Each year students from Bainbridge High School write essays on maxims or sayings, called Laws of Life, that have special meaning in their lives. The competition is sponsored by Rotary and the winners in each class read their essays at the Rotary Club meeting.

As BHS Principal Tommie Howell and Heidi Chambers, English department chair, each gave introductory comments, they remembered the late Jeanine Halada, who coordinated and nurtured the Laws of Life competition from its inception through the years.

Winners who spoke this year were: Jackson Wheeler, 9th grade winner; Kaelyn Wade, 10th grader; Kamryn Williams 11th grade, who was also the all school winner and Teairra Jenkins, of the 12th grade.

Wheeler spoke first regarding a quote attributed to Tim Tebow how hard work beats out talent.

His experience spoke of the difficulties he faced when he changed from an all defense lineman in football to a quarterback. He received a great deal of criticism and heckling from his teammates. “It hurt when teammates screamed at me how bad I was.” My answer was, “I know I’m not the best, but I’m going to get better.” Little by little he began to improve and made his first touchdown pass against their biggest competitor. He is now looking forward to the upcoming season, as he has learned that negative comments do not control his performance.

Kaelyn Wade, 10th grade winner pulled the heartstrings of those listening. She told how she and her father had found a horse tied up and neglected, how they rescued it, then cleaned it up and nursed it to health. Over a two  year period she spent a great deal of time training it and became very attached to the horse her father named Ruger. This past September they realized they couldn’t afford to keep him any longer. “I was completely devastated.” He was sold to a family in the Tallahassee area. Kaelyn missed the horse greatly, and after about six weeks, one night she heard a noise at her bedroom window. When she got up and looked out, it was Ruger nudging his nose against her window. He had escaped from the barn in Tallahassee and found his way back to her. Her father contacted the family in Fla. and explained what happened and they agreed to let her keep Ruger. With financial help from relatives and friends, she has been able to keep her beloved horse. Her saying was, “I will dance in your dreams, I will gallop through your heart and plant footprints on your soul.”

Developing an attitude for gratitude was addressed by Teairra Jenkins. She commented how quick we are all to walk around complaining about every thing that goes wrong. She described one of her bad days when she woke up late for school, rushed to get ready, started out and realized she had forgotten her uniform for work. She was late to school, and upon arriving she had a quiz for which she had not studied. She was not in the mood to go to work after school, but then was told that the other cashier had called in sick. So there she was, waiting on customers, feeling tired and hungry, out of sorts, and complaining about how hard her life was. Then she had a man walk up to her counter. He looked rough, dirty and wearing torn clothes. “Will this be for here or to go?” she asked routinely. He put a crumpled $5 dollar bill on the counter and said, “Just give me what ever you can with this.” The look on his face when he received the food really hit her as she tried to imagine the kind of day he must have had.

“If he could smile after the day he had, so could I. Life can get tough at times, but now I am thankful for what I have.”

School winner, Kamryn Williams’ maxim was “A real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out.”

She related it to the hard year her family experienced when her dad lost his job at a local plant when it shut down. “We did not know what was going to happen.” They worried about losing their home, and/or their car. But her father always maintained a positive attitude. He was willing to do whatever work came along to help care for the family. That is when the real friends walked in to their lives. “When our friends and family would stop by, they would bring little gifts. They brought us food, gave my sister and me clothes, and even money when they could.” They all made sacrifices.

She said that year proved to be a blessing because her dad now had free time to spend with the family. They went to Florida to visit family and friends and even to the beach, one of her favorite places.

She said the year had been hard, but was also great. One of her favorite memories was her dad taking her to and from school every day.

The year also taught her what a real friend is.