edible(可食用的) works of art.

    Michael saw a way to3 his two passions. At age 11, he founded a bakery. For every cupcake, cake or cookie Micheal 4, he donates another to the homeless and 5. Micheal, now 13, said he6 enjoys handing out cupcakes to kids.

    Sometimes Micheal bakes to get money for hunger-fighting groups, too. He spent a morning last weekend teaching a baking class to7 money for Nokid Hungry.

    He can keep up with his baking partly because he is homeschooled by his mother, who 8 her job to take care of Micheal full time. Micheal 9 of public school after his epilepsy(癫痫) was diagnosed in sixth grade. His epilepsy became too 10 and too frequent to allow him to sit in a classroom, his mother explained.

    “It was a very, very 11 time," she said of the period after the diagnosis, during which Micheal had to 12 his physical activity. "He had to stop everything he13: gymnastics, climbing trees, diving. So that's14 he kind of threw himself into baking." She said. Baking, Micheal said, makes him feel calm.

    But when he started the bakery, he knew from the beginning that he wanted his 15 to do more than make money. Micheal hopes his cupcakes16 others to work for social equality.

    Sometimes, Micheal17, he grows tired of being in the kitchen. Then he remembers the 18 boy he met once while19 cupcakes. A couple of days afterwards, the boy's father messaged Micheal on Facebook saying that his son, encouraged by Micheal's example, now is eager to 20 a baker. "That inspired me," Micheal said.