Were you ever given any special awards for your studies or school activities?

Brooke-There's only a few rewards I can remember getting as a child. The first one is the Physical Fitness Award in Elementary School. I got that every year that the school did it, and I always looked forward to getting it each year.
The other reward I remember was either the Farm Bureau Essay Contest or the Reflections Essay Contest. I don't remember which one it was, but my friend Wendy always won every year and I didn't even want to try. Mom coaxed me into doing it and she practically did the essay for me. I did win that year thanks to the professionalism and maturity of a mother who knew what the judges were looking for. I didn't care about winning though, I was just glad Wendy didn't win that one....

Sarah-I didn't receive many awards. I always liked going to school and enjoyed the social part of it. In Second grade I got first place for a poem I wrote. I still remember it. "There once was a horse that lives in a corral and every time I looked at him he always swished his tail. In High School I received the award for the most friendly in my class. I still like to be around good people.


Collette- There were two awards I received in school that meant a great deal to me. The first was in 2nd grade. The forest service had some art contest. I've never been good at drawing but I loved coloring. I remember entering the contest without a lot of hope knowing one of the Peterson boys who were really good artists would win. When they announced my name at an assembly with the whole school I was so shocked yet incredibly proud. Looking back I'm pretty sure I won because my entry was the only one colored amongst a bunch of penciled drawings and not because I had or have any artistic talent.
The other award I received was the State Impromptu Champion. I didn't do so well at Region, I was so incredibly tired from staying up all night the night before, and barely made it to State. I was really nervous to participate in the State Championship. In fact the night before I was a party pooper and just went to bed instead of sneaking out of the motel with everyone else. I guess I was smart enough to have learned from Region that I'm useless when I'm tired. I still remember the final round question was something about being a friend and in the 30 seconds I had to prepare for a 3 minute speech it was as if by revelation it came to me to use the Humpty Dumpty nursery rhyme and analyze why Humpty fell of the wall (I used log instead of wall on accident but apparently the judges didn't notice). I concluded the nursery rhyme would have ended differently if Humpty had better friends who would have helped him stay on the wall. I think the highlight of winning the award was the next morning Dad woke me up bright and early and asked me how I did? Oh how I wish I could go back and reexperience the shock I placed on Dad when I told him I placed first at State.

Allyson- I started receiving awards early in my school career. Starting in middle school, every "awards ceremony" at the end of the year was spent with me getting award after award for high scores in almost every class. It was actually really embarrassing. I think my fellow classmates got pretty sick of me that day. That same day everyone would write in each other's yearbooks and everyone would comment, "you're so smart, have a good summer." I liked doing well, but didn't really like awards day very much. My very favorite award in high school was for the high score in Driver's Ed. I had taken the class at the beginning of the year, got my license, and by the time of awards day, I've already run over a cow, totaled my mom's car, and gotten at least 4 speeding tickets/warnings. I'm a much better driver now, although I still have a lead foot.