52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History: Talented Tuesday : Writing Winnings

The prompt for Week 20 of 52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History is Fame:

Tell us about any local brushes with fame. Were you ever in the newspaper? Why?

When I was in sixth grade, I was the regional winner for my grade of the national "Parade of Presidents" essay contest, sponsored by The Kroger Co. 

Link to the article above:

https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth566774/m1/8/zoom/?q=%22francis%20de%20sales%22&resolution=3&lat=2705.353377239193&lon=1671.6796174335564

My classmates crowned me "Miss Kroger" in honor of
the contest sponsor at a party before I left on my trip.

My wonderful English teacher, Mrs. Rovello, had everyone in the class participate.  We had to write a short essay on a president and his leadership qualities.  I wrote about Abraham Lincoln.

I won among all sixth graders in South Texas and Southwest Louisiana. My prize was an all-expense paid trip to Washington, DC in January 1969 for President Nixon's first inauguration.

I shared a hotel room with girls from Pennsylvania and Connecticut.  Although we could not see the inauguration ceremony very well, we did have reserved seats for the parade.  We saw everything on our itinerary except the Washington Monument, which was surrounded by Vietnam War protestors, and the FBI.  Besides the places listed in the article above, we also saw the Iwo Jima Monument, Embassy Row, the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, and the Bureau of Printing and Engraving.

There were quite a few articles in local papers (The Houston Post, The Houston Chronicle, The Bellaire Texan, The Texas Catholic Herald, and The Southwesterner), both before and after the trip.  Here I've just included the ones that had photographs. :)

A few months later, I was a winner in a local Catholic Daughters of America poetry contest, and my (misspelled) name and photo was in a local newspaper again.

© Amanda Pape - 2011 - click here to e-mail me.