Calee Zeman (Photo courtesy of Central Catholic High School)

This I Believe, Inc., is a not-for-profit organization based on a 1950s radio program of the same name, which was hosted by acclaimed journalist Edward R. Murrow. The organization now accepts essays on its Web site.

The students were responsible for submitting their essays to the Web site if they chose to do so. Junior Calee Zeman submitted her essay, titled “Life is What You Make It,” and it was accepted and published on the Web site and may be read at thisibelieve.org/essay/66571/.

Calee’s essay details her brief meeting with a woman in a grocery store and how the woman’s positive attitude made her adopt a more positive outlook in her own life. She says she used to complain a lot about little things, but now she has stopped doing that. She has more enthusiasm and is now the one to tell her friends not to complain.

Although the experience she wrote about in her essay was very personal, Calee wanted to share it because she hopes it will help others to be more positive as well.

Calee is a member of the National Honor Society and the Glee Club at Central Catholic. She is also in the Latin Club and the Old Glory Club, which takes care of the school flag. Calee participates in STAMP, the Stay Tobacco-free Athlete Mentor Program.

According to its Web site, thisibelieve.org, the organization’s mission is “to contribute to the improvement of society by enabling people to think about, express and share their deepest beliefs.” The organization has an international multimedia project that engages youth and adults from all walks of life in writing, sharing and discussing brief essays about the core values that guide their daily lives.

This I Believe’s executive producer Dan Gediman says, “The goal is not to persuade Americans to agree on the same beliefs. Rather, the hope is to encourage people to begin the much more difficult task of developing respect for beliefs different from their own.”