ADAMS SCHOOL MEETING
MAY 18, 2022
Everyone had a great time visiting Adams School, our club has been supporting Adams School for over 30 years. Thanks to member Dennis Waid for keeping the program on time. Stanley Weinstein was presented with a certificate of appreciation from Principal Kelly Fresch. Stanley has been working at the Adams School Library for many years, a job that is greatly appreciated by staff and students at Adams School.
The winner of the Rotary 4-Way Essay Contest read her essay, 6th grader Gianna Cardi. She read "A CHANGE OF PACE":
Imagine you're really good at this one thing. But you're a girl. Boom. Setback. Once you are a girl,born a girl, identify as a girl you have to work twice as hard to get half as far. I'm going to ask you to imagine you're really good at sprinting. But you hate t. That's were I come in. I'm always underestimated by the boys. Every girl is.
So now you're at PE and your PE teacher anniounces that we will be doing something called a PACER test (Progresive Aerobic Csrdiovasular Endurance Run). She explains it as a running test where you have to run 20 meters back and forth and keep doing that repetitively. But here's the catch, that day you are not prepared. You are wearing high-top converse and jeans and a sweatshirt. The PE teacher separates boys and girls. Boys first (why?). The most athletic boys win. Girl's turn. Start? Slowly girls get out. Soon, three girls left. Two girls left. One girl left. That's me. I completed 35 laps. The most athletic boys complete about 40. I decide to train harder, on the weekend I go to school and practice. I'm ready. So finally after much delay from our PE teachet, its the day. There are not as many people in our PE class today so the PE teacher decides not to separate us by gender. We line up and start. Start at slow pace. I say to myself in my head. START! Slow pace, slow pace. A couple boys get out. A couple girls. About 5 boys and 3 girls get out at lap 30. 35, one girl out. 37, one boyout. 40, two girls out. 42, two boys out. 45, one boy out. Now there is one boy versus one girl. Thats me. I run hard and fast. My goal is 50. Push Gianna! Beat him! I repeat in my mind. I finally make it to 50. Yes!! Cheers by the girls. The boys are silent except for the cheers for the boys. I couldn't push myself to do anymore. So I stopped. I heard cheers by the boys, not for me going so far, but because I lost? And as it turns out, the boy who won is in another class and only joined us for PE, so technically I beat my whole class. As I sat drinking my water, I allowed all the rushing thoughts to come through my brain. "I didn't do good enough. The boys are never going to give me credit for how hard I tried." These thoughts swarmed through my brain while I stared at the basketball court area where we did our PACER test. I felt hydrated enough so I went down to the basketball court and the boys began with new comments: "You cheated" "You missed it like 5 times". Bruh you didn't even make it". And I just let them say these untrue things. I know the truth I did not cheat. When I got home that night it all weighted down on me. It was not fair to me because I was not treated equally. I know the boys behavior does not build goodwill or better friendships. Their commens were not benefical to my self-esteem. On a day when I should have celebrated I let their untrue, unfair and unfriendly behavior steal my joy. If I can apply the 4-way test to future scenarios, it will help me get through the challenging times.
