Bella Melardi Wins at InCITE for Creative Non-Fiction Piece "Stand Up"

Grade 7 student Bella Melardi won the InCITE 2018 first prize for Grade 7/8 student creative non-fiction. She read her piece, "Stand Up," at the conference, and was invited to participate in a creative writing workshop with other finalists. Her piece will be published in the InCITE 2018 anthology. 

InCITE is published annually by the Conference of Independent Teachers of English (CITE). 

Grade 11 student Rachel Fisman-Guarascio also had a piece included in the anthology. 

You can read Bella's winning story below.

Stand Up
Sometimes the bravest thing you can do is make a stand

This is the story of Aly Raisman, a young Olympic gymnast. Raisman has mesmerizing beauty, from her luminous brown eyes to her sleek brown hair that cascades down her back in a high ponytail.

When Raisman was just 15, during an early morning gymnastic practice, the abuse started. Excruciating pain consumed her back and heels, like a fire roaring through her body, incapacitating all her limbs. Raisman’s coach saw her in pain and suggested, “You should see Nassar. He is a good doctor, and you should consider yourself lucky he would work with you.”

Once she got home, Nassar was at her door. Based on what her coach said, she let Nassar in. Raisman found his treatments odd and uncomfortable. She felt helpless. Nassar had complete control over her. Later that night, she cried. Her tears masked her face, her chest heaving as the waves of pain consumed her stomach. Her eyes were raw, on fire. Her chest was an open wound letting the excruciating pain come in.

The next day, her eyes were stained scarlet red as she went to her early morning gymnastics practice again. The mundane hours went by as she could only think about the night before and … Nassar.

Another night, Aly received a knock at the door. Nassar said, “I thought you could use a massage.” Aly learned his massages were invasive and terrifying. A wave surrounded her, drowning her until her lungs were on fire. Sparks of fear soared across her body, soaking all the respect she had for herself into thin air.

That night, tears dashed across her cheeks. She felt powerless. Nobody should feel powerless, she thought. That was when she decided to see a different doctor for support.

All the other doctors she saw made her feel completely comfortable, unlike when Nassar would “work” on her. She realized what he had done to her was sexual assault. He made her feel uncomfortable and touched her in ways she did not agree to. She had to stand up, and Aly Raisman did stand up. She made a big difference to a lot of young women.

Raisman found out that Nassar had abused more than 60 young women. She wasn’t alone. Nassar had done too much. Raisman and an army of survivors of sexual assault came to stand up. Earlier this year, Nassar was sentenced to 175 years in prison. Aly delivered a powerful speech to her abuser in court, letting the fear that plagued her for years flow out as she told Nassar:

Larry, you do realize now that we — this group of women you so heartlessly abused over such a long period of time — are now a force, and you are nothing," she said. "The tables have turned, Larry. We are here, we have our voices, and we are not going anywhere.

When facing injustice, you can’t let it swallow you whole, eat you up while the excruciating pain consumes you. You have to fight, harness the pain and let it dance through your body as it becomes hope. Women for centuries have experienced extreme injustice in many forms. All men and women can do something about injustice. They have to stand up!

Bibliography
New York Times, time.com/5110121/aly-raisman-larry-nassar-court/.