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HERE ARE EXCERPTS from first-place essays in the 2013 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Race Equality Essay Contest.

■ Lauren Lunt, eighth grade, on a need for school sports funding:
“Problems if we don't start funding range from kids making terrible choices like doing drugs, dropping out of school and drinking to student athletes having to go home when they don't feel safe or going somewhere they don't want to be. School sports keep kids on the right track all through life.”

■ Charlotte Hertel, sixth grade, on Martin Luther King Jr.'s quote: “I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they are not judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”
“Sometimes people use my feelings to try and change who I am and what I feel. But I am me, I am special and that doesn't need to change. . . . We need to honor each other's differences. It doesn't matter what's on the outside, but what is on the inside. That is what I believe.”

■ Korin Urtezuela, fifth grade, on ways to end hunger:
“I will work hard to ask restaurants and places that make food to not throw their extra food away, but to offer it to people who need it and can't get it often or at all. . . . have a place for just a soup kitchen . . . donate and help more to the food bank.”

■ Jason Kibe Jr., fourth grade, on an imagined meeting with King:
“I got lost and found Martin and I got to give my own speech. 'I think all black people should be treated just the same as white people. Just take me for example. I'm white and my best friend is black.'
“I told him he is a good man. He said one day with my heart I will do something good. I said thank you.”

■ Hannah Basden, third grade, on setting a good example:
“I can share and show my little brother that sharing is the right thing to do. At school, I can follow my teacher's directions and hopefully get others to do that.”

■ Zane Glassock, second grade, on making school more peaceful:
“I think we should be more kind to each other. One day I was outside at recess and someone called someone 'stupid, ugly, weirdo' when all they did was say 'hi.'
“Second, more people should not be bullying others. When I was at school someone came up and punched me for no good reason . . . Hope you have internal peace Dr. King.”

■ Ezra Townsend, first grade, on making school more fair:
“Hamilton School is a fair place to be because we help people remember rules. We share so then there will not be any arguing. No bullying because it's mean and hurts.”

■ Elena Gonzalez, kindergarten, on what she would say to King:
“Thank you for changing the rules because my dad could not go to the movie theater with me because he has brown skin.”