Newtown Homeschooler Takes First Place In Essay Contest

Fifth grade homeschooler Emma Atkinson recently took top honors in an annual essay contest at Barnes & Noble in Danbury, Conn. In the fifth/sixth grade division, essays had to be no more than 200 words in length and written on the topic “Living in the Year 2000.”

Emma worked with Newtown residents and homeschooler tutors Mrs Daren Liker and Mrs Kathleen Green for a couple of weeks on her award-winning essay. She was notified by mail that she won first place.

This is Emma’s essay about living in the year 2000.

Kablam! That is exactly what I was thinking on New Year’s eve. I thought that maybe we should have stocked up on more food. A lot of people were scared that computers would crash. My family and I made New Year’s resolutions – I would be nicer than usual to my sisters! All this thinking made me wonder about creating a time capsule for the new millennium.

I would put three objects in my capsule: a scooter, gel pen, and Beanie Baby Kid. These toys represent kids in the year 2000. The scooter is popular because it’s flexible and easy to ride. My scooter makes me feel like I am on an electric machine that can take me anywhere. Gel pens are quite important to a child because they can make writing interesting and fun. The colors are bright and, most of all, make me feel what I am writing.  Beanie Baby Kids show that children are different in their hair, eyes, and skin, and that’s okay.

At first I was worried about the new millennium. Now I realize that all I need are three special toys to make me feel comfortable in the twenty-first century.

The winners were honored at an awards ceremony where they received Barnes & Noble gift certificates and were asked to read their essays aloud. Both Emma and her tutors agreed that the most difficult part of writing the essay was keeping the word total to 200!