Young Southern Student Writers-Winners of 2013

connect to and understand. Both of these situations are hard to turn around or even to deal with, but anyone can choose the honest path once they know of it.

Education is a turning point for many young lives, but especially to the Moores. If they had a bad school or bad grades in school and didn't care, it could lead them down a dauntingly disturbing path. This path is one however that many are very familiar with. The author Wes Moore went to a military school, which was hard not only on him but his family: "The problem was that military school was not free. It's not even cheap. The price tag for Valley Forge was even steeper than that for Riverdale" (Moore 97). His family’s love for him turned him around while in military school, and he became a much better person. On the opposite side of things, the other Wes's family all lived elsewhere except his mother and she could barely afford to feed him let alone keep him in school, and so he gets curious and eventually into the drug trade. Tony Wes's older brother was always trying to keep him out of trouble and the drug trade even though he was being a hypocrite. He even cared about Wes going to school: "The conversation between brothers quickly turned to school. Tony knew Wes had finished elementary school and asked him what he was doing to get ready for the start of middle school" (Moore 34). Tony tried to act as Wes’s role model, however his hypocrisy drove Wes to follow him like any younger sibling would. Through this book one can see the psychology and reasons behind these actions and that though people have different morals, when struggling to survive one will try anything that works. When education is a missing factor that is exactly what happens.

A reason that Wes could have created this book like previously stated is to caution others. Though caution and warning is good, there is something that was probably never intended, the psychology. The psychology of each side is well expressed, and this could help figure out who might turn to criminal activities and how one might get help them bypass those. Wes accomplished two comparison life stories that are very intriguing to read, though it is sometimes difficult to tell which story he is talking about at times.

Wes has accomplished his purpose of recording two tales that could have easily switched places. Anyone’s tale can be changed for better or worse for something simple as forgetting a belt. This story is recommended to anyone who has lost hope in their future and believes that a criminal trade is the only way to make it out.

Ashton DeBaillon Grade 11 Notre Dame High School 2701 Vermont Ave, Chattanooga, TN 37404 Ms. Wheeler

The Life of William Ramsay (1852-­1916)

William Ramsay was born in Glasgow on October 2, 1852. He was the nephew of the famous geologist, Sir Andrew Ramsay. He studied in Glasgow until 268