Here’s the winning youth essay in the essay contest sponsored by Healthy Shasta, The Bike Shop and Safe Routes to School. Read more about it in Paul Shigley’s Take-Out Window column.
My name is Celena Romero and I am a 6th grader at Shasta Lake School. My Mom does not drive and it makes it really hard for me as I am in band at school and I also stay after school for tutoring in math. I have been trying to save for a bicycle for a long time but never get enough together because I try to help my Mother with some bills. I have 2 sisters and 1 brother and it is very hard on my Mom as a single Mother to take care of all of us.
If I had a bike I could ride it to school and not have to worry about getting home in time for dinner with my family. I could also go to the store for my Mom and the kids. I am presently working for a lady up the road who I call Gramma because my Gramma died. She is good to me and helps me earn money and teaches me cooking and just about everything. When we go to the park she shares her bicycle with me and has told me I could have it but I know she loves her bike and I can’t do that.
I am going to be 12 in May of this year and I would also like to lose my baby fat and a bicycle would sure help that situation. Next semester I will be playing the clarinet or the violin and I could take my bike to school and make sure that I am there for these classes and not have to worry how I would get home. Thank you for the opportunity in this contest to maybe see a dream come true of having a bicycle of my own.
