Cracking the Peer Pressure Code by Siena

Cracking the Peer Pressure Code by Siena - March 2017 Scholarship Essay

I would give a motivational speech to a school-wide audience about the negatives of Peer Pressure. In today’s society, it is an important topic that is not properly addressed until negative side effects have impacted the student's life. I would like to recount my story of growing up surrounded by Peer Pressure and how I have avoided it to this day.
When I was nine years old, I began to become peer pressured by these other girls about the way I dressed and acted. I was an immature tomboy when I was younger. They began to push me to do things I didn’t feel comfortable doing such as dress more girly and act more my age. Luckily, I did not let their remarks get the best of me. My group of friends consisted of other boys. These girls believe that no girl should act the way I was acting; they were heavily influenced by gender roles as young children. I believe that children should not abide by gender rules, however, people continue to pressure one another to accommodate to a specific gender role. I was free to dislike the color pink as well as play football with the boys. When I was nine, it was easy to ignore the peer pressure of other nine-year-old girls pressuring me to be someone that I am not comfortable being. I am not nine years old anymore, so peer pressure is becoming harder to ignore.
For instance, people my age become peer pressured to do the following: drugs, alcohol, vape, cutting class, committing crimes or having sex at a young age. While I am not influenced by the following, many people my age are. I do not want to see future generations go spiraling down a path of destruction and harm to oneself.
Some helpful tips to avoid these peer pressure situations is to do the following. Something that adults think that is easy for children and teenagers are to say NO. Sometimes this is a hard thing to do but with courage it can be done. Also, another thing to do is to avoid stressful situations (avoid hanging out with the wrong crowd), and use the buddy system. We can use these other useful tips by having a friend with you that shares the same values as you have and leave the scene as soon as possible. Just because your “friends” are choosing to ruin their lives does not mean that you have to join them.
The last piece of advice I give you is to evaluate your present friendships and find new friends that want to see you succeed in life and not bring you down. An example of this could be if all of your friends are vaping and want you to try it or are doing hardcore drugs. Eventually, I would be brave and tell them how you truly feel (uncomfortable) and if they say you are a wimp then you truly know where your friendship lies. Afterward, I would make an effort to find new friends to make a positive impact on you, not a negative one.

I believe that with your help, together we can truly make a powerful impact on Peer Pressure. As the famous poet E.E. Cummings once stated, “It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.”