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Pens of the future

Courtesy Stacey Stuart Catherine Glah, third-grade winner, and Sam Alexander, fourth-grade winner, show off their first-place certificates in the Fraser Writing Contest.
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By Catherine Ashley GlahThird gradeOnce upon a time there was a little cloud. Now Little Cloud wanted very much to become part of the Big Blue. Little Cloud loved the color blue. Since the ocean was blue, Little Cloud wanted to become one with the ocean. However, Little Cloud did not know how to do this. So he went to his friends. Well, he asked every cloud he could find, and not one knew how to do it. Now, there was only one more cloud to ask, and it was the Very Wise Cloud. He was very old and knew almost everything, so Little Cloud must ask him. Unfortunately, the Very Wise Cloud did not know the answer either. Little Cloud was very disappointed. He had very much wanted to become part of the Big Blue.All of a sudden he had an idea. At once he got some string and a big heavy rock. Now here is what he did. He tied the string around himself. Then he got the rock and tied that to the other side of the string. Little Cloud’s plan was working when all of a sudden, the string fell off of him. Splash! The rock and string went plummeting toward the Big Blue, and then hit it. Little Cloud began to get frustrated, very very frustrated. Little Cloud began to think of a new idea, a much better one. He thought of one, a brilliant one, a fantastic one! He would wait until he got an idea. Na! That was what he was supposed to be doing right now. So he thought and thought and thought. Nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing! He was angry; he was mad; he wanted to die! Wait a minute! Clouds cannot die. Well, he wished he could die. He wished he could become a big rock and fall into the water.He got a great idea! He could make himself heavy and fall into the Big Blue. But how could he make himself heavy? Now he was sad, very, very sad. He began to cry. Huge tears dribbled off his face. He sobbed and sobbed. Wait! He felt like he was melting. Then, SPLASH! He had become part of the Big Blue.

By Sam AlexanderFourth gradeIt was a stormy winter night when I fell from the sky as a snowflake. The wind was thrashing. The dark clouds hid the silvery moon. I swirled to the ground, landing on a small patch of snow. The first rays of sunlight peeked over the mountain, blinding the storm and forcing it to retreat. Later that morning, two little kids came outside, nearly stepping on me. I was suddenly run over by some of my snow friends that were compacted into a ball. As the big ball of snow went round and round, more snow was added. All of sudden, we stopped rolling. Next another ball of snow was put on top of us. Then a third was added. One kid exclaimed, “Look at our snowman!” and they both ran inside.After a few long days, all the snowflakes started to melt. One by one, we would turn into water and either soak into the ground or fall into a nearby irrigation ditch. I was one of the lucky ones to drip into the slow moving water in the ditch. It was different being liquid water instead of fluffy snow. The water in the ditch gently flowed into a pipe that twisted and turned through a mountainside. The water poured out in another ditch surrounded by a flat grassy area. Up ahead, I could see two big pumps. There was one on each side of my irrigation ditch. I was one of the drops of water that was sucked into the bigger, fancier pump. I went speeding through a network of little pipes. I was headed right towards a big shiny nozzle. Suddenly, I flew out of the nozzle. My fellow water friends and I made a huge arc through the bright blue sky and gently fell onto a field full of strawberry bushes. I could tell that those strawberries were big and juicy. Slowly I went sinking down into the soil. Under the ground there was a drainage pipe with hundreds of holes. I seeped through one of the holes. The drainage pipe led to a bubbling brook. The brook ran over many small stones. The banks were narrow but that would soon change. My brook connected with another brook, forming a stream. There were little fish darting around me. The banks were widening. Yet another stream joined my stream to form a raging river. The river cascaded over immense rounded boulders. All the water, including me, was deep and frothy. Nearby a salmon’s black eye seemed to look right through me. Up ahead of me, there was an abrupt drop-off. When we came to the edge, all the water droplets soared into the air, forming a shimmering waterfall. The waterfall crashed into the river below, sending mist everywhere. After a short time, the river’s mouth opened up. I was now in the vast salty ocean. Motorboats ripped through the water, splashing me out of their path. Then a sailboat came by, barely pushing me away from its smooth, sleek hull, its crew eating big, juicy strawberries. The golden sun warmed the water. I was starting to evaporate up into the cold Pacific air. Slowly, but surely, I rose into the crystal blue sky. An airplane roared past, shooting me out to the side. I continued to ascend, condensing with many other water droplets. We formed a billowing cloud. The breeze pushed my cloud back over the land.As I looked down, I wondered where my next adventure might take me.

Third gradeFirst place: Catherine Ashley GlahSecond place: Ryer Gardenswartz, Jessica Tyler, Harry Ferguson, Kate HowardThird place: Sara Wille, Charlotte Resnick, Caroline Godfrey, Rachel DemasHonorable mention: Maria King, Rider Daily, Marta Galambos, Bentley Roger, Amanda Davis



Certificates: Connor Peirce, Cindi Garcia, Nicholas Cottrell, Alexander Bush, Megan Doherty, Ethan Locke, Isabel Wolfer, Ben Throm, M.E. Cohen, Eliza Wells, Luke Wampler and Amanda ResslerFourth gradeFirst place: Sam AlexanderSecond place: Kelcie Gerson, Keile Kropf, Sarah Glah, Ryley Sutton, Hunter Callahan, Ben BelinskiThird place: Maddie Joy, Emily Bonds, Troy Fantini, Clayton CrawfordHonorable mention: Sophie Stuber, Mary Landis, Shannon Waititi, Acayla Dunn, Alex Wells, Kylie Davis, Claire Whittingham, Jacob Kadota, James Burwell, Matthew Ferguson Certificates: J.J. Ready, Michaela Voss, Lindsay Davis, Hallie Stewart, Lawson Pisani, Emily Daly, Mallory Harris, Ty Sharp, Carlyn Langley, Jennifer Coombe, Veronica Mendivil, Claire Whittingham, Ana Laura Montoya, Nicholas Horn, Elizabeth Inger Rice, Max Marolt, Nicole Zell, Patrick Martin, Hannah Kaufman and Else Dodge.