NORTH SALT LAKE—When Brooke Lemon entered her essay into the reflections contest at Foxboro Elementary she had no idea how far it would take her. The second-grader recently found out she received the Award of Excellence at Nationals.

“Brooke wrote it in September,” said her mom Megan Lemon. “She won at the school level, then at the district, region, state and nationals. The PTA came to our house when she won in the district. When she won at state and region the PTA came to class and recognized her there.”

The contest was made up of eight different categories, Megan said. “There were about 900 entries at the national level across all eight categories. There were 12 to 15 kids in the district and Brooke was the only one who got the Award of Excellence. Two others received the Award of Merit.”
Groups were divided by grades with about 120 kids in each, she said. “It ranged from preschool up to grade 12. There was pre-K – second grade and third through fifth grade then junior high and high school. At the national level they’re all from different grades. Brooke won across all grade levels.”

The overall reflections theme was “I Matter Because,” said Megan. “I asked her ‘why do you think you’re important?’ She said every child is a child of God and they are important.”

Brooke decided to write a paper about children from around the world and why they are important, Megan said. “She picked what country she’d like to write about and studied about them. What they like to eat and do for fun. We knew some people who lived in different countries and she talked to them too. She wrote about 12 different kids from different countries.”

 For her award-winning entry, Brooke will receive $200 and a medal. “She’s really excited,” said Megan. “She hasn’t really comprehended it. She’s anxiously waiting for the money and medal. She wants to go to Boondocks and Bahama Bucks snow cones.”

Megan said Brooke likes to write for fun and keeps a journal. “This was her first time writing for a competition. She’s a total newbie.”