Washington County students are ‘Reaching New Heights’ through creative writing

Family and friends of winning student writers gather at the Washington County Youth Creative Writing Contest awards ceremony in Washington City's Highland Park, May 12, 2022 | Photo courtesy of Lin Floyd, St. George News

WASHINGTON CITY — Many Washington County students showed how they’re “reaching new heights” through their writing by recounting times they’ve achieved their goals or literally climbed to a high altitude location.

The young writers and their families gathered last Thursday evening in Washington City’s Highland Park to celebrate their achievements as winners of the Washington County Youth Creative Writing Contest. The contest, now in its fifth year, received over 500 entries this year. This year, a companion adult contest was added: The Pa’rus Poets Creative Writing Contest.

Contest judges included representatives from the area’s land management and advocacy organizations, including the Bureau of Land Management and Conserve Southwestern Utah, as well as local English teachers. Several organizations from around the county donated money or merchandise as prizes, including Z-Arts, Arts, Inc., Greater Zion, the Rosenbruch Wildlife Museum, Bumbleberry Inn, the St. George Dinosaur Discovery Site, St. George City and Washington City.

The contest provides an opportunity for students to write creatively and be recognized for their talents by more than just their teacher. Several teachers made a submission to the contest a part of their curriculum.

Next year’s contest will have a different theme.

Student winners in the 1st-3rd grade poetry category gather at the table to choose their prizes with the assistance of Pamela Palmer, one of the contest judges at the Washington County Youth Creative Writing Contest awards ceremony in Washington City’s Highland Park, May 12, 2022 | Photo courtesy of Loreta Wisneske, St. George News

A list of this year’s winners, as well as the text of the contest’s 1st place entries, is below:

2021 Washington County Youth Creative Writing Contest Winners

1st-3rd grade poetry

Judge: Lin Floyd

1st place, Miles Lowe, 3rd grade, Coral Canyon, Mrs. Danis
2nd place, Talease Holt, 1st grade, Little Valley, Mrs. Reber
3rd, place Elise Meng, 1st grade, Hurricane Elementary, Mrs. Bennion
1st honorable mention, Charlotte Bolke, 2nd grade, Bloomington Hills, Ms. Wisneski
2nd honorable mention, Dang Nguyen, 2nd grade, Bloomington Hills, Ms. Wisneske
3rd honorable mention, Leland Allred, 2nd grade, Bloomington Hills, Ms. Wisneske

1st-3rd grade personal essay

Judge: Isabel Adler

1st place, Ellie Albee, 3rd grade, Hurricane Elem, Mrs. Malone
2nd place, Jack Tichenor, 2nd grade, Legacy, Mrs. Brown
3rd place, Rafael Quintero Navarro, 2nd grade, Legacy, Mrs. Brown
1st honorable mention, Adalynn Benally, 2nd grade, Bloomington Hills, Ms. Wisneske
2nd honorable mention, Andrew Jenkins, 2nd grade, Legacy, Mrs. Brown
3rd honorable mention, Kove Humphries, 2nd grade, Bloomington Hills, Ms. Wisneske

4th-6th grade poetry

Judge: Annaliese Ott

1st place, Konner Golding, 6th grade, Washington Fields, Mrs. Carpenter
2
nd place, Rodda Cook, 6th grade, Tonaquint, Mrs. Shaw
3rd place, McCoy Cooper, 5th grade, Diamond Valley, Mrs. Drummond
1st honorable mention, Anna Cope, 6th grade, George Washington Academy, Mrs. Scott
2nd honorable mention, Carson Lewis, 5th grade, Diamond Valley, Mrs. Drummond
3rd honorable mention, Robert Gray, 5th grade, Diamond Valley, Mrs. Drummond

4-6 personal essay

Judge: Melissa Buchmann

1st place, Luke Bailey, 5th grade, Horizon, Mrs. Andersen
2nd place, Lydia Shurtliff, 6th grade, Tonaquint, Mrs. Shaw
3rd place, Brecken Folks, 6th grade, Washington Fields, Mrs. Carpenter
1st honorable mention, Leah Esplin, 6th grade, Tonaquint, Mrs. Shaw
2nd honorable mention, Andrew Whitbeck, 6th grade, Lava Ridge, Mrs. Blair
3rd honorable mention, Deklyn Murphy, 5th grade, Diamond Valley, Mrs. Drummond

Sadie Brooks (left) and Tegan Carpino (right), two 7th graders from Washington Fields Intermediate School, pose at the Washington County Youth Creative Writing Contest awards ceremony in Washington City’s Highland Park. Carpino took 1st place and Brooks took 3rd. May 12, 2022 | Photo courtesy of Todd Carpino, St. George News

7th-9th grade poetry

Judge: Rachel Robins

1st place, Brianna McGary, 7th grade, Lava Ridge, Mrs. Crowton
2nd place, Sasha Bates, 9th grade, Snow Canyon Middle, Mrs. Robertson
3rd place, Anne Musser, 9th grade, Utah Arts Academy, Mrs. Aikens
1st honorable mention, Madison Paxton, 7th grade, Fossil Ridge, Mrs. Rodgers
2nd honorable mention, Emily Gardner, 7th grade, Fossil Ridge, Mrs. Rodgers
3rd honorable mention, Claire Rodriguez, 7th grade, Lava Ridge, Mrs. Crowton

7th-9th grade personal essay

Judge: Susan Crook

1st place, Tegan Carpino, 7th grade, Washington Field, Mrs. Carpenter
2nd place, Madison Paxton, 7th grade, Fossil Ridge, Mrs. Rodgers
3rd place, Sadie Brooks, 7th grade, Washington Fields, Mrs. De LaPaz
1st honorable mention, Malakai Everhart, 7th grade, Pine View Middle, Mrs. Marshall
2nd honorable mention, Jeanette Simonsen, 9th grade, Utah Arts Academy, Mrs. Aikens
3rd honorable mention, Halo Hart, 9th grade, Utah Arts Academy, Mrs. Aikens

10th-12th grade poetry

Judge: Charlotte Stephenson

1st place, Mayah Rohr, 11th grade, Utah Arts Academy, Mrs. Aikens
2nd place, Spencer Brown, 12th grade, Dixie High, Mrs. Lewis
3rd place, Kenzie Cooper, 12th grade, Dixie High, Mrs. Lewis
1st honorable mention, Sarah Ellis, 12th grade, Crimson Cliffs High, Mrs. Berry
2nd honorable mention, Jatlynn Reeves, 12th grade, Pine View High, Mrs. Stant
3rd honorable mention , Amy Lopez, 11th grade, Utah Arts Academy, Mrs. Aikens

Contest Judge Pamela Palmer announces winners in the 10-12th poetry and personal essay category at the Washington County Youth Creative Writing Contest awards ceremony in Washington City’s Highland Park, May 12, 2022 | Photo courtesy of Lin Floyd, St. George News

10th-12th grade personal essay

Judge: Pamela Palmer

1st place, Amber Barker, 11th grade, Dixie High, Mr. Forsey
2nd place, Jeffery Christian, 11th grade, Dixie High, Mr. Forsey
3rd place, Samantha Taylor, 11th grade, Dixie High, Mr. Forsey
1st honorable mention, Porter Damon, 11th grade, Dixie High, Mr. Forsey
2nd honorable mention, Malynn Jones, 10th grade, Dixie High, Mr. Forsey
3rd honorable mention, Braxton Yates, 10th grade, Dixie High, Mr. Forsey


Pa’rus Poets Adult Creative Writing Contest Winners

Adult Poetry

Judge: Jenny Drummond

1st place, Micki Ericksen, Enterprise, Utah
2nd place, Melissa Lewis, St. George, Utah
3rd place, Jennie Cooper, St. George, Utah
Honorable mention, Lin Floyd, St. George, Utah

Adult Personal Essay

Megan Mace, Washington, Utah


TEXT OF 1ST-PLACE WINNING ENTRIES 

Miles Lowe, a first grader from Coral Canyon Elementary who won 1st place in 1st-3rd grade poetry, poses with his certificate envelope and prize at the Washington County Youth Creative Writing Contest awards ceremony in Washington City’s Highland Park, May 12, 2022 | Photo courtesy of Jill Danis, St. George News

1st Place – 1st-3rd grade poetry

Miles Lowe, 3rd grade, Coral Canyon, Mrs. Danis

The Mountain of Life

Everybody climbs a mountain
Every good choice leads to a better path
Every bad choice leads to a worse path
Everybody climbs a different mountain

Some are snowy, like they have sugar on top
Some are mossy, like a blanket of green
Some are lonely, out in the middle of nowhere
Some are steep, it takes great determination

When you’re three, you begin your great journey
It’s very easy: you’re carried by your friends
But someday, you’ll have to fend for yourself

When you’re nine, you might feel fine
This is a good place to hike: there’s lots of rocks
It’s inspiring to see other people climb
But there’s still lots more challenges to overcome

When you’re thirteen, you’re pretty keen
But don’t fret! There are still challenges yet
You might fail, you might fall
But don’t give up, you can’t turn back now

When you’re twenty, there’s still plenty to do
You’re on your own now
You find some small, cramped spaces
But you get past them by squeezing through

When you’re eighty, the view is beautiful
Don’t feel remorse for the paths you didn’t take
This one is as good as any other
The mountain is beautiful all over, at the bottom, at the top

Climbing the mountain of life
The higher you get the harder it gets
But when you get to the top, you start all over, looking for a new mountain

1st Place – 1st-3rd grade personal essay

Ellie Albee, 3rd grade, Hurricane Elementary, Mrs. Malone

The wild climb

Ellie Albee, a third grader from Hurricane Elementary who won 1st place in 1st-3rd grade personal essay, poses with her certificate envelope and prize at the Washington County Youth Creative Writing Contest awards ceremony in Washington City’s Highland Park, May 12, 2022 | Photo courtesy of Amy Malone, St. George News

Hi, I am Jade and I need to get to the top of the mountain so I can see my grandma. I was on my way and I saw a dragon so I said hi dragon hi dragon can you help me get to the top of the mountain. Yes I can help you but not all the way. Ok so we got half way and I said goodbye to the dragon. And then I saw a fox and I said can you help me? Yes of course I can help you but not all the way. Ok so on we said goodbye fox next I saw wolf can you help me? No, I am too grumpy. Ok I guess I will go on. So I heard singing so I followed the music and it rose and I said do you know where my grandma’s house is? Yes I do . Go to the river and the fish will help you. Ok bye. Bye said rose. Hi fish, can you help me? Yes, follow me. On our way it was getting dark and the sky was all gloomy and we went on. And then I saw some smoke. It was grandma’s house! I was so close and then I saw a dragon, fox, wolf, fish and Rose. They said HAPPY BIRTH-DAY. They all shouted to Jade and it was a happy day for Jade. The moral of the story is you do not get whatever you want all the time…

1st Place – 4th-6th grade poetry

Konner Golding, 6th grade, Washington Fields Intermediate, Mrs. Carpenter

Reaching New Heights

As I sit there wondering when it will stop
Then I hear a big loud boom
It is Putin sending those nukes
We all run in fear to the bunker which is near

Hundreds of people are in the bunker
We are wondering what we will do
Waiting hours and hours for it to stop
I think that this is not fair for the people of Ukraine

We are sitting in the bunker waiting for it to end
No one can leave the bunker
Thousand of people dying in a matter of minutes
One day has gone and I wonder when someone will stand up

No one is fighting for Ukraine
I will stand up for my home which is Ukraine
I stand up walking to the ladder to go into the battlefield
No one is trying to stop me my parents are nowhere to be found

I am going to do this for my parents
It’s now or never I’m going now
I will make our country reach higher and higher

I step on the battlefield and say stop as loud as I can
Everyone comes out of the bunkers and says it too
The soldiers stop in shock all together at once
But then they start shooting

Bang, Bam, Boom it’s everywhere
I was shot so many times that I cannot even remember
As I was lying there when the soldiers came to me
I remembered that I did what was right

We all can do things if we do it together by reaching the new heights

1st Place – 4th-6th grade personal essay

Luke Bailey, 5th grade, Horizon, Mrs. Andersen

Achieving a New Height (Literally)

I felt the cold winter air blowing in my face. It nearly blew me off balance. Thank goodness it didn’t, because I was on top of a very high and slim rock, and I could probably die if I fell. My trip to Mount Everest was not going how I had planned it. I was nearly up to the summit, where it would be hard to breathe. I needed to make this climb. Ever since I had been made fun of as a kid, I decided that I would do something grand. I would achieve a new height. 

Literally. 

I wasn’t just doing this for fame, though. I needed something like this to push me to my limits. I needed a challenge. I might not make it to the top, but I needed to make the summit. More importantly, though, I needed to make it back. 

I hiked up the mountain, tired out of my mind. Could I stop and rest?

No.

I needed to make it as fast as I could. 

Luckily, my camera still worked, so I started a video.

I climbed up the mountain, camera strapped around my forehead. I saw some sharp rocks up ahead.

Had I made it to the summit? Yes, I had.

Almost immediately, I began to hyperventilate. It was getting harder and harder to breathe. 

I decided to turn back and hike back down. It seemed much harder to climb down safely than to go up.

Suddenly, a large gust of wind flew into my face, and I toppled off a rock. I fell way down the mountain before feeling the searing pain going through my body. Everything was fading…

1st Place – 7th-9th grade poetry

Brianna McGary, 7th grade, Lava Ridge Intermediate, Mrs. Crowton

Turning it Around

Reaching new heights
In the end
But now I find myself
Past the breaking point

I am
Living a life of fire
Taking poundings of the hammer
I am being broken apart
Defeated

I no longer feel
But because I try
I fail and fail again
Trying to become something more

Now read it backwards

1st Place – 7th-9th grade Personal Essay

Tegan Carpino, 7th grade, Washington Fields Intermediate, Mrs. Carpenter

Scarlet Hill

I looked up at the top of the slot canyon. I checked my harness, and looked at Dad.

He checked my harness again, then I put my hand in one of the crevices. I pulled my foot up, and twisted myself. I lifted myself up crevice to crevice. I was about halfway up the canyon wall when my foot suddenly slipped. Even though I knew I was safe, my heart started pounding, and I made the mistake of looking down.

It was a really, really long way down. I froze.

If I fell, I’d die. There was no doubt about it. 

“Macey Lynn!” Dad called. “Don’t look down!” I sent a glare down at him. I looked back at the wall, my eyes blurring with fear. I closed them, took several deep breaths. Finally, I opened them, and looked up.

I moved my hand up, then my foot, then my hand. It’s working, I told myself. Just keep going, Macey, one step at a time. 

I should’ve told Dad that I was terrified of heights before he took me all the way out here!

I kept going. I didn’t stop until I reached the top. Finally! I looked over the scarlet hill, down to where my dad was. He was smiling. I grinned back- I wasn’t afraid anymore!

“Just remember, Macey Lynn,” Dad said. “You have to get down somehow.”

“Yeah, I know, Dad,” I responded with a sigh. I grabbed the edge, pulled myself over so that I was back on the face of Ruby Rock, and began to pull myself down. Then, whoosh! I let myself fall.

I fell slowly, and was soon on the ground.

“You did it!” Dad cheered. He wrapped me in a hug. “I am so proud of you.” I welcomed his embrace, grinning. 

1st Place – 10th-12th grade poetry

Mayah Rohr, 11th grade, Utah Arts Academy, Mrs. Aikens

What Normal People Do

I used to spend my life waiting
With the same broken ladder
I used to glance up and wonder
What normal people do

I used to dread conversation
Paralyzed by my mind
I used to spectate in life and wonder
What normal people do

It twists and it turns
A clock at demented speed
This warped reality of
What normal people do

But I found a way of solace
In what I already knew,
my brain doesn’t work like
What normal people do

Instead of blaming who I am
For my distinct point of view
I continued treading forward like
What normal people do

Now my ladder is mended
I climb higher every day
It’s unbelievably overrated,
What normal people do

1st place – 10th-12th grade personal essay

Amber Barker, 11th grade, Dixie High, Mrs. Forsey

My Art Journey

My way that I have reached new heights was with my art. Pretty much my whole life I have been working on my art, and it has been a really fun but challenging journey. My first goal in my life that I worked towards was to draw cartoon characters. Character design is much harder than it looks because you have to draw reference sheets, make the character interesting, and make sure that the anatomy looks good. The anatomy is especially hard and important to get looking right, the reason is that if you don’t get the anatomy right then almost everything about your drawing can look off, so this was a really big challenge for me. To reach that goal of getting anatomy right, I had to draw almost every day looking at references from the internet or getting references from real life. But now with my drawing anatomy getting better. I can now focus on other things about character design, like making it look interesting. It is also pretty hard to get a character looking interesting. You have to think about their accessories, poses and colors. Because I have already got pretty good at doing anatomy, doing all these things to make it look interesting was really fun and tested my skills almost as much as anatomy did. It was really cool to go through this life long experience, and I still have so much more to learn about all of these things, but right now I can try to get more opportunities to grow my art skill in the future.


1st place – Adult Poetry

Micki Ericksen, Enterprise, Utah

Rejuvenation 

Warmth of sandstone seeps into bare feet
Sunshine flows from sole to soul
And breathes 

Hands and feet scurry up rough surfaces,
Imitating tiny life,
Recreating youth, recreation
Arms outstretched, laughter shouts

The pinnacle
reached

1st place – Adult Personal Essay

Megan Mace, Washington, Utah

Still Reaching

I started teaching in 1995.  Upon seeing me through a window on the first day of school, a boisterous fifth grader peered in and gleefully shouted back to his classmates, “Our teacher is the same age as us!” Perhaps I should have been flattered, but at the time I was not. I saw the humor eventually and the memory of that moment gives me a chuckle today.

Now, in 2022, I sometimes think about my first year of teaching. I can still picture the dated brown chalkboards and smell the freshly cleaned, yet musty carpet. I remember the joy of decorating the painted cinder block walls and making the room an inviting place to grow. Then, I picture my first students and I do the math. How old are those former students now? The answer is 37.  They are well into adulthood with careers and families of their own. They have graduated, gone to college, started businesses, married, and helped their own children with homework all while I continued teaching.  

 I sure wish I was the same age as my first students now, but time and reality keep propelling me forward.  My current kindergarten students are six and very honest. They notice the lines on my face and aging hands. They recognize that I am older than their parents and may even be older than their grandparents. A few have mistakenly called me Grandma and then caught themselves. They blush and giggle about the unintended mistake.

 The Grandma slip-ups are okay.  I see the humor in that too. My students are not the only ones who have grown and matured.  During my teaching career I married, moved seven times, and raised two boys of my own. My youngest is graduating from high school soon. I am still teaching and reaching new professional milestones while appreciating my important work, despite increasing challenges and my aging hands.

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