CATEGORY: ELEMENTARY 1-3

1st Place:  I have a dream by Aleah W., Wilson Focus School

I have a dream that we can make Omaha a better place by giving old shoes, toys and cloths to the homeless shelters. We can also help buy picking up trash that’s not ours on the ground and we can put signs on buildings that say” “No Place for Hate” and on restaurants and defiantly on schools. We can start planning trees, plants, flowers and gardens we even start more businesses for the orphans and a hospital for animals or people. Maybe even more police stations or fire stations more houses for the homeless or we could make a little shelter outside if they have a fire or something you could make money for walking peoples dogs or a lemonaide stand then give it to the homeless shelter. You could make a new friend in Omaha say the pledge on the news these things could really help in Omaha because I have a dream like Martin Luther King to help in Omaha!

2nd Place:  HAL by Palmer, Wheeler Elementary

Just like Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream I have a dream. I dream of people being nice to others and respecting others. When people respect others it is saying please and thank you. Another way to show respect and kindness is not hurting with words or actions. A way people can people can be kind to others is mowing your neighbor’s lawn when they are sick. Another way to show respect is to stop when someone is hurt and take them to safety. There was a time I went out with community service club and we picked up trash. Another thing I do is I pick up my neighbors newspaper when they are gone on vacation. Sometimes in the past are neighbors have left the garage open and we call them to tell them that so there house does not get robbed. When I do things like this I feel caring and proud. When we live in a community where these things are happening we are making dreams like mine and MartinLuther King Jr.’s come true.

3rd Place:  I Have a Dream for Omaha by Norah H., Wilson Focus School

I have a dream to plan more trees and for Omaha to be a better place. Truly I think that we should stop violence and quit the shooting and killing. It isn’t right. We all should pick up litter. If it wasn’t’ you then still pick it up and if you accidently dropped your trash please pick it up. Omaha is a great city but we can make it better by doing many things. We love Omaha. We could have an event to start planting more flowers, trees, bushes, vegetables, and fruit. We could donate money to the poor and homeless some food also. We could stop bullying and start smiling. Omaha is a great place. We can do anything to make Omaha a better place like donating books to kids that can’t get into schools. We can do a walk for diabetes, cancer, or the homeless. We could make peace for each and everyone we could make freedom. We should love and care and share for love and peace for all. We should do a pledge every morning on the news like this, “I pledge to make Omaha a better place just by caring, sharing, and loving making our city a great city just by doing these things. We are Omaha!” We can do that every morning on the news. I want to make Omaha a better place.

CATEGORY: ELEMENTARY 4-6

1st Place:  My dream and vision for my community by Emily, St. Margaret Mary School

My dream for my community is for it to be a safe, clean, and have a welcoming environment. I dream that one day I can ride my bike around my neighborhood and not see litter or graffiti. One day I hope all neighborhoods will have neighborhood watches, or at least have a small gathering once in awhile to talk about things that need to be done in their neighborhoods. All of this can be done! We have to strive for it and work hard if we want this dream to become reality.

Being a safe community takes time to do, but we can make it fun! Small meetings about what we can do to improve our community can be held once in awhile. During these meetings there could be snacks and beverages, or even fun activities for children. Discussions about suspicious behavior such as seeing people disturbing other people in the community can be talked about and maybe and even resolved during these meetings. A ‘picking up litter schedule’ could also be arranged to make your community a safer and cleaner place.

Communities can be made cleaner in a few ways. You could do volunteer work and paint over graffiti. You could also have gloves and a bag with you while you are taking walks, just in case you see any litter. I also personally believe there should be a recycling bin as well as a trash bin every few blocks or so. Even walking places instead of driving to them could keep your community cleaner! The possibilities are almost endless for what you could do to help clean your community.

Making a welcoming environment isn’t so hard, either. Inviting over a family that just moved into a house in your community is one way. Even having occasional block parties can be welcoming to new families in your community! Making the environment in your community save and clean is also welcoming. These are only a few ways how you can make your community more welcoming.

Like I said before, all of this can be done! It takes time though, and not everything will be perfect. Martin Luther King, Jr. also had a big dream, but nothing is impossible when you put your mind to it. If there is a will, there is definitely a way and I will strive to make my dream, someday a reality.

2nd Place:  My Dream for My Community by Thomas S., St. Margaret Mary School

I hear of shootings almost every night on the news. That is not my vision for my community. I wish people would end their conflicts peacefully and without violence. To enforce this, I believe the city government should enforce stricter rules for gun possession. Unfortunately, people have the right to carry concealed firearms. While we cannot stop people from owning guns, we can enforce stricter, more powerful penalties to prevent shootings.

Gangs form in schools all over my community. However, many never get caught. More needs to be done to prevent gang violence. If it were not for gang violence there would be less shootings, drugs, and crime in my community. I worry about kids my age that join gangs and get involved in these crimes. We can prevent this by arranging anti –gang conferences and speeches in our schools.

There are multiple robberies in my community. I hear about a robbery almost every night. To deter this crime, I wish people would call the police force when they see suspicious activity. My dad has even experienced it personally. He lost him gym bag when someone broke into his car. He needed to pay a lot of money to replace his possessions and repair his car. Robbery is sometimes portrayed as funny or insignificant on television, it costs a lot of money to replace and some people can lose almost everything they have. We can all do something to stop robbery. We can all get better security systems and take better precautions to keep this common crime from happening in our community.

Drug possession crimes are too common in my community. Drugs are not only illegal, they also are bad for your health. People will illegally buy drugs from black market dealers. They will sometimes even manufacture their own. To stop this, we need to tell authorities if you find out someone is using or distributing illegal drugs. If we will all enforce this rule we can live in a drug free community.

Finally, segregation, which still occurs to some degree in my community, can be bad for my community. It is harming someone because of their race or even excluding someone for no good reason. Each of us has probably segregated someone before and do not know it. No matter who you are you can help end this. You can just include someone in your game or just say something nice to somebody. If you do not like them, you can still be polite and inclusive. These simple acts would put an end to this offending subject.

No matter your age, race, wealth, or believe we can all help with visions for my community. We all have dreams, but some will try to make their dreams a reality. Martin Luther King, Jr. challenged us to dream, but he did much more. He acted in a way to realize the goals. We can all do the same to make our community better.

3rd Place:  My vision of our community by Thomas A., St. Margaret Mary School

I know I am only a kid but I have big dreams. I dream of a city where everyone is friendly, happy, and smiles all the time. A kind smile says a lot about a person. It says that I am your friend and that you are special to me. Imagine if everyone in my community felt the same way I did. Everyone would treat each other with respect and there would be no hatred between one another. We would help each other just because we were friends.

UI dream of a city where kids can play freely without any worries and that nobody would think that there were better than another but the same. I dream of a city where there is no poverty and that everyone has a job and that they would know that their job was making the community safer, better, and brighter.

 dream that everyone who did something wrong would learn from their mistakes. I dream that everyone would treat others the same and not favor one person over another because they are wealthy or powerful but as a true friend. A true friend would be there for you and always help you. I dream that everybody had a good education so they could get more out of their life.

I hope this city is Omaha Nebraska.