This is Braxton....In His Own Words....
Rob and Braxton's Hands, August 1998, 6 months
April 2002, 4 years old
Kindergarten, 5 years old
November 21, 2003, 5 years old
Kindergarten Cookbook
Strawberry Jelly Sandwich-you get a knife and spread it and then
you take another piece of bread and put it on top of it.
That’s how you cook it.
You’re done.
–December 2003, 5 years old
Strawberry Jelly Sandwich-you get a knife and spread it and then
you take another piece of bread and put it on top of it.
That’s how you cook it.
You’re done.
–December 2003, 5 years old
February 20, 2004, 5 years old
This is by brother Brecken! I like him because he is very funy! He thinks he is a poopy butt. He is 2 in a haf. He is strog. I make him laf all the time. –December 6 2004, 6 years old
I’m having a fight with my brother Brody. He bit me. I solved it by teling my Dad. Then I did not do it a gen. Then we wer bing nice a gen. –December 10, 2004, 6 years old
I am going to a Island. I will bring my basketball goll. I will brigng lots of food. I will bring lots of my toys. I will make a big house. I will bring my ksu bed my bortor and the rest of my stuff! I will bring my football. I will bring my computer. I will bring bateres. I will bring a phone. –April 12, 2005, 7 years old
When I grow up I will be a football player. First I will go to college and I will play for KSU! Then I will geragerwate. Then I will go to the NFL. I will play intill how long I want to. –May 6, 2005, 7 years old
On Friday we are going to watch KSU play baseball! We will eat hotdogs or hamburgers. My parents, my brothers and me are going. I have not ben there before. I will mabe have to leave early from school. It takes 2 hours to get there. It starts at 7:00. We will have lots of fun! There is a big stone at KSU there! We will all wear our KSU shirts! We will drive in our car. I don’t like KU! -May 11, 2005, 7 years old
June the 10 is Father’s Day. Whit I like about my dad is he plays kech in the rian. We wear no socks, or shoes. We get socke and wet. The other thing that I lik is when he plays resll with me. He is the best Dad in the world! I love hime very much. –May 16, 2005, 7 years old
Last night was my first game. My team name is the Giants. In the 2ctd ening I cot a Popfly and got the 3rd out. In the 3rd ening we were loosing 5 to 0. The first time I hitid I stroke out. The next time I hit it and went to second base. Then someone els hit it an I stepped on home played and it was 1 to 5. The in the last ening it was 5 to 5. It was tied. I hit the winning hit! Then it was still in the last ening. Then I hit it a gen and went to second base then someone els hit it and I steped on home played again. Then someone els hit it and the oter one stepped on home played. The one how this hit it got to second I think. Then the game was over we said good game. We won 7 to 5! We had two people bring snack. Today is my 5 year old brothers game today. We will cheer him on. He plays tee ball. We will have fun! I still play misheen pitch. We played the t-birds. Me and my brother play at the south west boys club! -May 18, 2005, 7 years old
My Favorites
My favorite food is; Posta roniy
My favorite toy is; a football
My favorite book is; Magic tree house Books
My favorite movie is; Sherek
My favorite day of summer was; going to the movie thatres and out to dinner
-August 17, 2005, 7 years old
My Best Friend
My best friend is Nate. He lives right across the street from me. He goes to this school he is in thred grade. I see him every day because my mom baby sits him and his sister. I have new him sins I maved next door to him. –August 30, 2005, 7 years old
Daren Sproles
Some days I want to be Daren Sproles. I want to be him because hes fast and a good break away. He played for KSU two years ago. He was a running back. In 2003 he almost won the hiseman trophy. Lots of people liked him. In 2003 they won the big XII champpin ship, and Daren Sproles ran a 60 yard touchdown. It was a short pass. Then he ran it back. He didn’t get toched. Now he plays for Sandiediago Chargers. Hes a punt, and a kick off resiver! I hope I be him. –April 24, 2006, 8 years old
Nicest Thing Ever
One day my parents did the nices thing ever. They took me to the KSU spring football game. They did that because the loved me. If they dint they wouldn’t take me. I’m very glad they took me!!! I felt that it was the best day of my life. They had achtivitys, they had a barbaqu, and then the game. We were up late that night. We got atagraphs too. We had a good day!!! -April, 2006, 8 years old
Super Wille the Wildcat!
Willie the wildcat is the best super hero! Like once there was a villan named creepy Jayhawk and he cas creepy and he wanted to rule the world and make everybody like KU! He also wanted to steel all the money so he cold be rich so one day I Willie the wildcat herd a HELP!!! So I changed into my uniform so fast, and I went to the crime and I saw the creepy Jayhawk threating a bank for all the money and he already hypnetised everybody in the city. So I picked up the creepy Jayhawk and threw him against the building. Then the creepy Jayhawk got up and got his hypnetising gun and tried to hypnetise me but I used all my super strength to block it! Then I took a bowing ball and rolled it and knocked over the creepy Jayhawk. Then I picked him up and threw him to Jupeter and we never heard of the creepy Jayhawk again. Then I hypnetised everybody back to normal and gave all the money back. So then the world was back to normal!!! -May 2006, 8 years old
My Promise Book-
I promised my friend He could be on My basketball team at school.
I promise I will go to K-State.
I promise I will hate KU
I promise I will hate the Brown’s
I promise I won’t take drugs
I promise that I hate all college teams exept K-State
-Third Grade, 8 years old
K-State Football
I just loved my trip to K-State Spring football game. I went last spring with some of my friends. I had a good time riding in the car. My favorite part was well, everything I guess. It was really fun when I got to go on the field and get the players atagraphs. I cant wait to go there next year. I had one of the best times of my life!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! -Third Grade, 9 years old
New York
I would like to visit New York. I wold like to go to a Yankees game. Because my favorite player is A-Rod. I’m really happy because he hit 500 home runs! My parents have gone to New York. My Dad said he would take us to a Yankees game in New York! -Fourth Grade, 9 years old
My favorite candy is butterfingers. Because it is cholety and crunchy. I like to got them from the store when we go. I also got it from tiger treats last Friday. Butterfinger is also my moms favorite candy. She loves it just as much as I do. I like butterfinger so much! -Fourth Grade, 9 years old
My Mom
My favorite family member in my family is my mom. She kind, sweet and nice. She also helps us on our school work. She takes us to school mostly cook our family every night and my favorite she gives us presents and loves us! She plays games with me and my brothers and it is a blast! We all have fun with her. She also takes to special places that where we go we have fun, like the movies, bowling allys, and a place called the alley. She also comes to all of our sports games. Like one time my football team had to go to halstead, Kansas to play halstead and it was freezing cold like 15 degrees! But she still sat through the whole freezing game!!! She takes us to all of our practices and she come into mine and Brecken’s classes every Tuesday and helps out. And she goes into Brody’s class every Friday even in his in his class. She had to run once to the concession stand at one football game to get a nurse because I broke my arm so then she took good care in the hospital and when I got home she helped me when I had broken bones. She helps me and my brothers when we are sick and she takes real good care of us. –Fourth Grade, 10 years old
My favorite team is K-State because they are the best!!! I go to almost every game! It is so loud there, but it is so fun! K-State this year went 5-7. There is a senior on the team his name is Jordy Nelson he was one of K-States best wide receiver! Everybody at K-State will miss him. My favorite player is Josh Freeman he’s a sophomore QB. He was the top ruckeriter in high school. In basketball K-State is 20th in the nation. They have a lot of freshman. One of the best players are Micheal Beasly he scores almost 30 point each game. Another Bill Walker, he is great! Our next game we have is 11th Oregon. It should be a great game! We have a another coach. Our last coach that was his first year last year and it the end of the season he was offered a job at West Virginia, and took it. -Fourth Grade, 10 years old
K-State-KU
I’m comparing K-state to Ku. First both of them are both College Universitys. They both are hated and loved. They each have won a bowl game or a championship. So they do have something in common.
Something different is that K-state has been #1 in football before and KU hasn’t. Ku has gone to a couple of NCAA basketball national champions; K-state hasn’t gone to any. But KU hasn’t gone to more than 10 bowl games, but K-state has gone to over more than 10 bowl games. Also K-state is purple and white; KU is blue, red, and yellow. Next KU has a Jayhawk for a mascot, EEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWW!!! K-state has a wildcat, Sweet. Now you got some information on K-state and KU. GO CATS -Fifth Grade, 10 years old
New York City
What is your dream vacation? Mine is in New York. It is one of the biggest cities in the U.S.A. It’s thousands of miles away. I would get their in a private jet. Plus I would go with my friend Avery. We would go by ourselves. Also we would be gone for a month. I would really love to go to New York City because there is everything you want. Like stores the statue of liberty. I’ve wanted to go to there since I was 7. I’m going to go in September because the weather is cool. I’ll be gone for a month. And I’m not coming back until it is over. It’s going to be awesome. There going to be no interruptions. What I’m going to do is go to all the shoes store and the sports stores. I’m also going to sports museums. I’m also going to go to the statue of liberty. I’m going to have to go to a Yankees game. It’s going to be FUN!!! -Fifth Grade, 10 years old
K-state
I’ve had a lot of cool experiences in my life. One time was in 2003 and K-state made it to the Big XII championship game against the #1team Oklahoma Sooners. We had friends over that day to watch the game. OU was favored to win. We let them score first, and then K-State threw a touchdown pass to our tight end and scored. I was so exited we scored so soon! Then K-State lofted up a 50 yard TD pass. I went nuts to see them score again. It was 14-7. Then K-State threw a short dump off pass to the running back for a 60 yard touchdown! It was 21-7 and again they threw a bullet 25 yard touchdown pass. Then after that touchdown I thought we were going to when 28-7. K-State then intercepted it for a 30 yard touchdown. After that I knew we were going to win. We had beaten the #1 team in the nation! It was a great experience!!! -Fifth grade, 11 years old
What Keeps Me Healthy
What keeps me healthy in life is sports. I play sports all year round. I love to play football, basketball, and baseball! I’ve been playing since I was in 1st grade. So in gym class when we run it is so easy to run so much because I’m already in shape. I always stretch before each game and practice. You should stretch before any activity because if you don’t you could pull a muscle. Stretching also helps to make you more flexible. You need to have a lot of rest to get ready for a game, so your body will be prepared. Also in any sport you need to eat healthy foods and drink lots of water not pop. You need to eat at least 30 minutes before you run a lot so you don’t get sick. Before you start to practice or play games, you need to do stretches and running warm ups to get your body ready for all the activity. One you do these things you can play hard and have fun! That’s how I stay healthy!!!
(2nd place in an area essay contest) -Fifth Grade, 10 years old
Today I’m going to write about myself. Some people might know this stuff and some may not. They might be interesting and they might not. Well here we go. I love to play sports. I play baseball, basketball, football and golf. My favorite sport is football. I have played for 5 years this is my 5th year of tackle football. On offense, I play QB and on defense I play CB. I love QB cause I get to control the offense and throw the ball and on defense I cover recivers and intercept it.
Another thing I want to go to college at Kansas State University the best school in America. I want to go there cause I love there program and my parents went there. I like to go to there football games we have season tickets.
There is one more thing about me. I’m very busy in the summer. Me and my brothers have baseball so every night we have baseball. We had baseball tournements every other weekend. When we didn’t have baseball we went to the lake. Me and my brother both went to state and we did ok and my brother went to world and took 4th.
Well I just told you a lot about me I like what I do. Do you like what I do? Well maybe I can hear about you sometime. Well I’ll talk to you later. –August 18, 2009, 11 years old
My First Broken Bone
Fake R3 roll Right Option Pass. This was the main big play of the cold Saturday afternoon football game between the 3rd grade teams of Rose Hill and Derby, in Newton, KS. My team, which was Derby, was down and needed a big play. On this play, it was my decision to either run or pass. I had to think wisely. So when the bass was snapped, I rolled out and saw our offensive tackle, Tyler, get gobbled up by the defensive player. The defender was heading towards me. I still had 2 options, but the receiver was covered and there was nowhere to run. So when the defender was coming at me, I ‘juked’ him out and I made him fall to the ground. He had my arm and another defender came and hit me dead on my arm. Then I felt a crack. I was just lying there when my coaches Rich & my dad came out to help me off the field. When I was on the sideline, they were asking me where it hurt. When Rich touched the spot where it hurt the most, he said “Does this hurt?” I said, “Yes, yes, yes!!” Rich exclaimed “Okay” and asked “Can you move your arm or fingers?” I replied with a “No.” We then needed to find a doctor that was at the field, and luckily there was one there.
“Try to squeeze your fingers” the doctor said. I could hardly squeeze my fingers at all. Then the doctor said “I am pretty sure that you broke your arm.” I then asked if we were going to the hospital and if we were going, how we would get there? My dad said “There’s an ambulance coming.” So after I was put in the ambulance, we were on our way when the nurse said “I’m sorry, we need to put some medicine in you with a needle.” She said, “It will ease the pain.” I thought it would hurt, but I could not feel a thing because my arm hurt so much. When we arrived at the Newton Hospital, another nurse aksded “How much do you weight and how tall are you?” She asked all the questions that doctors ask. After we were asked all those questions and got the hospital bracelet, we went to take X-rays. The doctor in the X-ray room was asking me “Can you turn your arm this way or that way?” He asked me a couple of times to turn my arm in different directions. It hurt really bad! Finally we found out that I did break it. Going in today, I thought our team had a chance to beat Rose Hill. All that Saturday was about winning and having fun. But after the incident, it was about if I was going to be ok. I was scared because I could not move my arm and my parents were worried that I was going to have to have surgery. They were also worried if I was going to be fine. Meanwhile, the doctor came back and said “No surgery.” We were thrilled, but it would take about 5 weeks to recover. Thinking about all of what was happening; I realized that I learned that no matter how much I got hurt, I just need to keep fighting to recover. I did recover and everything ended great! -Sixth Grade, 12 years old
My Autobiography Timeline
1998-I, Braxton, was born on February 24. It also was the year I went to my first KSU Football Game (6 mo old).
1999-I learned how to walk (101/2 months). I was a brother for the first time at 18 months.
2000-I was potty trained at 2 ½ years old. I also started preschool & had my 1st haircut at 2 ½ years old.
2001-First time I rode on an airplane. It was also the first time I went to the dentist.
2002-I learned how to tie my shoes by myself. I became a big brother for the second time.
2003-I learned how to ride my bike without training wheels. I went to Las Vegas with my brother & Grandmother.
2004-It was my 1st trip to Disney World. It was also my first time water skiing.
2005-I started playing baseball for the first time (machine pitch). This was also my first year of tackle football.
2006-My team won the State Baseball Tournament. I broke my 1st bone (in my left forearm) playing football.
2007-I went snow skiing for the first time. I also broke my 2nd bone (in my leg) sliding into home plate.
2008-I was baptized at my church. I broke my 3rd, 4th & 5th bones (2 in my wrist & 1 in my arm).
2009-I learned how to drive my family’s boat. I broke my 6th bone (in my finger) while playing football.
2010-I hit my first outside of the park homerun. Broke my 7th bone (in my foot) while playing football.
-Seventh Grade, 13 years old
Braxton
Athletic, Smart, Encouraging
Important friend relationship with Garrett
Love the New York Yankees, Chicago Bears, and K-State
Like the feel of leaves
Fear snakes
Hitting homerun
I wish I was rich
I believe in ghost
Kooser
-Seventh Grade, 13 years old
My Autobiography Family Tradition
My family has been doing a tradition for the last 13 plus years. What we do is my family, and my Aunts family, go to my grandparent’s house on Christmas Eve. We go to their house early in the morning and stay all day. We first get there and just hang out with family and do whatever. I have 3 cousins, they are 9, 11 and 12 years old so there is always something to do. We all eat lunch together their and when we finish we open our presents. We open all of our family presents from the family on my mom’s side. For the rest of the day we will play and use our gifts. So after we play around with our gifts for about 4 hours, we eat dinner. It’s the same dinner we eat every year. We eat stake, some pasta with shrimp, potatoes and some Texas toast. It’s a very good meal. When we are done eating my aunts family travels back home to Salina. Then my family goes to our candle light service at our church. Finally we go home and eventually go to bed. It’s always an enjoyable family tradition. –Seventh Grade, 13 years old
My All Time Favorites
1.Number-13
2.Color-green
3.School Subject-math
4.Animal-Tiger
5.Flower-Rose
6.Song-The Show Goes On
7.Television show-Manhunters
8.Time of the day-Evening
9.Day of the week-Saturday
10.Month of the year-February
11.Game to play-Call of Duty Black Ops
12.Place to visit-Florida
13.Sport-football
14.License plate-A-Rod
15.Holiday-Chirstmas
16.Section of the paper-Sports
17.Movie-Step Brothers
18.Car-Farrari
19.Restaurant-Olive Garden
20.Place to shop-Hollister
21.Actor-Will Ferrell
22.Actress-Kim Kardashian
23.Female Athlete-Shawn Johnson
24.Male Athlete-Alex Rodriguez
25.Comic Strip Character-Garfield
26.Things to wear-Anything Nike
27.Friends-Tyce, Garrett, Braden, Kyle & Salena
28.Singer(s)-Eminem
29.Book-Harry Potter
30.Author-Mike Lupica
31.Fairy Tale-Cinderella
32.Smell-Popcorn
33.Thing in my bedroom-bed
34.Place to go to be alone-phone
35.Room in my house-My room
-Seventh Grade, 13 years old
My Personal Goals
Goals at home:
1.This year I would like to try and help out more at home by doing more chores.
2.A new hobby I would like to try this year is watching more movies
3.I would like to try and become better at sports
4.Another goal of mine at home is to not bother my brothers as much.
Goals at school:
1.I would like to try and do better in (subject) math because I don’t have an A.
2.This year I would like to become better friends with Melanie.
3.One study habit I would like to improve this year is studying for a test.
4.Another goal of mine at school is not getting in trouble.
-Seventh Grade, 13 years old
Personal Narrative-1st Hour
Do you have a family ritual? Well if you do there is no way it is better than my family ritual! Every year my family and I go to the first Kansas State football game of the year. It all started when I was younger, my parents had bought season tickets and we would go to every home game. Until, my brothers and I started playing football. We all started playing in 3rd grade, and all those games were played on Saturdays. So our only chance to go to a game was the first game of the year since the first week of our football was the second week of college football. So we would have to sell our all of our season tickets except for the first game. People will ask why do you guys buy season tickets if you sell them all except for the first game. The reason for that is, we have nice seats that you can only get if you have season tickets. So when we are done with Saturday football we can go to all the games.
The first weekend of September is always the greatest! Over the past few years the first game is usually an evening game around six or seven. So my family would leave as early as 10 in the morning to drive 2 ½ hours to Manhattan, Kansas. Most of the time we would arrive around noon, and then we would have around 6 hours on our hands. There is a lot to do in Manhattan! The first thing we do is go get some lunch at the famous Kites sports bar. Next we go the K-State union and look around in the stores. Then we are off to the stadium to go tailgate!
Pulling into that parking lot is amazing! When you get out of the car you smell every possible food in the world! You see footballs flying everywhere, you hear other football games being played on the radio or on T.V people had brought. We tailgate with my parents friends and that always bring a lot of food. So we have many foods to choose from, and many drinks to choose from. Tailgating is always fun and will always be one of the greatest things to do!
Nothing beats walking into the stadium and seeing 50,000 people all wearing purple! We usually go into the stadium 45 minutes or so before kickoff. When we arrive to our seats the band is usually playing, then followed by the national anthem and the pledge of allegiants. Finally both K-State and the opposing team come running onto the field. Other than when K-State scores, it doesn’t get any louder when they come running onto the field. The visiting on the other hand isn’t welcomed one bit! They are booed and yelled at like no other. After all the pre-game hype the game is finally ready for kick off.
Most of the time that first game is against an easier team and the game becomes a blowout. So that means for the most part the crowd is always yelling, k-state is always scoring, and everyone is happy. Except this year they pulled out a close, boring game and angry game with a score of, 10-7. After this year’s game we expected a long and depressing year. But surprisingly they are off to a 7-0 start and have already qualified for a bowl game and there are still 5 games left on the schedule. The main point is that K-State football is great even if they aren’t very good.
Even from the beginning of the car ride, we know that Saturday is going to be thrilling. But that car ride home is always the longest car ride ever. My parents both graduated from Kansas State, so they know how good K-State has been in the past. They have watched national championship contending teams. Even though I haven’t been old enough to experience those teams, all the 50,000 fans that attend the games and the other many fans that can’t go to the game all deserve a good football team. I am very thankful for my parents buying us tickets and letting our family have a good time watching K-State football together. –October 31, 2011, 13 years old
I Remember
I remember those days
I remember the things we did
I remember the things we said
I remember the joy we had
I remember the good and bad
I remember us
-Freshman Year, 14 years old
“I Am” Poem
I am Braxton
I am lazy
I am a man
I am an athlete
I am smart
I am a citizen
I am different
I am hard working, lazy and talented at the same time
I am who I am
-Freshman Year, 14 years old
Happiness
Pink looks like love
Pink smells like flowers
Pink feels like happiness
Pink sounds like angels singing
Pink taste like chocolate
Pink is life changing
-Freshman Year, 14 years old
“Worry about your character not your reputation, because your character is who you are and your reputation is only what people think of you” -January 10, 2013, 14 years old
Nike
Don’t speak
Don’t look back
Don’t give up
You will never know until you try
Go hard or go home
Treasure memories but
History isn’t made in rear view mirrors
Expand your horizons
There is no place like home
Endlessly brilliantly said
We have the best coverage world wide
Because your wish is our command
Nike is designed for the extraordinary
Just do it
Was it worth it?
-January 25, 2013, 14 years old
*To read more of ‘Braxton’s Words’, view Braxton’s twitter account @Braxton_Kooser.
I’m having a fight with my brother Brody. He bit me. I solved it by teling my Dad. Then I did not do it a gen. Then we wer bing nice a gen. –December 10, 2004, 6 years old
I am going to a Island. I will bring my basketball goll. I will brigng lots of food. I will bring lots of my toys. I will make a big house. I will bring my ksu bed my bortor and the rest of my stuff! I will bring my football. I will bring my computer. I will bring bateres. I will bring a phone. –April 12, 2005, 7 years old
When I grow up I will be a football player. First I will go to college and I will play for KSU! Then I will geragerwate. Then I will go to the NFL. I will play intill how long I want to. –May 6, 2005, 7 years old
On Friday we are going to watch KSU play baseball! We will eat hotdogs or hamburgers. My parents, my brothers and me are going. I have not ben there before. I will mabe have to leave early from school. It takes 2 hours to get there. It starts at 7:00. We will have lots of fun! There is a big stone at KSU there! We will all wear our KSU shirts! We will drive in our car. I don’t like KU! -May 11, 2005, 7 years old
June the 10 is Father’s Day. Whit I like about my dad is he plays kech in the rian. We wear no socks, or shoes. We get socke and wet. The other thing that I lik is when he plays resll with me. He is the best Dad in the world! I love hime very much. –May 16, 2005, 7 years old
Last night was my first game. My team name is the Giants. In the 2ctd ening I cot a Popfly and got the 3rd out. In the 3rd ening we were loosing 5 to 0. The first time I hitid I stroke out. The next time I hit it and went to second base. Then someone els hit it an I stepped on home played and it was 1 to 5. The in the last ening it was 5 to 5. It was tied. I hit the winning hit! Then it was still in the last ening. Then I hit it a gen and went to second base then someone els hit it and I steped on home played again. Then someone els hit it and the oter one stepped on home played. The one how this hit it got to second I think. Then the game was over we said good game. We won 7 to 5! We had two people bring snack. Today is my 5 year old brothers game today. We will cheer him on. He plays tee ball. We will have fun! I still play misheen pitch. We played the t-birds. Me and my brother play at the south west boys club! -May 18, 2005, 7 years old
My Favorites
My favorite food is; Posta roniy
My favorite toy is; a football
My favorite book is; Magic tree house Books
My favorite movie is; Sherek
My favorite day of summer was; going to the movie thatres and out to dinner
-August 17, 2005, 7 years old
My Best Friend
My best friend is Nate. He lives right across the street from me. He goes to this school he is in thred grade. I see him every day because my mom baby sits him and his sister. I have new him sins I maved next door to him. –August 30, 2005, 7 years old
Daren Sproles
Some days I want to be Daren Sproles. I want to be him because hes fast and a good break away. He played for KSU two years ago. He was a running back. In 2003 he almost won the hiseman trophy. Lots of people liked him. In 2003 they won the big XII champpin ship, and Daren Sproles ran a 60 yard touchdown. It was a short pass. Then he ran it back. He didn’t get toched. Now he plays for Sandiediago Chargers. Hes a punt, and a kick off resiver! I hope I be him. –April 24, 2006, 8 years old
Nicest Thing Ever
One day my parents did the nices thing ever. They took me to the KSU spring football game. They did that because the loved me. If they dint they wouldn’t take me. I’m very glad they took me!!! I felt that it was the best day of my life. They had achtivitys, they had a barbaqu, and then the game. We were up late that night. We got atagraphs too. We had a good day!!! -April, 2006, 8 years old
Super Wille the Wildcat!
Willie the wildcat is the best super hero! Like once there was a villan named creepy Jayhawk and he cas creepy and he wanted to rule the world and make everybody like KU! He also wanted to steel all the money so he cold be rich so one day I Willie the wildcat herd a HELP!!! So I changed into my uniform so fast, and I went to the crime and I saw the creepy Jayhawk threating a bank for all the money and he already hypnetised everybody in the city. So I picked up the creepy Jayhawk and threw him against the building. Then the creepy Jayhawk got up and got his hypnetising gun and tried to hypnetise me but I used all my super strength to block it! Then I took a bowing ball and rolled it and knocked over the creepy Jayhawk. Then I picked him up and threw him to Jupeter and we never heard of the creepy Jayhawk again. Then I hypnetised everybody back to normal and gave all the money back. So then the world was back to normal!!! -May 2006, 8 years old
My Promise Book-
I promised my friend He could be on My basketball team at school.
I promise I will go to K-State.
I promise I will hate KU
I promise I will hate the Brown’s
I promise I won’t take drugs
I promise that I hate all college teams exept K-State
-Third Grade, 8 years old
K-State Football
I just loved my trip to K-State Spring football game. I went last spring with some of my friends. I had a good time riding in the car. My favorite part was well, everything I guess. It was really fun when I got to go on the field and get the players atagraphs. I cant wait to go there next year. I had one of the best times of my life!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! -Third Grade, 9 years old
New York
I would like to visit New York. I wold like to go to a Yankees game. Because my favorite player is A-Rod. I’m really happy because he hit 500 home runs! My parents have gone to New York. My Dad said he would take us to a Yankees game in New York! -Fourth Grade, 9 years old
My favorite candy is butterfingers. Because it is cholety and crunchy. I like to got them from the store when we go. I also got it from tiger treats last Friday. Butterfinger is also my moms favorite candy. She loves it just as much as I do. I like butterfinger so much! -Fourth Grade, 9 years old
My Mom
My favorite family member in my family is my mom. She kind, sweet and nice. She also helps us on our school work. She takes us to school mostly cook our family every night and my favorite she gives us presents and loves us! She plays games with me and my brothers and it is a blast! We all have fun with her. She also takes to special places that where we go we have fun, like the movies, bowling allys, and a place called the alley. She also comes to all of our sports games. Like one time my football team had to go to halstead, Kansas to play halstead and it was freezing cold like 15 degrees! But she still sat through the whole freezing game!!! She takes us to all of our practices and she come into mine and Brecken’s classes every Tuesday and helps out. And she goes into Brody’s class every Friday even in his in his class. She had to run once to the concession stand at one football game to get a nurse because I broke my arm so then she took good care in the hospital and when I got home she helped me when I had broken bones. She helps me and my brothers when we are sick and she takes real good care of us. –Fourth Grade, 10 years old
My favorite team is K-State because they are the best!!! I go to almost every game! It is so loud there, but it is so fun! K-State this year went 5-7. There is a senior on the team his name is Jordy Nelson he was one of K-States best wide receiver! Everybody at K-State will miss him. My favorite player is Josh Freeman he’s a sophomore QB. He was the top ruckeriter in high school. In basketball K-State is 20th in the nation. They have a lot of freshman. One of the best players are Micheal Beasly he scores almost 30 point each game. Another Bill Walker, he is great! Our next game we have is 11th Oregon. It should be a great game! We have a another coach. Our last coach that was his first year last year and it the end of the season he was offered a job at West Virginia, and took it. -Fourth Grade, 10 years old
K-State-KU
I’m comparing K-state to Ku. First both of them are both College Universitys. They both are hated and loved. They each have won a bowl game or a championship. So they do have something in common.
Something different is that K-state has been #1 in football before and KU hasn’t. Ku has gone to a couple of NCAA basketball national champions; K-state hasn’t gone to any. But KU hasn’t gone to more than 10 bowl games, but K-state has gone to over more than 10 bowl games. Also K-state is purple and white; KU is blue, red, and yellow. Next KU has a Jayhawk for a mascot, EEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWW!!! K-state has a wildcat, Sweet. Now you got some information on K-state and KU. GO CATS -Fifth Grade, 10 years old
New York City
What is your dream vacation? Mine is in New York. It is one of the biggest cities in the U.S.A. It’s thousands of miles away. I would get their in a private jet. Plus I would go with my friend Avery. We would go by ourselves. Also we would be gone for a month. I would really love to go to New York City because there is everything you want. Like stores the statue of liberty. I’ve wanted to go to there since I was 7. I’m going to go in September because the weather is cool. I’ll be gone for a month. And I’m not coming back until it is over. It’s going to be awesome. There going to be no interruptions. What I’m going to do is go to all the shoes store and the sports stores. I’m also going to sports museums. I’m also going to go to the statue of liberty. I’m going to have to go to a Yankees game. It’s going to be FUN!!! -Fifth Grade, 10 years old
K-state
I’ve had a lot of cool experiences in my life. One time was in 2003 and K-state made it to the Big XII championship game against the #1team Oklahoma Sooners. We had friends over that day to watch the game. OU was favored to win. We let them score first, and then K-State threw a touchdown pass to our tight end and scored. I was so exited we scored so soon! Then K-State lofted up a 50 yard TD pass. I went nuts to see them score again. It was 14-7. Then K-State threw a short dump off pass to the running back for a 60 yard touchdown! It was 21-7 and again they threw a bullet 25 yard touchdown pass. Then after that touchdown I thought we were going to when 28-7. K-State then intercepted it for a 30 yard touchdown. After that I knew we were going to win. We had beaten the #1 team in the nation! It was a great experience!!! -Fifth grade, 11 years old
What Keeps Me Healthy
What keeps me healthy in life is sports. I play sports all year round. I love to play football, basketball, and baseball! I’ve been playing since I was in 1st grade. So in gym class when we run it is so easy to run so much because I’m already in shape. I always stretch before each game and practice. You should stretch before any activity because if you don’t you could pull a muscle. Stretching also helps to make you more flexible. You need to have a lot of rest to get ready for a game, so your body will be prepared. Also in any sport you need to eat healthy foods and drink lots of water not pop. You need to eat at least 30 minutes before you run a lot so you don’t get sick. Before you start to practice or play games, you need to do stretches and running warm ups to get your body ready for all the activity. One you do these things you can play hard and have fun! That’s how I stay healthy!!!
(2nd place in an area essay contest) -Fifth Grade, 10 years old
Today I’m going to write about myself. Some people might know this stuff and some may not. They might be interesting and they might not. Well here we go. I love to play sports. I play baseball, basketball, football and golf. My favorite sport is football. I have played for 5 years this is my 5th year of tackle football. On offense, I play QB and on defense I play CB. I love QB cause I get to control the offense and throw the ball and on defense I cover recivers and intercept it.
Another thing I want to go to college at Kansas State University the best school in America. I want to go there cause I love there program and my parents went there. I like to go to there football games we have season tickets.
There is one more thing about me. I’m very busy in the summer. Me and my brothers have baseball so every night we have baseball. We had baseball tournements every other weekend. When we didn’t have baseball we went to the lake. Me and my brother both went to state and we did ok and my brother went to world and took 4th.
Well I just told you a lot about me I like what I do. Do you like what I do? Well maybe I can hear about you sometime. Well I’ll talk to you later. –August 18, 2009, 11 years old
My First Broken Bone
Fake R3 roll Right Option Pass. This was the main big play of the cold Saturday afternoon football game between the 3rd grade teams of Rose Hill and Derby, in Newton, KS. My team, which was Derby, was down and needed a big play. On this play, it was my decision to either run or pass. I had to think wisely. So when the bass was snapped, I rolled out and saw our offensive tackle, Tyler, get gobbled up by the defensive player. The defender was heading towards me. I still had 2 options, but the receiver was covered and there was nowhere to run. So when the defender was coming at me, I ‘juked’ him out and I made him fall to the ground. He had my arm and another defender came and hit me dead on my arm. Then I felt a crack. I was just lying there when my coaches Rich & my dad came out to help me off the field. When I was on the sideline, they were asking me where it hurt. When Rich touched the spot where it hurt the most, he said “Does this hurt?” I said, “Yes, yes, yes!!” Rich exclaimed “Okay” and asked “Can you move your arm or fingers?” I replied with a “No.” We then needed to find a doctor that was at the field, and luckily there was one there.
“Try to squeeze your fingers” the doctor said. I could hardly squeeze my fingers at all. Then the doctor said “I am pretty sure that you broke your arm.” I then asked if we were going to the hospital and if we were going, how we would get there? My dad said “There’s an ambulance coming.” So after I was put in the ambulance, we were on our way when the nurse said “I’m sorry, we need to put some medicine in you with a needle.” She said, “It will ease the pain.” I thought it would hurt, but I could not feel a thing because my arm hurt so much. When we arrived at the Newton Hospital, another nurse aksded “How much do you weight and how tall are you?” She asked all the questions that doctors ask. After we were asked all those questions and got the hospital bracelet, we went to take X-rays. The doctor in the X-ray room was asking me “Can you turn your arm this way or that way?” He asked me a couple of times to turn my arm in different directions. It hurt really bad! Finally we found out that I did break it. Going in today, I thought our team had a chance to beat Rose Hill. All that Saturday was about winning and having fun. But after the incident, it was about if I was going to be ok. I was scared because I could not move my arm and my parents were worried that I was going to have to have surgery. They were also worried if I was going to be fine. Meanwhile, the doctor came back and said “No surgery.” We were thrilled, but it would take about 5 weeks to recover. Thinking about all of what was happening; I realized that I learned that no matter how much I got hurt, I just need to keep fighting to recover. I did recover and everything ended great! -Sixth Grade, 12 years old
My Autobiography Timeline
1998-I, Braxton, was born on February 24. It also was the year I went to my first KSU Football Game (6 mo old).
1999-I learned how to walk (101/2 months). I was a brother for the first time at 18 months.
2000-I was potty trained at 2 ½ years old. I also started preschool & had my 1st haircut at 2 ½ years old.
2001-First time I rode on an airplane. It was also the first time I went to the dentist.
2002-I learned how to tie my shoes by myself. I became a big brother for the second time.
2003-I learned how to ride my bike without training wheels. I went to Las Vegas with my brother & Grandmother.
2004-It was my 1st trip to Disney World. It was also my first time water skiing.
2005-I started playing baseball for the first time (machine pitch). This was also my first year of tackle football.
2006-My team won the State Baseball Tournament. I broke my 1st bone (in my left forearm) playing football.
2007-I went snow skiing for the first time. I also broke my 2nd bone (in my leg) sliding into home plate.
2008-I was baptized at my church. I broke my 3rd, 4th & 5th bones (2 in my wrist & 1 in my arm).
2009-I learned how to drive my family’s boat. I broke my 6th bone (in my finger) while playing football.
2010-I hit my first outside of the park homerun. Broke my 7th bone (in my foot) while playing football.
-Seventh Grade, 13 years old
Braxton
Athletic, Smart, Encouraging
Important friend relationship with Garrett
Love the New York Yankees, Chicago Bears, and K-State
Like the feel of leaves
Fear snakes
Hitting homerun
I wish I was rich
I believe in ghost
Kooser
-Seventh Grade, 13 years old
My Autobiography Family Tradition
My family has been doing a tradition for the last 13 plus years. What we do is my family, and my Aunts family, go to my grandparent’s house on Christmas Eve. We go to their house early in the morning and stay all day. We first get there and just hang out with family and do whatever. I have 3 cousins, they are 9, 11 and 12 years old so there is always something to do. We all eat lunch together their and when we finish we open our presents. We open all of our family presents from the family on my mom’s side. For the rest of the day we will play and use our gifts. So after we play around with our gifts for about 4 hours, we eat dinner. It’s the same dinner we eat every year. We eat stake, some pasta with shrimp, potatoes and some Texas toast. It’s a very good meal. When we are done eating my aunts family travels back home to Salina. Then my family goes to our candle light service at our church. Finally we go home and eventually go to bed. It’s always an enjoyable family tradition. –Seventh Grade, 13 years old
My All Time Favorites
1.Number-13
2.Color-green
3.School Subject-math
4.Animal-Tiger
5.Flower-Rose
6.Song-The Show Goes On
7.Television show-Manhunters
8.Time of the day-Evening
9.Day of the week-Saturday
10.Month of the year-February
11.Game to play-Call of Duty Black Ops
12.Place to visit-Florida
13.Sport-football
14.License plate-A-Rod
15.Holiday-Chirstmas
16.Section of the paper-Sports
17.Movie-Step Brothers
18.Car-Farrari
19.Restaurant-Olive Garden
20.Place to shop-Hollister
21.Actor-Will Ferrell
22.Actress-Kim Kardashian
23.Female Athlete-Shawn Johnson
24.Male Athlete-Alex Rodriguez
25.Comic Strip Character-Garfield
26.Things to wear-Anything Nike
27.Friends-Tyce, Garrett, Braden, Kyle & Salena
28.Singer(s)-Eminem
29.Book-Harry Potter
30.Author-Mike Lupica
31.Fairy Tale-Cinderella
32.Smell-Popcorn
33.Thing in my bedroom-bed
34.Place to go to be alone-phone
35.Room in my house-My room
-Seventh Grade, 13 years old
My Personal Goals
Goals at home:
1.This year I would like to try and help out more at home by doing more chores.
2.A new hobby I would like to try this year is watching more movies
3.I would like to try and become better at sports
4.Another goal of mine at home is to not bother my brothers as much.
Goals at school:
1.I would like to try and do better in (subject) math because I don’t have an A.
2.This year I would like to become better friends with Melanie.
3.One study habit I would like to improve this year is studying for a test.
4.Another goal of mine at school is not getting in trouble.
-Seventh Grade, 13 years old
Personal Narrative-1st Hour
Do you have a family ritual? Well if you do there is no way it is better than my family ritual! Every year my family and I go to the first Kansas State football game of the year. It all started when I was younger, my parents had bought season tickets and we would go to every home game. Until, my brothers and I started playing football. We all started playing in 3rd grade, and all those games were played on Saturdays. So our only chance to go to a game was the first game of the year since the first week of our football was the second week of college football. So we would have to sell our all of our season tickets except for the first game. People will ask why do you guys buy season tickets if you sell them all except for the first game. The reason for that is, we have nice seats that you can only get if you have season tickets. So when we are done with Saturday football we can go to all the games.
The first weekend of September is always the greatest! Over the past few years the first game is usually an evening game around six or seven. So my family would leave as early as 10 in the morning to drive 2 ½ hours to Manhattan, Kansas. Most of the time we would arrive around noon, and then we would have around 6 hours on our hands. There is a lot to do in Manhattan! The first thing we do is go get some lunch at the famous Kites sports bar. Next we go the K-State union and look around in the stores. Then we are off to the stadium to go tailgate!
Pulling into that parking lot is amazing! When you get out of the car you smell every possible food in the world! You see footballs flying everywhere, you hear other football games being played on the radio or on T.V people had brought. We tailgate with my parents friends and that always bring a lot of food. So we have many foods to choose from, and many drinks to choose from. Tailgating is always fun and will always be one of the greatest things to do!
Nothing beats walking into the stadium and seeing 50,000 people all wearing purple! We usually go into the stadium 45 minutes or so before kickoff. When we arrive to our seats the band is usually playing, then followed by the national anthem and the pledge of allegiants. Finally both K-State and the opposing team come running onto the field. Other than when K-State scores, it doesn’t get any louder when they come running onto the field. The visiting on the other hand isn’t welcomed one bit! They are booed and yelled at like no other. After all the pre-game hype the game is finally ready for kick off.
Most of the time that first game is against an easier team and the game becomes a blowout. So that means for the most part the crowd is always yelling, k-state is always scoring, and everyone is happy. Except this year they pulled out a close, boring game and angry game with a score of, 10-7. After this year’s game we expected a long and depressing year. But surprisingly they are off to a 7-0 start and have already qualified for a bowl game and there are still 5 games left on the schedule. The main point is that K-State football is great even if they aren’t very good.
Even from the beginning of the car ride, we know that Saturday is going to be thrilling. But that car ride home is always the longest car ride ever. My parents both graduated from Kansas State, so they know how good K-State has been in the past. They have watched national championship contending teams. Even though I haven’t been old enough to experience those teams, all the 50,000 fans that attend the games and the other many fans that can’t go to the game all deserve a good football team. I am very thankful for my parents buying us tickets and letting our family have a good time watching K-State football together. –October 31, 2011, 13 years old
I Remember
I remember those days
I remember the things we did
I remember the things we said
I remember the joy we had
I remember the good and bad
I remember us
-Freshman Year, 14 years old
“I Am” Poem
I am Braxton
I am lazy
I am a man
I am an athlete
I am smart
I am a citizen
I am different
I am hard working, lazy and talented at the same time
I am who I am
-Freshman Year, 14 years old
Happiness
Pink looks like love
Pink smells like flowers
Pink feels like happiness
Pink sounds like angels singing
Pink taste like chocolate
Pink is life changing
-Freshman Year, 14 years old
“Worry about your character not your reputation, because your character is who you are and your reputation is only what people think of you” -January 10, 2013, 14 years old
Nike
Don’t speak
Don’t look back
Don’t give up
You will never know until you try
Go hard or go home
Treasure memories but
History isn’t made in rear view mirrors
Expand your horizons
There is no place like home
Endlessly brilliantly said
We have the best coverage world wide
Because your wish is our command
Nike is designed for the extraordinary
Just do it
Was it worth it?
-January 25, 2013, 14 years old
*To read more of ‘Braxton’s Words’, view Braxton’s twitter account @Braxton_Kooser.

Always the diligent student, um, Braxton needed a helping hand to get a nap in during Math class! -Freshman Year, 14 years old

This is the last picture we have of Braxton. He texted it to his best friend Carley, asking if she thought he should wear the white t-shirt under his shirt.......
January 24, 2013, 14 years old
January 24, 2013, 14 years old