Budding scribes share Olympic spirit
Contributed photo |
The 13th annual Fraser Writing Contest culminated in an awards ceremony at Aspen Elementary School on Dec. 19. The Fraser Writing Contest is open to third- and fourth-graders, and this year’s theme was the Winter Olympics. Jill Sheeley thanks Julie Wille for all her help organizing as well as fellow judge Mary Hayes.
Winners were as follows:
THIRD GRADE
First place: Alex Schlosser; second place: Riley MacArthur, Isabella Poschman and Raisa Effress; honorable mention: Stella Sherlock, Abby Romero, Bliss Hemstreet, Aubrey Elder, Andy Bass and Corey Michelin
Fourth grade
First place: Emily Orman; second place: Bodhi Wight, Emma Boucher, Garrett Greene, Jack Fox, Alice Collins and Ian Varghese; third place: Kayla Tehrani, John Schille, Charlie Forster, Owen McLernon Grace Petersen, Riley Rushing and Jake Morgan; honorable mention: Ava Cherry, Jenny Ellis, Logan Fogler, Thomas Mellenthin, Haiden Reece, Braden Haisfield, Harper Rafelson, Georgia Hollander, Lily Louise Sanders and Danielle Nedlin
The following is Alex Schlosser’s first-place story for the third-grade class, titled “Jonathon’s Dream”:
There was a little boy named Jonathan who always dreamed about being in the Winter Olympics and winning a gold medal. Jonathan practiced and trained for Big Air for four long years. When Jonathan was thirteen years old, he competed in a Big Air competition in Aspen, Colorado. On his final jump, while he was in the air, Jonathan’s right ski fell off. When Jonathan hit the ground, his leg was broken! The crowd gasped when they saw his leg. The EMT’s came and put him on a stretcher, and they zoomed him to the hospital. His leg was broken so badly he couldn’t ski for one year. He was so sad, his stomach was like a volcano ready to explode. He cried for hours like there were floods in his eyes.
During the year when Jonathan was recovering, he tried to focus on the positive, and he became a great poet. He wrote poems to cheer himself up, and he became really good at it. He wrote about how much he loved to ski, and he wrote about his family, because his family supported him when he broke his leg. As the year went by, Jonathan was having so much fun writing poetry, he didn’t want to stop. When it was time for him to start skiing again, he was a bit rusty on his first run. Jonathan started to get used to skiing again, and he had four years until the next Winter Olympics, so he knew he had to train hard. As he practiced more and more, Jonathan got better and better at Big Air which he loved and had missed.
After two years passed, Jonathan was a better skier than he was before.
He trained hard because he was determined to make the Winter Olympics. For the next two years he practiced harder than ever, training six hours a day. After all the years he had trained, it was the day for tryouts. Jonathan was so nervous it felt like there were butterflies fluttering around in his stomach. When it was his turn, he took a deep breath and said, “I can do this.” Finally, he started zooming down the hill, when he hit the jump, he looked like an airplane taking off into the sky. The wind was whipping into his face. When he was close to the ground, he bent over and got in his landing position. Whoosh!!! He had landed perfectly! He was very happy. The judges gave him the highest score. After that, he went home and rested. In about an hour he heard his phone ring. He answered his phone, and it turned out to be the Winter Olympics judges. They told him that he had been accepted into the Winter Olympics. He shrieked with excitement!
The next day Jonathan went straight to training. He trained for seven hours a day for two months. Then, the big day had come. The night before the big day, he couldn’t sleep, because he was so nervous and excited at the same time. In the morning he was so thrilled he felt like he was floating. He ate a good and healthy breakfast and started to get ready for the plane ride. When he got there, he put on his ski clothes, got his skis, and was on his way. When he arrived in the stadium, the judges gave him a warm welcome. He watched the other Olympic competitions such as speed skating, ice hockey, and curling. When it was time for his sport, he closed his eyes and imagined getting a gold medal. He opened his eyes while he felt the cool breeze blow on his face. He said to himself “I am ready for this, I will not give up.” Jonathan had started to get very confident. He heard the speaker say “Jonathan Rider.” Jonathan heard the crowd cheering for him, and he heard them clapping. Jonathan took a deep breath and started going down the hill. He was determined to win a gold medal. He flew off the jump like a bird, and did a triple back flip!!! The crowd and judges were amazed!!! When Jonathan landed, he heard the crowd hooting, yelling and clapping. He was very happy, and he was very proud of himself. Jonathan crossed his fingers when the judges were calling out the names of the winners. “In third place, we have James Robins.” The crowd clapped for him while he walked up to the podium. Then the judges said, “For second place, we have Alex Francis, and for first place we have… Jonathan Rider!” Jonathan’s heart was beating so fast he couldn’t breathe. As he walked up to the podium everybody was calling his name. Jonathan was so happy he started crying. When the judges gave him the gold medal he was smiling from ear to ear. Jonathan’s dream had come true.
The following is the fourth-grade winning entry, “A Dream Come True,” by Emily Orman:
There once was a 10 year old girl, whose name was Emma Locks. Emma had just started ice skating the month before and was still a disaster every time she stepped foot on the ice. A girl from school, Lily, was also in her skating class and tried every second she had to make Emma look worse in front of her friends and skating teacher. That night in bed, Emma had a dream she was a pro skater, and entered the Winter Olympics at the age of 15 almost 16. On Emma’s 11th birthday, she wished she would enter the Winter Olympics and win, with all her friends cheering on the side line.
Then again, Lily probably would be there and they would be competing. During the next year, Emma was skating every second she had to meet her goal. When Emma’s birthday rolled around, she was about as good as her coach. That year, she wished to be able to skate perfectly and do tricks to make other kids stare in awe. Now that Emma was 12, she could start having lessons four times a week. She was headed to the practice on Monday, and after 30 minutes, her coach had decided to move her to the advanced group. When Emma got to the advanced group, she noticed similar faces from school.
Three years later, Emma could do anything anyone told her to do on the ice. She had signed up for the Winter Olympics the following year, and she found out Lily would be competing for the gold medal too. Early the next year, Emma got the letter in the mail that said she had made it into the Winter Olympics.
Emma was on the plane to Sochi and butterflies were perched on her ribcage like birds on a tree. Nine hours later, Emma had her green sparkly outfit and shiny white skates on. She was performing in less than an hour, so she decided to watch the other contestants. Emma noticed Lily and a few other girls, but the others were strangers. Three competitors and 2 glasses of water later, Emma was ready and on the sideline prepared to go on. Emma went through her routine once again which she had decided had a complex twirl in the beginning, a pirouette, a quick backhand spring and a front flip topping it off.
Emma entered the ice ring and did a quick circle before the whistle blew and get speed to complete the advanced tricks. She got in a straight line to make the twirl. Emma did the twirl and slowed down to make the pirouette as easy as it was. After that, she did the back handspring, springing into the air like a slinky going down the stairs. Finally, she launched into the air completing the course with a perfect front flip.
Two hours later Emma was in the waiting room and the judge called the people that were competing in figure skating up.
“I know you have all been anxious for the past few hours, and I am here with the results. The third place winner is… Saige Crosser!” the judge said. “Well done Saige! Second place goes to … Lily Johnson! Well done Lily! First place goes to … Emma Locks! Great job Emma!”
When she got to the sideline Emma high-fived all her new fans and felt like a real star that was meant to be. After she had gotten her shiny gold medal, Emma went up to the bleachers, where her coach and parents were sitting. Then, Emma’s parents packed up the matching green bag, thanked the coach and drove off into the distance with hearts filled with pride.
