Second place essay, secondary category
I Have a Dream Too
Once there was a man, who, a very long time ago, walked in front of a
giant crowd of protesting, angry speakers. He spoke to them words of his vision
and said, “I have a dream...” One decade prior, my grandfather, Paul Steingard,
walked in front of my great grandma, and told her, “I have a dream... I want to
be a writer.” Well, she had a different dream... that he would become a doctor.
Today, my grandpa is known as Dr. Paul Steingard. But although his initial dream
changed, it transformed into many new dreams that, in the span of his career
would help hundreds of people, and his ideas will help thousands more in the
future.
After more than half a century of practicing medicine, my grandpa Paul, at
seventy eight years old, still works as hard as ever. Martin Luther King Jr.
preached about justice and freedom for all. My grandpa preaches about equal
medical care for all. TOPS, which stands for Team Of Physicians for Students,
was a program created by my grandpa in order to provide proper medical screening
for those who could not afford it. Originally, my grandpa would stop his
practice before the sports season started, and see hundreds of students for free
physicals. Now, the program has expanded allowing it to reach students in
Denver, Philadelphia, Harrisburg, Phoenix, Scottsdale, and Riverdale. Soon the
program will expand to San Antonio. So far he estimates that they have done
physicals on over twenty thousand students in Arizona alone.
Martin Luther King was an incredible man who saw an enormous problem, and
fought it. My grandpa is also an incredible man. He saw a problem that many
people overlooked and fixed it. He, like Martin Luther King, has helped improve
lives of people, and he has saved many. Dr. Paul Steingard is a hero, because he
helped people have a chance to fulfill their dreams too.
Shayna Steingard, 10th grade, Chaparral High School, Scottsdale