Jessica Lamm
R Max Abbott Middle School
Fayetteville, North Carolina

Jessica Lamm is an 11-year-old student at R Max Abbot Middle School in Fayetteville, North Carolina. She participated in the MindOH! Foundation's 2002 Character's Cool Contest, and won a Pacific-10 Conference T-shirt.

The Character's Cool Contest was a national contest for middle school students to help stop school violence and to encourage the practice of ethical behavior. Participants completed an online survey about their experiences in the aftermath of Sept 11th, bullying and school violence, and the ethical behavior and character qualities needed to reduce school violence.

When asked about the first emotion she felt upon learning about the September 11th attacks, Jessica felt "like someone had reached down my throat, pulled out my heart and stomped on it."

Jessica's parents and school both talked to her about the events of September 11th. She wrote that certain students at her school are being treated differently because of the attacks.

"Well, I guess you could say that they are being treated differently in one or two ways," Jessica wrote. "Some people might call them names or make fun of their religion. Like if a Muslim wears a cloth around their head, people might make fun of that even though the cloth is important to their religion. Or let's say a Pakistan person told someone that let couldn't eat meat when they were offered meat at a restaurant (or some place like that) and then someone made fun of them. This is how some people make fun of certain people."

Jessica thinks it's possible for one country to bully another country, and she's seen someone being bullied in her school. But, R Max Abbot Middle School takes measures to prevent bullying and violence.

"They have consequences for the bullies at my school. They put the bullies in 'Ideal' or (if the thing the bully has done is so bad) they suspend the bullies for 1, 3, 5, 10, (days), or for the rest of the school year."

Jessica thinks it's important for young people to learn how to manage their anger and resolve conflicts peacefully, and she thinks that it's important to be respectful of others, even when you disagree. She thinks that there are certain character qualities people need to have to reduce violence: Honesty, Respect, Responsibility, Kindness, Courage, Cooperation, Tolerance, Love, Patience, and Self Control.

R Max Abbot Middle School teaches Jessica about these character qualities. "Our guidance teacher teaches us these qualities."

Jessica also thinks about and tries to practice these character qualities. "I try to qualities on my parents and family."

Jessica likes to "read, work on science, up-grade my computer, invent things, talk on the phone, surf the Internet, write poetry, work on my artwork, play with my friends, go shopping, Science Olympiad, and much, much, much more!"

Jessica loves her school. "My favorite teacher is Mrs. D'Arruda! My friends and I like to talk and shop and other girl like stuff. My favorite subject is SCIENCE!!!!"

If Jessica could travel anywhere in the world, she would go to Italy. When she grows up, Jessica would like to be a doctor, a singer, or a wealthy well-respected scientist. She is funny, intelligent, short, witty, and spontaneous. Her piece of advice to other U.S. students about stopping school violence is "to convince people that they don't have to win every argument. School violence has got to stop!"