|
MAY 27, 2008 / Legacy Project / – Who says kids today don't listen to their elders? Thousands of young people across the country entered the Legacy Project's Listen to a Life Essay Contest. They listened to grandparents and grandfriends, and learned about everything from racial injustice to using your funny bone as you face life's challenges. The national Grand Prize winner is 11-year-old Duncan Boone of Concord East Side Elementary School in Elkhart, IN, who interviewed his 60-year-old grandmother Elizabeth Barone to win a Lenovo ThinkCentre computer for himself and $25,000 of Orchard educational software for his school. The annual contest is run by the Legacy Project at www.legacyproject.org, a national education initiative that offers parents and teachers ideas and activities for building closer relationships across generations.
Boone's creative essay compared his grandmother's life experiences to those of the fictional character Harry Potter: "When my grandma told me her first memory, being put in a closet for crying when she was scared her first day of kindergarten, it reminded me of Harry Potter. Both were locked in a closet, not for being bad, but for being misunderstood. There are many similarities between my grandma and the character Harry Potter. She was a shy and insecure child and overcame great obstacles in her life, much like Harry."
Says Boone's mother, Chantel Boone, "The essay contest was 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."
Boone was encouraged to enter the contest by his school counselor, Marilyn Agee, who worked with the grade 6 students and teachers in the school as part of a career unit that begins with goal-setting. Says Agee, "This contest offers students real-life examples of what can be accomplished in life and how goals are re-evaluated or achieved, and brings the generations together in a meaningful way."
To enter the Listen to a Life Essay Contest, young people 8-18 years interview a grandparent or grandfriend 50 years or older about the older person's hopes and goals through their life, how they achieved their goals and overcame obstacles, or how dreams may have changed along the way. The young person then writes a
300-word essay based on the interview.
The Grand Prize is a Lenovo ThinkCentre computer, and $800 in Orchard software and an iPod Classic with video from Orchard Software. The school of the winning young person also receives $25,000 of Orchard educational software. Twenty runner-up prizes include $400 of Orchard software and an iPod Shuffle from Orchard Software.
The youngest runner-up winner Brandon Moore, 8, of San Diego, CA shares the story of his grandfather Warren Bleasé, III, 73, and his lifelong love of baseball and billiards. Says the 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."
The oldest person who participated in the contest was Roza Poleeva, 102, of Langhorne, PA, who was interviewed by her great-granddaughter Katharine Vavilov, 11. "Take a life and turn it into history. I did that with my great-grandmother," wrote Vavilov.
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."
The next Listen to a Life Contest begins September 7, 2008, national Grandparents Day. Interviewing a grandparent can be a great activity for families as they get together over the summer.
To read all the inspiring winning stories in the contest and get free online Across Generations activity ideas, visit www.legacyproject.org.
|
