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Grandparent News
Children Write Essays After Interviewing
Grandparents, Seniors on Their Life
Legacy Project names the winners for Listen to a Life Essay Contest
May 20, 2007 - Who says kids today don't listen to
their elders? Thousands of young people across the country entered the
Legacy Project's annual Listen to a Life Essay Contest. Their
entries ranged from playful to poignant, and inspire others to take the
time to listen to a senior's life story.
For the annual contest, which
starts new each September, young people 8-18 years interview a
grandparent or grandfriend 50 years or older about their life
experiences and submit a 300-word essay.
The Legacy Project at www.legacyproject.org, a
national education initiative with the nonprofit Generations United in
Washington, DC, offers parents and teachers plenty of ideas and
activities for building closer connections across generations.
"Learning about real life from real people is
powerful for kids," says Legacy Project Chair Susan V. Bosak. "And we
all need to feel that our life has meaning, that we've left a legacy. So
having someone listen to their life experiences means the world to many
older adults."
The national Grand Prize winner of a Lenovo
ThinkCentre computer and a $500 Books Are Fun gift certificate is
Eleanor Cawthon, 13, a grade 8 student at Rowland Hall-St. Mark's Middle
School in Salt Lake City, Utah.
She interviewed Reed Hart, 69, who's part of the
Tenth East Senior Center. Her English teacher, Mike Roberts, encouraged
his students to enter the Listen to a Life Essay Contest. The
visit to the senior center was part of a community service learning
project.
Hart shared his experiences in the Navy serving in
Korea. "When I asked Mr. Hart what he would like to leave the world's
young people, he said a recording of the interview. My essay is his wish
fulfilled," says Cawthon.
Cawthon says the experience has even changed her
views of school.
During the interview, Hart explained that he
dropped out of school after the tenth grade, only to return at age 30 to
earn his GED. Says Cawthon, "Education has skyrocketed as a value of
mine. School isn't a waste of time. School prepares you for life."
One of 20 runner-up winners of a $200 Books Are Fun
gift certificate, Valerie Kraus, 13, of Fountain Valley, California,
interviewed grandfriend and Holocaust survivor Emilie Schleissner. "She
is 93 years old," writes Kraus, "What I love about Emilie is that she
has always insisted I call her by her first name. "I am Emilie!" she
exclaims, "not Mrs. Schleissner."
Schleissner, while held in a concentration camp,
was forced to work as a typist for the Germans. "One day, she recognized
a name she was typing," writes Kraus. "It was her fiancι's name. He had
been designated as one of the camp doctors. Now, he would be transported
via train to Dachau, Poland within months of the war's end. She was
devastated beyond belief. Sadly, Emilie would never see him again."
Other winners wrote about personal challenges.
Meagan Johnson, 13, of Comanche, Texas, explains how her great-aunt Sue
Vaughn, 75, has inspired her by overcoming a "disability, though she
wouldn't call it that -- more like her unique ability." When Johnson was
11 months old, surgery ruined her vocal cords. She has gone through life
communicating in her own language. She speaks using a series of clicks
and taps made with her mouth and tongue.
In schools across the country, custodial staff
might not get the recognition they deserve. Nicholas Thielen, 17, of
Elkton, South Dakota wanted to change that with his essay "Charles
Marquardt: The Man Behind the Mop."
"It's about eight o'clock in the morning and I'm on
my way to school, just like I have been for fourteen long years," writes
Thielen. "As I walk into another stressful day of school, my day is
instantly better as I see the sparkling floors, clean enough to eat off
of, the windows so clean it appears there is no glass at all, and the
lemony fresh scent floating through the air."
Entries also touched on the historically
significant. Peggy King, 80, of Wallingford, PA, told her grandson Mike
King, 16, about the Kent State shootings. She was there that day, and
believes the incident was started by the National Guard mistaking the
nail guns of roofers working on the library as gun shots. She contacted
the FBI and told them what she thought happened, but received no
response.
And there were personal warnings. Judy Abbruzzese,
65, of Worcester, Massachusetts began her interview with family friend
Kate Lyons, 18, with blunt honesty: "If anything kid, never be like me."
Her lifelong addiction to drugs has lost Abbruzzese her family and her
health.
Simone Livshits, 10, of Waterville, Maine, learned
simple life lessons from artist Losang Samten, 72. Samten was born in
Tibet, where he was a monk, and then came to the US. He makes sand
paintings of mandalas.
"Most people want to make money rather than doing
what I do. Everybody these days are running after money. They call me a
'starving artist.' I don't like how artists aren't appreciated until
they die, then the people begin to respect and like the artists' work,"
says Samten.
Sharon Zanti, 17, of Leesburg, Virginia, took a
lighthearted approach to her essay about grandfather George Wirth, 71.
"In our family, Grandpa is the 'lecturer' -- he can
talk for hours, jumping from Columbus to Calculus. The last time I asked
Grandpa for chemistry help, he was expounding on the atomic bomb ten
minutes later. Although he sometimes overwhelms me with facts, I
appreciate why he does it."
The youngest winner was Devneet Singh, 8, of
Duluth, Georgia, who shared the life story of her "Nani maa," the Hindi
word meaning "maternal grandmother." The oldest entrant was Julia Morell,
105, of East Northport, New York, who was interviewed by her
great-grandson John Marsicano, 13.
The next Listen to a Life Contest begins
September 9, national Grandparents Day. Interviewing a grandparent can
be a great activity for families as they get together over the summer.
For all the winning life stories and lessons, along
with other Across Generations activity ideas to bring generations
closer, visit
www.legacyproject.org.
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