In Wheaton Warrenville District 200, Lincoln School 5th grader Buruk Yeshedinber is the boy who made history in 2010 when he won third place in the International Writing Contest for Children of African Descent this month for his essay entitled Ethiopian Food Galore.
In Buruks honor, fellow students celebrated National Buruk Day at Lincoln by eating Mrs. Andersons famous brownies and talking to the president on the teachers Imaginary line to the White House.
An official certificate, a cash award (to be turned into a gift certificate) and another special prize to be determined by the London-based contest judges awaits Buruk when contest representatives jet to the U.S. to disseminate awards later this month.
Buruk was notified of his 3rd place award via email by contest overseer Lorna Jones of London, England. The contest reaped over 200 contestants from around the globe.
I am proud to be in the same school as Buruk. It feels good to know an award winning writer, said fellow 5th grader Ryan Kujawaki, adding, If you go to the www.lornajones.net web site under Essay Contest 2010 you can see his name and open up the document for the winning essay.
I am honored to know this boy, said classmate Liam Tunney, putting aside his cell phone to the president long enough to help his teacher convert the British Pound award amount into U.S. dollars.
I was waiting for the day this news would come, said Buruk, who submitted the essay several weeks ago, and used to HATE writing. And when the email came, we celebrated with joy!
Buruks teacher Jacki Lopushonsky found the contest one day while seeking out a multitude of writing-related contests into which to enter her 5th grade students. Recently, her students finished writing books on their topics of expertise. Three of them -one about Michelle Obama, one about the history of Michelle and Barack Obamas relationship, and a third about the presidents cabinet- are headed for the White House. They will soon be posted on the Lincoln School web site. Earlier this week, one of her 5th graders wrote an essay to Illinois Governor Pat Quinn thanking him for the ISATS.
You never know whats going to come out of these kids, said Lopushonsky. My job is to find the proper channels for all their creative genius!