{"id":303780,"date":"2026-05-22T01:14:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T01:14:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/303780\/"},"modified":"2026-05-22T01:14:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T01:14:10","slug":"fourth-grader-honors-fallen-soldiers-with-poetry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/303780\/","title":{"rendered":"Fourth-grader honors fallen soldiers with poetry"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\"H.G.<\/a><\/p>\n

H.G. Olsen Elementary School fourth-grader Kamilla Jenkins works on a poem in the school library on Tuesday, May 19. Staff photo by Jimmy Willden<\/p>\n

Memorial Day is a time for remembrance and reverence.<\/p>\n

Those actions are both things that H.G. Olsen Elementary School fourth-grader Kamilla Jenkins takes to heart.<\/p>\n

While she has always had a big imagination and has loved to spend her free time reading and drawing, Kamilla has recently surprised her family and friends with an interest in writing.<\/p>\n

In fact, it was while learning about the history of Memorial Day, and what it represents, she was inspired to pick up her pen and write a poem.<\/p>\n

\u201c(What) inspired (me) to write a poem about soldiers is some families or fallen soldiers are forgotten, and that\u2019s not fair,\u201d Kamilla said. \u201cIt is important to honor our soldiers because they died and fought for our freedom.\u201d<\/p>\n

In her poem, Kamilla explores the heartbreak that comes from the loss of a family member, and the respect fallen soldiers deserve \u2013 not just on Memorial Day, but every day.<\/p>\n

Fourth-grade teacher Sarah Dodge noticed Kamilla\u2019s budding talent and reached out to Ball to express her excitement.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first time Kamilla asked me to read one of her poems, I was speechless,\u201d Dodge said. \u201cKamilla has a real talent for provoking feeling within her poems.\u201d<\/p>\n

Susan Ball, Kamilla\u2019s grandmother, said that she had no idea that her granddaughter wrote poetry until her teacher approached her earlier this month.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was amazed with what Miss Dodge was sharing with me about what she was doing, and what she was writing,\u201d Ball said.<\/p>\n

For her part, Dodge is looking forward to watching Kamilla\u2019s talent grow.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think with time she will be able to compete with her poetry and other things that she does,\u201d Dodge said.<\/p>\n

Kamilla and her grandmother moved to Port Aransas from Oklahoma in August of last year. Since then, Dodge and Ball said that she has excelled within the walls of Olsen Elementary, competing in UIL Academics and winning a spelling award.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s really doing great here,\u201d Ball said. \u201cShe\u2019s been through lots of challenges in her life, but this school district makes students their number one priority; their main goal is to make sure every child succeeds.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ball added, \u201c\u2026and Kamilla is going to go places, if she stays focused.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kamilla plans to continue writing, with hopes to reach a worldwide audience.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe really wants the world to finally meet the goal for world peace,\u201d Ball said.<\/p>\n

With one poem at a time, Kamilla is doing her small part to help achieve that goal.<\/p>\n

The poem<\/p>\n

\u201cBattle,\u201d written by Kamilla Jenkins<\/p>\n

Thousands of men and women die every day;<\/p>\n

They risk their lives for ours;<\/p>\n

Some get memorial statues;<\/p>\n

But some are forgotten;<\/p>\n

They take the pain;<\/p>\n

They hear screams of agony when they sleep;<\/p>\n

Yet, they still fight for our country.<\/p>\n

Families of fallen soldiers are respected;<\/p>\n

Some are rejected.<\/p>\n

A young boy has to through life without a mom;<\/p>\n

Who will cheer at his graduation?<\/p>\n

A young girl has to go through life without a dad;<\/p>\n

Who will walk her down the aisle?<\/p>\n

A young child has to go through life without parents;<\/p>\n

Who will be there for them?<\/p>\n

A widow cries because her baby won\u2019t have a dad;<\/p>\n

A man cries because his baby won\u2019t have a mom;<\/p>\n

And still\u2026<\/p>\n

People don\u2019t stand, say, or even respect our flag;<\/p>\n

They fought for that flag;<\/p>\n

They died for that flag.<\/p>\n

So be respectful and do the pledge;<\/p>\n

Do the moment of silence;<\/p>\n

Because someone lost a loved one. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"H.G. Olsen Elementary School fourth-grader Kamilla Jenkins works on a poem in the school library on Tuesday, May…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":303781,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[155,157,156],"class_list":["post-303780","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-corpus-christi","tag-corpus-christi","tag-corpus-christi-headlines","tag-corpus-christi-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303780","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=303780"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303780\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/303781"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=303780"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=303780"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=303780"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}