"IN THE END, I WAS THE 'COOL' ONE."

Guam's high-school and middle-school students showed just how "cool"
they are through the essays they entered in the "Cool ... Just As I
Am" contest.

The Pacific Daily News and its community partners, as part of the
awareness effort against substance abuse among youths, held an essay
contest for middle- and high-school students, and a poster contest for
elementary-school students.

In the essays, participants explained why they don't need drugs in
their lives to be "cool." The top three winners for each category were
honored on Saturday's community outreach event at the Agana Shopping
Center.

Terilynn Francisco, a senior at George Washington High School, won
first place in the high-school category. Below is her winning essay.

During my first year in high school, I was extremely overwhelmed to
find that the hallways were filled with many bad influences.

PDA (public display of affection) was found at every corner and the
smell of marijuana filled many bathrooms and dark spaces. I was
extremely dumbfounded when I found myself learning freshman English
seated next to a girl who was four months pregnant.

I took all precautions to avoid any such encounters with these bad
influences, such as choosing my friends wisely and picking the safest
hangout places in school.

But I found myself in one of those days when many of the teachers were
absent and the aides run from class to class trying to supervise all
the students.

Our class was left alone and unaided. I sat in my usual seat and
didn't bother with the other students. I was so caught up with
completing homework from another class that it took a while for me to
notice that the classroom was filling with marijuana smoke.

I coughed a couple of times as my lungs made a desperate attempt to
gain clean air. I squinted through the cloud of smoke, trying to see
who was the cause of this disaster.

I saw a group of students at the end of the classroom who were passing
around a joint of marijuana and taking turns smoking it. One of them
looked up from their circle and noticed that I was staring at them.

"Hey look guys, the nerd girl is here and she's watching us," he said
with a smirk.

As they all turned to look at me I knew at that moment that I was no
longer safe. My fear had caught up with me and although I tried to
avoid the situation that I found myself in, I had somehow backed into
it and there I was with no adult around who could have protected my
innocence.

"Hey come over here and take a toke, you know you want to be cool!"
someone proclaimed.

I stood up, grabbed my courage as well as my backpack, walked over to
them and said, "Define cool," and walked out the door.

I never looked back. I never thought about those students again, not
when I was filling out a statement of the situation in the office, not
when I described their names, clothing and comments, not even when I
completed the transfer out of that class and into another.

I found out that most of them had been suspended because of my
statement and that many of them had made threats against me.

"Narc" was the new nickname that I was given. I didn't care though,
about the threats, or the name-calling, or even the fact that I was
forced to start over in a new class.

None of those things bothered me because I knew that I did the right
thing. I knew that in the end, I was the "cool" one.