What Is Your First Place Ribbon

The thrill of winning a trophy for the first time is always memorable, however, it brings up the question: Is receiving an award for participating just as exciting? Participation awards are a topic highly debated among those of all ages, with none agreeing on a single answer. Individuals who are under the impression that they are essential believe they boost a child’s confidence and self-esteem. This may be true in some cases, but these trophies could be doing more harm than good. Although in the moment they may appear to be wholesome, they have a lasting effect on children as they grow older. Many children put loads of effort into winning awards, which is belittled by participation trophies that are not only unhelpful and unrewarding, but don’t teach them the important values learned by losing.

One of the activities that I took part in that I feel has shaped me as a person, was basketball. I joined the Sea Point High basketball team in the tenth grade, in South Africa. Now basketball was not very popular in South African high schools, as such we lost our coach in my junior year. The choices that were given to the team was to either end the program or to continue without a coach. As team captain I rallied my teammates and we persevered through without a coach; we showed up for intensive training and competed against other schools. At the end of my senior year I was presented with the basketball player of the year; however I feel that award did not necessarily celebrate my skill in the sport, but it acknowledged the determination and

It’s right on my dresser with all my other ones. It’s very valuable to me. My family always wanted a good wrestler in the family, but now they have three good wrestlers: Tahjae, Jallele, and I. Tahjae and Jallele are my brothers; they have just as many trophies as me, and we’re currently ranked top 10 in the country in a weight classes and age group. We’re always competing for trophies, and seeing who has the most, right now Tahjae has the most since he is still currently an 8th grader. Little league they tend to have a lot more tournaments where you can earn trophies. Therefore, high school has only one tournament, sometimes no tournaments, you have the opportunity to earn a trophy. So Tahjae is always rubbing it in my face how he has more, but I can always bring up that I was the first one with a trophy. Over the summer is also another time where I can earn more trophies, but the same for my other

I have several notable accomplishments, most of them are of academics. Some of the awards/accomplishments that I can recall ever since I was in middle school are: First position on spelling contest, department award for the most Helpful student, Student of the quarter, Presidential award for educational excellence (Gold Seal), 4.0 Honor roll, Indian Classical dance, Achieve3000 state winner, department award for “Excellence in English Language Acquisition,” and Academic Excellence Lettering Award. Among all these awards and recognition, I consider Achieve3000 to be the greatest because it was a state level competition and was moderately competitive to win. In the Achieve3000 program, basically, an individual has to compete with the students

3. My volleyball coach selected me for the Greater Nebraska Athletic Conference All-Academic Volleyball Team my junior year for maintaining one of the highest GPAs on my varsity volleyball team. This award recognizes the hard work student-athletes exhibit on the

Do we give children too many trophies? According to Bob cook a sports father of four, “when it comes to participation trophies in my experience kids know the score.” Therefore at the end of the day, a trophy for involvement is a gift, and children are aware. Based on the facts and anecdotal evidence we are not giving children too many trophies. These pieces of plastic are a source of memorabilia. In addition, the trophy does not reflect the kid’s attitude towards hard work.

All my life, I have participated in sports. I ran track and cross country, and played volleyball, basketball, and softball. After all those years in multiple sports, I acquired endless amounts of participation trophies, medals and ribbons. These awards were given to me in hopes that I would continue to engage myself in the sport or to feel like my contributions to the team mattered. The adults might have even hoped I would fall in love with the sport. Unfortunately, that was not the case. I ended up quitting all of those sports excluding softball going into high school. I was not even that bad of a player. I actually was on the A team for a majority of the teams.

I was delighted to find out I was eligible to take part in National Junior Honor Society, but it got me thinking, “Why me?” I have been wondering throughout the day what makes me so special to take part in such an honorable program but, to be honest, I could not find an accurate answer. It is very hard for me to not be modest because, I do not want to seem like I am better than other candidates, but if I have to, I will. Although I do not have much volunteer hours, I still would like to help out the community give back. I remember one time when I was about 9 or 10 my family and I traveled to Colorado to visit family members and as part of the experience, my parents enrolled me into a soup shop, in which I helped feed the less fortunate. It

I believe that National Junior Honors Society can use an excellent student such as myself. Many of my teachers say that I am a hard worker with an amazing attitude. In sixth grade I attended Cambridge Academy and was elected President of my school, even though it was my first year there. I encouraged classmates by competing with them to see who gets the better grade. During my time of presidency I read the morning announcements. At assemblies I led the pledge of allegiance. Student council and I volunteered at the United Food Bank and helped sort food. Finally, I helped organize school activities and dances. I enjoy playing most sports. During sport activities I am often elected captain. Last year I was on the football team and even if we

Over the last two years of my High School education, I found the extracurricular activities I fit in the most. I am part of Student Council, National Honor Society and a member of the tennis team. They all have molded me to be the best. However, I feel like tennis has impacted me the most. It’s a sport that has taught me so much, from being physically fit, to mentally prepared for any outcome. I learned that a game it’s not about winning or losing, but about how it’s played, and what it took to get there. Being in a team is about contributing others, and learning from them. It’s about accepting that we all make mistakes, and only practice can reduce the times we make them. So many loses and few victories, but I always preferred to sheer my

My artifact that shows my success is a cheer trophy that my team and I won in Vegas at a competition. The trophy is significant to me because it took a lot of hard work for our team to perform at this competition. Our team has never worked together so well and had more dedication than ever because that first place trophy is something we all wanted.

Throughout high school, I’ve been involved in multiple activities. As I began high school sports, I looked up to the upperclassmen and tried to be like them. As I grow older, I try to be a positive role model for the underclassmen, just as the students before me had done. I believe that being a positive influence on the ones that look up to you is a splendid aspect to have. As my senior year approached, I participated in volleyball for my fourth year. Throughout practice, I was sure to reach

In the article “Dangers of an ‘everyone gets a trophy’ culture?” Ashley Merryman interviews thirty seven children to see what they think about participation trophies. One kid, Levey Friedman, said to Ashley Merryman “Well, I kind of purposely played in this esiar one because I knew I would win and now I don’t really count that as a real victory because I went in and I knew it was below my level.” In other words Levey Friedman only played on the lower level sports team to win. One year when I played soccer we only won one out of thirteen games. At the end of the year we got our trophies and awards and now every time I see the soccer trophy it just reminds me of how bad our team was and how bad we did that season. Kids know when a sport is below their level so it's dangerous to think that everyone's a

A ribbon for kids tractor pull in Finney County, a certificate for participating in seventh grade volleyball, a medal for the fifth grade spelling bee, a ribbon for pee wee swine showmanship, a trophy for five to six year old soccer; these are just a few among the many awards of participation I found in my room beneath the dust. Similar to other students, I grew up receiving trophy after trophy, medal after medal, and ribbon after ribbon for every county fair, sports season, and spelling bee I participated in.

Knowing my limited athletic talents, I began to explore other aspects of sports. In my junior year, I decided to become the Statistician for the Soccer team. By the end of the season, I earned my first varsity letter for soccer. When fencing season began, I was called up to the varsity squad as my skills improved. By the end of the season, I received my second varsity letter for fencing. At the end of the year, I realized there was a difference between both letters. The soccer letter represented me recognizing my personal flaws and adjusting my interests to succeed in the end. The fencing letter represented me working on my determination and ability to learn the skills needed to reach my goal.