Small, but Big
Small, but Big
By Sam Edwards-Kuhn
Renaissance School, Grade 5
When people think of Vermont, they usually think of how small we are. We have a population of about 630,000; and our largest city, Burlington, has a population of about 40,000. Our population could fit inside six Rose Bowls, the football stadium in Pasadena, California. Once I went to New York City, and when I got back to Burlington, I really noticed how much smaller we are.
But Vermont is big in many different ways. We are very well known for our maple syrup production. Our three electoral votes (yes, three) were the first to go to President-Elect Barack Obama (and if you watched the Democratic National Convention, one camera showed the big poster that said, "Vermont," right in front of the stage). Our semi-pro basketball team won the National Championship two years in a row (their first two years in the league. They have already moved to a different league.)!
This is why I love Vermont so much. Everyone I know that lives in a different state makes fun of me by saying that "No people live in Vermont." But who cares about how many people live in Vermont? What matters to me is what those people accomplish. Vermont has accomplished a lot, and I'm proud of that.
This is where I am growing up. All of these amazing feats that I live around have caused me to set high standards for myself, sometimes too high. But I like that. If I had never set high standards for myself, I would not have accomplished as many things. Because I live in Vermont, I set a standard for myself that I would learn how to milk a cow and I would pick up a chicken. It may not seem like a very high standard, but I'll admit it, I was afraid to do both things. But eventually, I did it. I was very proud of myself.
I love to get challenged (and yes, picking up a chicken and milking a cow are challenging for me), and I think growing up in such a small place is a part of that. I'm sure plenty of people will get challenged with taking care of their farms (because there are no people to help them).
Look at what Vermont has already accomplished, and think of what we will be able to accomplish in ten years. I can't wait to see what it will be like in ten years with all of the solar and wind energy making Vermont so much greener than it is now, and with all of the new technology, there could be an iPhone 10g by then!
In ten years, Vermonters will pretty much be able to accomplish anything, from using renewable energies to harvesting fields twice as fast. These skills will maybe attract more people! Also, who knows what will happen this year? Maybe the Vermont Catamounts will make it to the NCAA Tournament! Maybe President-Elect Barack Obama will choose former governor Howard Dean for a post in the cabinet! All of these possibilities will make Vermont bigger, even though it is tiny!
There are some down sides to being small, like only having one Congressman and only having three electoral votes. But that one Congressman and those three electoral votes can make a HUGE difference. This is why Vermont is so small, but so big.