No one is born a winner. People make themselves into winners by their own 1 .
I learned this lesson from a(n)2 many years ago. I took the head 3 job at a school in Baxley, Georgia. It was a small school with a weak football program. It was a tradition for the school's old team to play against the 4 team at the end of spring practice. The old team had no coach, and they didn't even practice to 5 the game. Being the coach of the new team, I was excited because I knew we were going to win, but to my disappointment we were defeated. I couldn't 6 I had got into such a situation. Thinking hard about it, I came to7 that my team might not be the number one team in Georgia, but they were8 me. I had to change my 9 about their ability and potential.
I started doing anything I could to help them build a little 10 . Most important, I began to treat them like11 . That summer, when the other teams enjoyed their 12 , we met every day and13 passing and kicking the football.
Six months after suffering our 14 on the spring practice field, we won our first game and our second, and continued to15 . Finally, we faced the number one team in the state. I felt that it would be a 16 for us even if we lost the game. But that wasn't what happened. My boys beat the best team in Georgia, giving me one of the greatest 17 of my life!
From the experience I learned a lot about how the attitude of the leader can 18 the members of a team. Instead of seeing my boys as losers, I pushed and 19 them. I helped them to see themselves20 , and they built themselves into winners. Winners are made, not born.
BBC Young Reporter Competition
If you are 11-18 years old, tell us about a story you think the BBC should be reporting.
What is the BBC Young Reporter Competition?
It is a yearly opportunity for 11- to 18-year-olds across the UK to submit (提交) an original story idea to the BBC. BBC Young Reporter Competition winners will have the chance to tell their story on TV, radio, online or on social media with the help of BBC journalists, producers and program makers. We are not looking for finished reports but entries should just be an outline of a story idea. This can be submitted as a written description or videos.
Entries will be judged in two age categories: 11-15 and 16-18. There is one entry category: Me and My World. Entries should be an original and true story about your life, or the world you live in. It could be about your own identity or experience that impacts you or your community. You need to show how your report on this story can reflect the wider situation. Entries will only be considered when submitted via the online mechanism (机制). No other method of entry is permitted (this includes email or post).
Judging process
Stories will be judged on editorial merit (优点) — that means the strength of the story, originality, and the personal story or background related to it. Judges will be looking for 40 winning stories from across the UK. Judges include editors from across the BBC as well as presenters and reporters. Stories will not be broadcast until all the judging is completed and the winners are announced in June.
Contact us
If you have any questions about the BBC Young Reporter Competition, please contact a member of the team by emailing youngreportercompetition@bbc.co.uk.
Westsider Rare & Used Books bookstore is a big name on Manhattan's Upper West Side. It's the type of old shop where you can wander narrow walkways for hours while looking through towering shelves stuffed with books ranging from cheap, used copies to rare collections. The store has even been used as a setting in several films.
In January, a neighborhood resident Bobby Panza, saw the Westsider was having a going-out-of-business sale. He also read a story on a local blog in which store owner Dorian Thornley made an "off the cuff (即兴的)" remark that the store could stay open if it could raise $50,000 — "don't see that happening, though," Thornley mentioned at the time.
Panza, who had never formally met Thornley but had shopped at the store for a decade, started a GoFundMe campaign. In just four days, 850 people donated from $5 to thousands of dollars each and raised $54,000.
With the money, Thornley updated (更新) the store's selection of used and rare books and reorganized the interior (内部) of the bookstore. Thornley also intended to buy advertising for his store, but the publicity from the GoFundMe campaign has helped raise awareness and helped boost (提高) Westsider's sales by nearly 25%. Thornley has saved some of the money to ensure Westsider won't fall behind on its rent again.
Thornley found out about the crowd funding effort the day after it started when a customer asked whether Thornley was serious about keeping the store open for good if $50,000 could be raised. When he told her he was serious, the customer — a local writer named Sally Klingenstein Martell — donated $10,000 to get the effort off the ground. Thornley calls Martell's significant donation "the motivator for everyone else donating".
Whether the money will be enough to permanently save the business remains to be seen. But now that Westsider has avoided the worst, Thornley is trying to make that happen.
When I graduated from high school, I wanted to major in comparative literature. But, once I found out my friends were going into "real" majors, like marketing, nursing, and engineering, I figured I needed to do the same to ensure a good career. So I changed my mind and chose Business Management as my major. I forced myself to believe that I would enjoy it and succeed in the future, but eventually I exhausted myself understanding the economy and trying new marketing techniques. Coming out of this experience, I realize it is okay to be different from others and to study things like classics, art history and other majors offered in the College of Humanities (人文学科)!
The worries most people have about a Humanities degree and finding a career afterwards are that the majors are too abstract, and one will not obtain any applicable skills. Actually ideas discussed in Humanities classes, which are occasionally different from what people commonly believe, offer a broad perspective (视角). How could one effectively be an unbiased (无偏见的) writer with only a knowledge of the popular opinion of society? How could one speak persuasively with closed minds? Only seeing the world through a single perspective leads to missed learning, missed friendships, and missed growth! With a broader perspective, we will be more free, more openminded, and less limited in what we can become!
STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) graduates learn actual skills in their studies, while humanities majors learn "soft skills" like communicating effectively through writing critically and speaking persuasively, synthesizing (综合) ideas through gathering and interpreting information, and developing cultural awareness. Do those soft skills sound useless and inapplicable to you? Think of it. How often do you communicate with others? Produce ideas? Encounter people from other cultures? Every day. Every SECOND of every day. So why not master these skills?
If you choose a major in the College of Humanities, you will be needed. The job market is quietly creating thousands of openings a week for people who can bring a humanist's grace to our rapidly evolving high-tech future. Your skills will be valuable to any workplace you hope to be in. Chase after your dream major with all your energy, no matter what other people think.
When my husband Ash told me he was planning to turn down some perfectly good job offers and start his own business, I was surprised. I advised against it. But Ash's mother, who had run her own business, said: "Why not give it a go?"
My mother-in-law was right. Ash started Present Model Management. He loves it: the pressure (压力) he has now is lower. Plus, he can take the kids to school if he wants.
Watching him succeed inspired me to take my own leap. After 12 years of working as a childminder, I knew that something had to change. I loved the kids, but I'd been singing "Twinkle Twinkle" for 12 years. I only became a childminder in order to be home with my own children. Now that they are more independent, I have time to try something more exciting.
I set up @family feasts to record what our family eats: healthy, tasty meals on a sensible budget (开支). From there, I started a WordPress blog to hold the recipes (食 谱). When I started sharing weekly meal plans, the feedback (反响) was amazing. That's what people want: inspiration.
At first I wanted to teach workshops for parents. To prove that I could teach, I started a cooking class for 8-10-year-old children at my daughter's primary school.
It sold out overnight. A year later, I have a long waiting list. It's so meaningful to watch the kids learn: they've burnt and cut themselves, but they're really starting to understand flavors.
The next thing that took off was children's cookery birthday parties. People have booked those through word of mouth. From the strength of my blog, I've published recipes with the BBC and Co-op Food Magazine. My final dream is to write a family cookbook one day.
I'm so glad that Ash and I took this leap. We plan our work around the kids. We pay ourselves less than before, but we also spend more sensibly. I love the freedom of our life, the time we have together, and the excitement of building a community of kids who will be able to feed themselves.
