It’s recess, and Cecee is about to give a presentation in her next class. But she’s really nervous about what the other students might think. So, she’s decided to write down her thoughts in her journal for help. Let’s see how Cecee is coping…

Class Presentation Day

I’ve given a school presentation before, about my summer vacation and favorite animals, but what I’m presenting today is VERY different.

Our teacher told the class to choose any person in history that inspires us, and I chose Emma Lilian Todd (she was the first female airplane designer). At first, she inspired me because she was a self-taught designer; she thought of an idea and learned the skills to make it come true. That’s very hard to do, but it can also be something amazing. Then, the more I read about Emma, I started to get my own ideas, like what it would be like to design a flying car! That’s never happened to me before. All these images, sounds, colors, and possibilities rushed into my mind. And it got me thinking about creating one for the future. How do I explain an idea like that to the rest of the class?

This is something that hasn’t been done yet, and it also sounds silly the first time you hear it out loud. Telling the students how I built sandcastles on a beach is way more realistic than saying I want to design a flying car. I wondered what they would think: what if they start to laugh? What if they don’t pay attention? Or worse, what if they don’t believe in me?

Maybe, I thought, if I could draw a picture and show the class, it could help them get excited about my idea too! So, I asked my classmate Lake for help, she told us that she created a Happy Habit to be more creative this year – I knew she was the perfect person to help me sketch some designs. I wanted it to have mini engine rockets on each side (whoosh!), with wheels that can fold in at the push of button (boop!), and a heart-shaped grill on the front! The other students would have to believe in me now!

But the more I thought about it, maybe I was putting too much pressure on what the class would think. I know I put a lot of work into my class presentation by researching and practicing many times. Plus, I realized how excited I was to build my idea and bring something to life using my imagination. And once I started drawing, all my worries about the class disappeared. If they do like it, then that would be encouraging, but if they don’t, then that would be okay too. Sometimes, people can’t see what you see, and just because they don’t, it doesn’t mean it isn’t there, or wrong, or unimportant. My idea came to me for a reason, and I’m going to try to design my flying car and change the world!

There goes the bell.

Good luck, Cecee!

Lots of interesting words can come to mind when you write about how you feel. Do you recognize any of the words that Cecee used in her journal entry?

Coping – how someone deals with something difficult

Inspires – someone (or something) that gives people the desire to do or feel something

Self-taught – learning a skill (or knowledge) on your own

Happy Habits – a plan made by Rashida to help all her friends reach their goals

Sketch – to make a drawing of something

Encouraging – giving someone support or hope