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Winners of poetry, art and essay contests pose for a photo at the Hoover City Leaders Breakfast at Discovery United Methodist Church on Thursday, March 3, 2022. On the front row, from left, are Trace Crossings Elementary third grader Liana Galpothdeniya and Brock's Gap Intermediate fourth grader Eliza Carpenter. On the back row, from left, are Spain Park High School senior Tess Hooper, Shades Mountain Elementary fifth grader Kate Barber Campbell and Hoover High School senior Rotimi Kukoyi.
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Hoover Parent Teacher Council President Christen Causey speaks at the Hoover City Leaders Breakfast at Discovery United Methodist Church on Thursday, March 3, 2022.
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Tess Hooper, a senior from Spain Park High School, reads her winning essay about peer pressure at the Hoover City Leaders Breakfast at Discovery United Methodist Church on Thursday, March 3, 2022.
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Photo by Jon Anderson
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Frank Barefield, the owner of Abbey Residential, at left, and Hoover police Chief Nick Derzis, pose for a photo with Tess Hooper, who won an essay contest about peer pressure at Spain Park High School, at the Hoover City Leaders Breakfast at Discovery United Methodist Church on Thursday, March 3, 2022.
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Hoover schools Superintendent Dee Fowler speaks on leadership at the Hoover City Leaders Breakfast at Discovery United Methodist Church on Thursday, March 3, 2022.
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Frank Barefield, the owner of Abbey Residential, at left, and Hoover police Chief Nick Derzis, pose for a photo with Rotimi Kukoyi, who won an essay contest about peer pressure at Hoover High School, at the Hoover City Leaders Breakfast at Discovery United Methodist Church on Thursday, March 3, 2022.
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Photo by Jon Anderson
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Rotimi Kukoyi, a senior from Hoover High School, reads his winning essay about peer pressure, at the Hoover City Leaders Breakfast at Discovery United Methodist Church on Thursday, March 3, 2022.
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Hoover fire Chief Clay Bently speaks at the Hoover City Leaders Breakfast at Discovery United Methodist Church on Thursday, March 3, 2022.
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Liana Galpothdeniya, a third grader at Trace Crossings Elementary School, reads her winning poem about firefighters at the Hoover City Leaders Breakfast at Discovery United Methodist Church on Thursday, March 3, 2022.
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Hoover fire Chief Clay Bentley poses for a photo with Liana Galpothdeniya, a third grader at Trace Crossings Elementary School who won this year's poetry contest about firefighters, at the Hoover City Leaders Breakfast at Discovery United Methodist Church on Thursday, March 3, 2022.
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Hoover Fire Deparment officials pose for a photo with Brock's Gap Intermediate fourth grader Eliza Carpenter, who this year's fire prevention art contest for Hoover City Schools, at the Hoover City Leaders Breakfast at Discovery United Methodist Church on Thursday, March 3, 2022.
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Photo by Jon Anderson
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Eliza Carpenter, a fourth grader at Brock's Gap Intermediate School, won a fire prevention art contest for Hoover City Schools, and was honored at the Hoover City Leaders Breakfast at Discovery United Methodist Church on Thursday, March 3, 2022.
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Hoover police Chief Nick Derzis introduces Shades Mountain Elementary School fifth grader Kate Barber Campbell, who won an essay contest about school resources officers, at the Hoover City Leaders Breakfast at Discovery United Methodist Church on Thursday, March 3, 2022.
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Hoover police Chief Nick Derzis and Jordan Berry, a school resource officer at Shades Mountain Elementary School, poses for a photo with Shades Mountain fifth grader Kate Barber Campbell, who won an essay contest about why her school resource officer is the best, at the Hoover City Leaders Breakfast at Discovery United Methodist Church on Thursday, March 3, 2022.
The Hoover Parent Teacher Council today honored city leaders with a breakfast at Discovery United Methodist Church, as well as student winners of poetry, art and essay contests.
The Hoover Police Department honored two seniors from Hoover and Spain Park high schools who submitted winning essays about peer pressure.
The winners were Rotimi Kukoyi from Hoover High and Tess Hooper from Spain Park High. Each received a $500 scholarship, thanks to a donation from Frank Barefield, the owner of Abbey Residential, which owns apartment complexes in the Southeast and Southwest.
Rotimi, in his essay, pondered whether fighting peer pressure is as simple as saying “no.” It often requires much more effort, he said.
The proliferation of social media and other communication advances is a double-edged sword, offering both positive and negative implications, Kukoyi said.
“We are more connected than ever, yet this means that we are constantly surrounded by outside influences,” he said. “The effect of this change? We are flooded by a steady stream of pressure from our peers, our families, the media and society as a whole. If we are unable to filter the information, we remain at risk of drowning among the incessant waves of peer pressure.”
Fortunately, people have free will and have control over some of the pressures they face by maximizing the positive influences and minimizing the negative ones, he said.
“A close community of positive influences reinforces one’s self-confidence and good judgment,” he said. “Not only does this social support make it easier to say ‘no’ in difficult situations, but it also makes it easier to avoid such situations in the first place.
“We must find comfort in behaviors not because they are well-liked but because they are right and moral,” Kukoyi said. “This is a difficult but necessary shift in judgment to make, for popularity is rarely indicative of moral integrity.”
Hooper noted that while peer pressure often carries a negative connotation, it also can be used in a positive way.
For example, people often feel pressured to do something kind when someone does something kind for them, she said.
Hooper said she has felt peer pressure to do well in her classes at Spain Park due to a competitive drive to succeed. That kind of pressure allows people to reach a potential they may not achieve if they lacked the motivation that came from competition, she said.
Also, elementary school teachers use peer pressure to create good outcomes by offering class pizza parties as a reward if the class reaches a certain milestone, Hooper said. No one wants to be the one that keeps their class from getting a pizza party, she said.
“The fear is what pressures them to do better,” Hooper said.
Kate Barber Campbell, a fifth grader at Shades Mountain Elementary, won an essay contest about why the school resource officer at her school, Jordan Berry, is the best SRO. Campbell described Berry as strong, brave, kind and smart and noted how he welcomes students into school and always watches over them.
Liana Galpothdeniya, a third grader at Trace Crossings Elementary, won this year’s poetry contest with a poem about firefighters being heroes, while Eliza Carpenter, a fourth grader at Brock’s Gap Intermediate School, won a fire prevention art contest.
