ZMS Essay Contest Winners

ZANESVILLE, Ohio – ‘Do the Write Thing’ is an essay contest that prompts middle schoolers to share their perspectives in regard to abusive behaviors sponsored by the Ohio Attorney General’s Office.  

Zanesville Middle School 7th Graders Levi Knott and Hailey Anderson won Zanesville’s competition with Levi writing about a kid on the spectrum being hazed in public and Hailey writing about pressures from inside the home.  

“My brother, he’s on the spectrum and a lot of times he would just get bullied to see how he would react or what he would do. And it was just..it was really sad,” Knott said.

“I wrote about my mom,” Anderson said. “Kind of not really being there for me when I was younger and eventually she just moved away and I thought that kind of made an impact on the person who I am now.” 

While some kids may feel the pressure of not fitting in outside of their family in the public, other kids may feel overburdened and unsupported by family members in the home. Something as simple as recognizing an issue that somebody else may be going through could help subdue aggressive behaviors.  

“I got bullied by my siblings because I was smaller but I noticed since we went through the same thing and now we both know what we’re going through we’ve been closer than ever before,” Anderson said. “Something that we could like, maybe try to do, is like, is just like have a speaker come in or something like that and just like kind of speak on it,” Knott said.

Both students found that writing their feelings came naturally and recognized a form of therapy in the process.

Knott and Anderson received a trophy and will travel to Washington D.C. next month to be recognized for their efforts. Their works will be combined with the winning essays from other students from around the country.