Change: How Mo Farah Changed My Life

It all started on a warm sunny day, my dad had just arrived from Michigan. He came into the house gave my siblings, my mother and me a hug and told us the big news. “We are moving to Michigan” he said. He said it so calmly as if expecting my siblings, my mother and myself to react in a good way. Immediately I started to panic, I didn’t want to leave the place I grew up in. I was only eleven years old, I didn’t know how the people in Michigan would be. Finally I spoke “ I don’t want to move dad, I love it here!” which he responded with “I’m sorry but we are going to move because we can’t afford to live here anymore” He said this so emotionless as if not knowing how this could affect me. I hardly got any sleep that night for the fact that my parents were arguing for what felt like all night, but in reality was just an hour.

About the Author: My name is Alia Kurth. I am 16 years old and I am from Oswiecim, Poland.I moved to Germany when I was 13 because of my father's job. I had a best friend named Diana and I loved her very much. We would read every day under the big or oak tree and sing songs and play board games.I never realized That on a beautiful Tuesday , that she would be gone forever because of my father's decisions. I always noticed that my father did not really like Diana ,and I never knew why. My Father was a Natsi and I did not agree with what he was doing at all. I lost my best friend of 3 years to a horrible and brutal decision made by my family.

Page by page I develop a new understanding for life and perspective. Reading just a few pages of To Kill a Mockingbird opened up so many thoughts and questions. Learning to have a sympathetic perspective when noticing difference is a sensitive topic to be focused on. "If you can learn a simple trick, Scout, you'll get along a lot better with all kinds of folks. You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view". Scout is a girl with intelligence and extraordinary knowledge for a six year old, but she has a lot more to learn about the human race. "Our battles were epic and one-sided. Calpurnia always won, mainly because Atticus always took her side". Calpurnia was her African American nanny and Atticus probably

Mrs. Wilson instilled a love for reading in me. In first grade this didn’t seem like much, but as the years went on I saw her impact on my life in many different ways. In fifth grade I was given the opportunity to be “student leader”, presented the opportunity to go to the young grades and read to the kids. I of course chose to read to Mrs. Wilson’s class. This

Many people influenced and events my reading and writing development throughout my childhood from my mother, my elementary librarian, and Sesame Street, to getting my first pair of glasses. We all have defining moments in our lives where we can look back and say, “That moment changed my life.” This is the story of the defining moment that changed the way I read and write, and I learned it from a whale!

A crowd of young rebellious men, loud voices shouting for freedom, shells, bombs, grenades, blood, and death; this is where my story started from. There are many changes that can happen in a person’s life. Some changes are very tiny and would not affect your life very much. However, other events could be very important and could change a person’s whole life, such as mine. These big events can cause a change in our lifestyle, personality, and the way we look at things. It can also make us realize the value of things that we did not care about before. My life changing event is when I moved with my family to the United States.

Last years, I was in Iraq, in Baghdad, in my house with my mom and sister. It was a beautiful weather, when the phone rang and my mom answered, immediately the smile became on her face when she heard we would travel to another country. After the phone closed, she came to us and said,¨we will finally travel to United States,let us go to prepare the backpacks, we do not have more time to waste¨these news were amazing, but I became sad that we left my cousin, my friend in Iraq. Next, we prepare to go to the pline, we moved in pline to Ardon, then to Germany, and then to United States. It was a fun trip in airport and also a tired one. Then,

Everything is perfectly fine, everything is great, then one day it all comes crashing down and shattered pieces are left. My life would never be the same but I guess change is for the best and it forced me to become the person I am today. It’s rough to be the oldest child, especially when your mom is diagnosed with stage 4 cancer and you have 3 younger sisters that look to you for comfort when their mom can’t be there. When the cancer is spread throughout your moms body doctors can’t just get rid of it no matter how badly you wish they could. Rounds of chemotherapy only slow it down, yet it’s still there a lurking monster waiting to reappear at any given moment. Nothing can even begin to describe the fear I felt, and still have to deal

I walked silently, my converse crunching on the wet sidewalk. I zipped up my jacket and took a sip of my coffee. I slowly walked towards my school when someone's shoulder slammed in to me. My coffee flew out of my hands, the lid came of as it hit the ground, spilling all over the sidewalk. I stumbled as I tried to regain my balance. I hate this small town I thought to myself. When I returned home I arrived to both of my parents sitting at the table. I looked at them with a confused look, “Ava why don't you take a seat,” Father said “we have something to tell you.” I took a seat not saying a word just giving them a confused look. “Ava honey your father got a promotion,” Mother stated “and we are going to be moving to California!” Fireworks were going off in my head thinking of all of the new things I would get to experience.

My story begins when my mom and I moved from Crafton, near Pittsburgh, to my grandparents’ house in Schwenksville at the beginning of first grade. In Crafton, there were not a lot children in my neighborhood; therefore, my wonderful mother and heart rending loneliness were my only friends. Fortunately, in my grandparent’s huge neighborhood, there were three amazing girls that became my best friends. However, those girls were not enough to combat my loneliness. At times these girls were mean to me, but my caring mother was there to lift my spirits. My mother was understanding and always knew what to say when I was lonely. As the story continues my life will hit an unexpected turn when I accepted a last minute invitation from a friend to attend

My best friend Leah Nepomuceno is one of the strongest people I know, especially when it comes to family. Family to her is everything and she has done all she can to try and keep hers together as a whole. We were in sixth grade swinging on the swings outside at recess, whispering and giggling about our usual gossip when she received news from one of our teachers that we knew was serious by the look on her face and fear in her voice. She came up to us and told her she needed to go the office and that she was being dismissed, she gave me permission to walk with her inside. On the short but long felt walk inside Leah's heart was pounding, her hands were sweating, and her eyes were slowly filling with tears. Her mom was

I am a 12-year-old refugee from War-Torn Syria. Bashar al-Assad, the ruthless president had caused a civil war. As soon as my family heard about it we were very nervous. It was me and my brother: Alex, and my 2 sisters: Adina and Aliza. I was the youngest, everyone was speechless but me, my dad said, “Go pack your belongings in your suitcase. Then come down as much food and water.” Everyone nodded and we burst up the stairs. My youngest sister, Adina, was first one first one down. She was packing the food. I immediately burst down the stairs, into the kitchen and immediately start packing the water. We got a lot of food and water. I then just remembered something. I sprinted up the stairs as fast as I can. "Where are you going?" Adina asked.

The following months a winter, cold and gloomy, surrounded the house. My grandmother came to stay with us since my father had fallen into depression and needed help taking care of my sister and I. When my grandmother went grocery shopping my sister would struggle with homework without my grandmother’s help. One day when my grandmother left to go grocery shopping my sister approached me, which was unusual of her since its very rare for her to come to me. Her dark brown hair and big eyes reminded me of my self when I was younger. “I’m hungry” she complained, a question she’s never asked me. My father sleeping and my grandmother away, I was the only one left to take care of her and that terrified me. I had never cared for or known how to care for someone else. All I knew was how to evaluate whether or not someone was caring for another correctly.

Our uncle’s car was parked outside of the gate of the villa. As soon as the coast was clear we zoomed out the villa, opened the gates, closed it and hid behind the car. I was so excited to finally go out during night, I was doing things actual teenagers did. I had almost forgotten about what had happened until my uncle brought it up in the car. I felt guilty when he had asked us about it. When we arrived at the mall, my cousins and I started to make fun of the whole thing, and I felt much better. We did not let her come only because we did not like her, we had actual reasons. We went and watched a movie at the mall, then got ice cream. I felt a mix of joy and sadness during those 3 hours with the guy’s. Ahmad was leaving the very next day and Alex was leaving the day after that. I did not know when I would visit again and I knew that I would miss them, they were my favourite cousins. As we drove back to our grandparents house, we knew the trickiest part was about to come. Walking back casually without Jenin seeing us at

No one in my family spoke English at that time and we struggled to communicate with anyone. The next morning the plane was waiting so they took us in van with another family, who were African American and they helped us a little with English. When we got to the San Diego airport at 6:00 pm, my dad was waiting for us with his friend. He took us to our new home; we were exhausted, but excited for this new life. The next morning, my dad explained the laws in the United States. We all went to school, but I was held back to the beginning of the third grade. My siblings and I needed to learn more english before we could move onto the next level. It was at this time that I found hope again. I knew I could do great things if I worked hard and learned English. Everything was so different, so new to me. I felt so overwhelmed, but this was my new life and I was determined to make the best of it. My Fear and the two faces in me tell a lot about my past, but I am ready to write a new future for myself so I can do all of the things I dreamed of when I was a young girl in Baghdad, Iraq. That was my past and this is my