Love Out Loud Essay

— by Dillon Wiles, 5th grade, Wickliffe Progressive Elementary

I went to Wickliffe for all of my elementary years. At Wickliffe, we value community, compassion, and civility. We call that the 3C’s. I have made a lot of community, compassion, and civility memories. Wickliffe gets the whole school together every other Friday. On Friday’s a lot of teachers share some examples of times when students show community, compassion, and civility. I am going to share three of my favorite memories from my Wickliffe experience.

My first memory is Golden Star Choir. Two of the Wickliffe staff run Golden Star Choir. They teach us the songs then we practice them. When we finished practicing the songs there would be a show. I remember when Mr. C would sing songs with the Golden Star Choir on the day of the performance. He would not just sing he would also play the guitar. Whenever he would sing it would put a smile on your face. Golden Star Choir always brings our community together.

My second memory is when I was in kindergarten and when I was in first grade. On the first day of school, I would cry because I didn’t want to leave my parents. Then someone named Evie would come up to me and convince me to go into the classroom. She showed me compassion. Which made me start showing other people compassion. My last but not least memory is of meeting my best friend Will. Will has Down syndrome, but I don’t think any different of him. I do Wolf Pack. Wolf Pack is a group of students that gets together and learns how to be a friend to students. My job for wolf pack is to walk Will in and outside from recess. Will likes to play hide and seek, play baseball, and he also likes to have playdates. I learned from Will that everyone is different in their own way. I am extremely glad that I went to Wickliffe. Especially because I met my best friend Will! I learned from Will that everyone is different in their own way. I learned from Evie to always be open to help someone and show compassion to others. Mr.C taught me how important community is. Those are a couple of memories from my Wickliffe experience.

What wonderful news it was to hear Dillon’s writing was honored for the Love Out Loud Essay Contest. A student like Dillon is so deserving of this award. She is kind, empathetic, a hard worker and always eager to learn. I am hoping she will embrace more opportunities like this to proudly share her incredibly huge heart and knowledge to others.

Shawna McEvoy Dillon’s Teacher Wickliffe Progressive Elementary Dillon Wiles and Board Member Andrew Williams