Maha was in the ninth grade and a leader of her class. She was not only good in her studies, but also good at sports. Maha was smart and kind-hearted. Her parents were proud of her and she was well liked by everyone in her family and friends’ circle. A new family moved to their neighbourhood and they had a daughter named Esha, who was the same age as Maha. Soon Maha and Esha became friends because they also studied in the same class and had common interests.

Esha was a clever student and was generally a nice person, but often she would become a little arrogant (傲慢的). Esha’s family was rich and she was rather proud of being rich. It was no wonder that Esha had a huge ego (自负) and it often showed itself in her behaviour.

When Maha and Esha started to hang out together, Maha noticed that Esha always liked to show off her wealth and lifestyle.

Maha also noticed, in the first week of their friendship, that Esha made fun of her classmates who were not rich and she would show off her expensive pens and other things to everyone. When her parents bought a new car, she sent a picture of the car in the group chat of her class.

Esha also made it a point to bring expensive make-up, bags and even a smartphone, which was not allowed, to the school. This behaviour, annoyed her classmates and they started calling her Miss Ego.

Maha warned Esha many times that she should stop making fun of others, but she never listened.

Maha decided to break her friendship with Esha because she was an arrogant person. When Esha got to know that Maha did not want to be friends with her anymore, she got mad and started making fun of Maha too.

This further frustrated Maha, so she decided to go to Esha’s house and talk to her parents about this. Esha’s parents listened to Maha and they felt ashamed about their daughter’s behaviour. They told Maha that they were sorry for all the stupid things that Esha did. They then called Esha and made her sit with them.

As I was walking home，a boy seemed to be singing a song in a very low voice，walking in front of me and carrying some of the same high school books I had with me.I caught up to him，and said “Hello”．I could tell he was startled，and dropped one of his books.I picked it up and as I handed it to him，he said “Thank you.” in a strange way，like with a strong accent.

We soon began walking together and talking.It turns out he was in my science class，and I didn’t even know it!

His name was Ahmad，and his family had just moved here this school year.He invited me into his house，and his family treated me like a special guest，which made me feel very welcome.He said hospitality (好客) is very basic to his culture，and strangers were always treated very kindly.His mom brought out some great food，and offered me some tea.Ahmad’s father and two sisters wanted to hear all about me and my family，and my schooling.

Ahmad’s whole family had to leave their lifelong home because war had broken out，and it wasn’t safe there anymore.They left with only what they could carry.His family was happy to feel safe，and they got used to American culture quickly.They seemed pleased that Ahmad had brought a friend home to meet them.

And as my friendship with Ahmad has continued，I now realize that the world is so much bigger than I thought！I also realize that your friends don’t have to be just like you.Differences make the world go round.

I wanted to share the story of someone in my community. Alex and I have been pretty good friends for years. He was raised in a pretty abusive home, and grew up with major depression and anxiety. He talks about his story all the time to help other teens. Alex has truly changed his life around to help other people and we are all so glad for that.

He started an organization to help homeless people. He has teens from across the world mail him stories of hope or funny pictures that they drew and he goes around and gives homeless people those things along with food or something. They love receiving drawings and letters because they feel great knowing that someone took time to do that for them.

Alex also wrote a book to inspire teens. He wants other teenagers to see what he’s gone through so they feel inspired to make a change in their lives. Alex is an extremely inspirational person and this book will help teens in similar situations as Alex was in.

Alex has won three awards for everything he did. He won an inspirational people’s award through a local organization; he won the Youth Service America’s everyday hero award and he won a Canadian awesome award. He’s changing lives and he really deserves these awards. Alex’s latest accomplishment is the start of the National Youth Internet Safety and Cyber Bullying Task Force. I can’t believe how many families he’s affected. It’s so much work just to help people he doesn’t know but Alex loves it.

I believe that young stars are not just singers and actors. I believe they are also the youth changing our world. There are not many teens that choose to change the world around, but Alex is definitely one of them.