Every spring, KIPP New Jersey offers students the chance to share their best writing through our student Writing Contest. 

We are always impressed by the power of our students’ voices, and we love to see students like Brielle and Neveah express their creativity with the world.

“Dear Future Me” 
By Brielle Hamilton
Fifth Grade, KIPP Hatch Middle

Dear Future Me,

I hope you’re doing well. Whether you’re in middle school, high school, college or even not in school anymore, I hope you look back on this year. Sure, you had other classes and school years, but to me this is the most important one—it’s just before middle school! 

Some things most likely changed. Like who you’re friends with and who you might “like, like” if you know what I mean. Hopefully you have good friends. I hope you spend time with family and, if you’re out of college maybe you have a family of your own! That would be cool. I hope Joshua is a good little brother, I love him. Do not tell our other siblings, but he has to be my favorite sibling. Please tell me we got a good job like an engineer or a teacher or a musician or one of the other jobs we wanted. It’s okay if we didn’t, but it would be cool if we did. 

Is Coronavirus over? I hope it is, we don’t have to wear masks and we don’t have to stay six feet apart but covid is still a thing. In 2020, Coronavirus was really bad. We couldn't go to school, many people got really sick and we had to quarantine. Hopefully, you look back on moments like that. The times that are hard, the times where it feels like something changed. When it felt like the world was ending. Those are moments that you should look back on. 

Anyways, is the president a good one? In 2022, we have Joe Biden as our president. Maybe in the future America will have a president who’s a woman! Maybe I ́m the president! I really hope they ́re a good president. On another note, keep on writing. Especially poems. I know it can be hard to write when people are telling you how to write and what you can or cannot write, but be creative and don't listen to them (unless you're in school and you have a prompt). 

Anyways, in the present day, fourth grade is almost over! I have some good friends like Alyssa, Taryn and Aisha. I have other friends, but they are my closest friends. I have amazing teachers Ms. Holguin and Dr. Woods. They are great teachers. 

Well, I don’t know how your life is going, but I hope you’re happy and have a great life, My life. Hopefully you try your best in everything you do and you work hard. And please be kind. No matter who does something or what happens, think from somebody else's perspective. Put yourself in someone else's shoes. You don’t know what someone else is going through.

Sincerely,

Past You

“A Glistening Wish”
By Nevaeh Johnson 
Ninth Grade, KIPP High School

Everything has a future, and everyone thinks about the future. But, in the Land of Lucropia, a place where all the future-involved theories and concepts— flying cars, jetpacks, hovering buildings, laser guns, and more come to life—there’s no need for theorizing about the future. Inside Lucropia, behind all the bustling-futuristic activity, dwells a hovering house that shelters a small family.

The Mother, Esterna, stands in the kitchen washing the dishes. Inside of her fingertips, lay a billion microscopic-nanobots. They all come out to flip, pour soap, scrub, and wash dishes. Once they’re done, they all come flying right back into Esterna’s fingertips. As they begin to reside within her hands, their metallic exteriors blend in with Esterna’s skin color.

Her daughter, Malinda, came running into the kitchen, yelling with an obnoxious temper. 

“Mom, Mom! Come quick, come quick!” She exclaimed, jumping up and down. 

Esterna looked down at her daughter and wondered, what could possibly be the problem this time? She swiftly put all the dishes away, and waited patiently for Mallinda to speak.

“What is it now, Malinda?” Esterna questioned, “Tell me!” 

Malinda briskly grabbed her mother’s arm, and ran all the way to the front door with her. “There’s no time! It’ll be over soon!” she cried out. 

Malinda reached out for her “special” mechanical boots, slipped her feet into them, and turned them on. The outsoles of her boots began to spark, emitting a glowing blue light that surrounded the entirety of the bottom-half of her boots.

“C’mon, Mom! I’ll show you!” Malinda said, with delight. 

She opened the front door and showed Esterna the outside. There were other hovering houses, and they all lined up with each other. There were also hovering-holographic streets that lit up, as well as hovering cars flying down the street. Everything was in the air.

“What’re you showing me the outside for? I know this already!” Esterna cried out, sighing. “I knew this was another one of your little pranks.”

“No, not that, that!” Malinda exclaimed, pointing to the sky. 

At last, Esterna finally realized what her daughter has been trying to show her all along. There were shooting stars! Shooting stars coated the horizon! Hundreds upon thousands of shooting stars came flying by, all of them sparkling and glistening, enriching the entire town with casts of light. “Make a wish, Mommy!” Malinda suggested, smiling with glee.

“Aww, honey!” said Esterna, as she wrapped Mallinda around her arms. “I don’t have to wish for anything.”

“Why not?” asked Mallinda.

“Because you’re the best wish that I have ever made!” said Esterna.

Esterna hugged Malinda tightly, kissing her on the forehead. Mallinda hugged her mother back, and ran outside to get a better look at the shooting stars. Her boots shimmered even brighter, and her boots allowed her to hover in the air. She looked up at the sky and slowly closed her eyes, thinking about the wish that she was about to make.

“I wish, I wish…” Malinda mumbled with a whisper. 

To read the rest of “A Glistening Wish,” head here: https://knj.news/StudentWritingContest