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This has been a difficult year for me. There are the ongoing challenges of growing the Legacy Project. Then, there was the unexpected death of a dear teacher and mentor, along with a serious chronic illness in my family. So I came to judging this year's contest with a need for my spirits to be renewed. All your wonderful stories did just that. They reminded me of what's important, refocusing and refreshing me. In the words of a grandmother who was part of one of our winning teams, "You have to rise above adversity, no excuses. If something is challenging, don't complain. Just put your head down and work hard." I want to thank every one of the thousands of young people, grandparents and grandfriends, teachers and parents, who took the time to participate in this year's contest.
Yes, the Grand Prize in this contest is nice – a specially autographed copy of the book that inspired the contest, Dream; a framed keepsake award certificate from
Frame USA featuring the winning entry; a Lenovo ThinkCentre computer; an iPod Classic with video from Orchard Software; and $800 (for the winning team) plus $25,000 (for the school the winning entrant attends) of educational software from Orchard Software. But for those who participate and those who take the time to read the winning entries, this contest proves year after year that it's about more than the prizes. It's about listening to and learning from a real person's life.
For the contest, a young person 8-18 interviews an older adult 50 years or over about their life experiences – their dreams and goals, obstacles they overcame, and how they found hope – and submits a 300-word essay. The mother of this year's Grand Prize winner writes: "What a wonderful experience! We enjoyed it thoroughly. It gave both of my children the opportunity to get to know their grandmothers – not only for who they are now but from where they came as well. Thank you for opening up that door."
Connecting the generations is certainly an important goal of this contest. Our youngest winner, at 8 years of age, shares the story of his grandfather "Rags," 73, and his lifelong love of baseball and billiards. Says our young winner, "For five years I've lived next door to him, but never took the time to get to know him as well as I did over a weekend, two weeks ago. He taught me about life, my heritage, and himself."
Our oldest winner is 102. "Take a life and turn it into history. I did that with my great-grandmother," says her 11-year-old great-granddaughter.
Winners or not, all entrants shared special stories and insights. Writes one 13-year-old, "What started out as a school assignment, interviewing an elderly person, has turned out to be so much more. My grandfather turns 77 this month and one of my gifts to him is going to be a copy of his Life Story, as written by his grandson. I hope it means as much to him as writing it has meant to me."
An 18-year-old entrant writes that her grandfather always said "Thank you, my sweetie" even though she felt she hadn't done anything for him. When she traveled from Korea to the US to study, whenever she called he would say, "Thank you." She asked him once, "For what?" His reply: "For being my granddaughter and for doing well over there." She writes, "Now I understand why he said 'thank you' all the time. I think he was so happy to be the father and grandfather that he never had. He taught me a big lesson: I should always say 'thank you' and always appreciate my family."
Sometimes entrants were surprised by the bigger historical connections they made. A 13-year-old student said he started by asking a senior the class had invited in about what he wanted to be when he grew up. "Well, I wanted to be an eye doctor," was the initial reply. Wrote the student, "Inwardly I groaned. To me, eye doctors are about as interesting as picking lint from my jeans pocket." But then the senior explained his dream of being an eye doctor was dashed by being drafted into the military. He went on to describe his experiences in World War II. "To my surprise, the bell rang much too soon," concluded the student. "I never thought anyone from my community had played such a vital role in a war taking place in a very important time in history."
We had much sage advice shared in stories this year, from "We ain't where we aught to be, we ain't where we should be, but thank God we ain't where we was" to "You will always need three things: a funny bone, a wish bone, and a backbone" to "You never laugh at someone's dreams. Everyone deserves the right to dream without being ridiculed. Never laugh at someone's dreams."
Creativity also shone through in many entries. For example, one winner wrote about his "Granny Smith" being "picked from her Medina County orchard." Another compared all the shapes inside a stained glass window to a person's dreams, and explores what happens when someone takes a rock and shatters that beautiful window. We had stories of struggle and hardship, and overcoming prejudice and injustice. And we had the story of the five founders of Railmen for Children, showing that "just a few people can make a difference in the world."
The letters we received from teachers also showed us how ordinary people, including those very teachers, make a difference every day. Andrea Hartz at Aloha High School in Oregon took the time to encourage students in her Journalism Survey course to enter the contest. The 16 to 18-year-old students "surprised both themselves and me with their tremendous essays."
Theresa Johnson, a sixth grade teacher at Neshaminy Middle School in Pennsylvania, entered her students for the second year and developed an entire unit around the contest and Dream book. "I started by reading Dream to my students. They thoroughly enjoyed the story and the beautiful illustrations. Interesting discussions ensued regarding the meaning and interpretations of each page. Plus, we had fun looking for the star on each page! Next, each student made a Dream Star which included their dreams for their future. Each student's star is hanging above their desk so that they can look up anytime to remember their dreams and goals. It's quite an impressive display, and students are so proud of their dreams and their stars. After the Dream Star, I invited a guest speaker into my classroom to help my young writers with interviewing techniques and strategies. They were more than ready to interview their grandparents and grandfriends, and very excited to get started."
Mary Ann Richter is a Gifted Teacher with Hamilton City Schools in Ohio. She writes, "Two months ago, our department coordinator gave each gifted teacher a copy of the book Dream. She challenged us to take part in the contest with our students in grade 5 and 6. Students paired up with a senior citizen and listened to their story of an important event in their life. Students chose grandparents, neighbors, principals, teachers, custodians, librarians, tutors. The results were fantastic, informative stories. But besides that, students developed a sincere camaraderie, a partnership, that will last for many years to come – maybe even forever."
Writes Jean Meconi at South Meadows School in Michigan: "My fifth grade students adopt senior citizens who reside at a nearby senior center. During our monthly visits to the center, my students get to know their adopted grandparent very well. Not only do they conduct the interview, but also share photos and collections, sing during the holidays, play bingo, and enjoy and celebrate their lives. The 'adopt a grandparent' program is our civic project for the year, but I must admit that my students glean as much from the interaction as the senior citizens do. My students can't wait to visit and often continue their relationship with their adopted grandparent well beyond fifth grade. Your contest has given us an opportunity to reflect upon this experience."
Kathy Webb at Horace Mann Middle School in Wisconsin writes, "Thank you for giving our students this opportunity to awaken and deepen their relationships with family and friends. Some recognize what a gift this is; others may take longer to realize it. One student last year had her grandfather die shortly after she completed her interview. Her mother wanted her to read her essay at the funeral, but I don't recall if she was able to, or if someone else read it for her. In any event, that time spent with her grandfather became all the more precious to her, and her essay was a permanent record of one of their last times together. She understood the gift."
This is the second year Monica Yasuda's Grade 10 English class has entered from Nanakuli High and Intermediate School in Hawaii. She says, "I want to express my deepest appreciation for providing such a great opportunity for my students to take the time to listen to their Kupunas' (elders') stories and learn from their challenges, mistakes, and dreams. This writing contest allowed students to seek the unknown – open secret doors and discover what was behind those doors. Many of my students expressed how they learned so many new and different things about the people they cherish. Mahalo (thank you) again for providing such opportunities for my students to gain hope, courage, and wisdom by connecting them to their Kupunas."
And now I turn to my own "mahalos." Thank you to our project partner Generations United who helps us get the word out about the Listen to a Life Contest every year and collects mail entries.
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huge thank you to our corporate sponsors who provide such wonderful prizes for the contest. Lenovo has been with us from the start, providing a computer as the Grand Prize. Frame USA has come through with beautiful frames for the award certificates featuring each winning essay. And our newest corporate sponsor, Orchard Software, has provided not only prizes for all the winning students, but also for the Grand Prize winner's school, which will enrich the lives of hundreds of students over many years.
Finally, I come to the judging committee and, in particular, Jim Barry, who has also been with us almost from the start. Every year, I look for new ways to express my gratitude for the hours and hours of work he puts in ensuring that each and every entry is carefully read and considered. He helps make this contest possible in so many ways and he has my enduring appreciation.
Click below to enjoy reading through the winning stories from the 2007-2008 Listen to a Life Contest. The Grand Prize winner is followed by the twenty runners-up. The runners-up are presented in no particular order, other than a good read. And check back on the Legacy Project website in September, when the next contest starts! My last words of advice for those of you entering next year: make sure you follow all the contest rules – including the 300-word limit and the entry deadline – and have fun learning from each other.
With warm wishes,
Susan V. Bosak
Chair, Legacy Project
Click here to go to the 2007-2008 Listen to a Life Contest Grand Prize winner and the 20 Runners-up
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