2009 Literary Contest...Second Place Winner

Shelby Kotteman
Wins second place for her essay..."Girls Trip"

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Learn more about past "Literary Contests."

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Shelby is a Junior at Lincoln Community High School and an active participant in National Honor Society, Future Educators of America, Spanish Club, library Club, and has been a Peer Leader both her freshman and sophomore years. She had perfect attendance both her freshman and sophomore years and included in the Who's Who Among American High School Students in 2006 and 2007.

Shelby received the Lincoln Jaycees Outstanding Young Citizen Award in 2004. She was nominated for and attended the Junior National Young Leaders Conference in Washington D.C. in 2005, 2007, and 2008. and the state

Active also in her community, Shelby has participated in the Big Brother and Big Sister Program...tutoring and mentoring others...volunteered at our County Health fair and at Illinois State Fair Governors Day with her 4-H club.

Congratulations Shelby
Marsha Robinett

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Shelby says she chose the drawing, Butterfly and Flower as her subject because..."The butterfly and flower in this picture remind me of the butterflies and wildflowers I see on our trips to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The trips I take there with my family and our mother/daughter girls' trips to Naubinway are very special to me, and I decided to write about some of my cherished memories and experiences there.

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Here is Shelby's descriptive essay. I realize for a blog entry it is quite long...I hope you will enjoy the cherished memories of this young writer.

Girls' Trip...by Shelby Kottemann

Last summer, my mom and I went on a girls' trip to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. This is something we have done together each summer for the past three years. We Stay in a small, rustic cabin in the Hiawatha Sportsman's Club near a small village, called Naubinway for about a week. The weather there is almost always nice, the people are so friendly and welcoming, and there's so much to see and do.

We always leave early to start our eleven; hour drive. We listen to music and talk along the way. We always stop at the rest area at the state border. Here we eat our packed lunch; a salad with crackers. My favorite road we drive on is Highway 26 in Wisconsin. It's a really pretty drive. We pass by country homes with cows and red barns. The lilacs are in full bloom in the first week of June. They add to the beauty of the places we go through. We always stop in Menominee and stay the night in Econo Lodge. Right next door is a restaurant Mom and I love to go to, called Schlogels. Their food is so good! The next morning, we get up early and drive the rest of the way, we stop in Escanaba to get the things we may need for the week. It is the last Wal-Mart we'll see for the next 164 miles on U.S.2.

When we get to the cabin, we unpack and head to Naubinway. There is a marina and two stores there" Valiers, which is a small grocery store and King's, which is a little shop for tourists to buy souvenirs or smoked fish. It has been there for as long as my family has been coming to Michigan, and so has some of the merchandise. Naubinway is a small fisherman's village. It is the home to the largest commercial fishing port on the Great Lakes. We bought fresh whitefish from the port to take home in coolers, so we can have it throughout the year. A lot of days we went to the beach. Since it's not peak tourist season in June, we sometimes have the beach to ourselves. I like walking around the waves, feeling the ripples of sand beneath my toes. Sometimes I'll run across a school of minnows, and chase them through the water.

When I was little, I used to take home Monarch Caterpillars. They are my favorite butterflies and the U.P. is one of their main habitats. I collected milkweed for them to eat and kept them in a jar with netting at the top. They built their cocoons at the top, and after we returned home I would watch their cocoons change from green to clear, making it where you could see the butterfly inside. Then one morning, they would hatch, and once their wings had dried, I let them go outside. Every once in a while, I still see a Monarch flying through our yard and wonder if it is one of the babies of my butterflies.

At the end of our day, Mom and I sometimes went to Pizza Pronto for supper. They have the best pizza in the world! After supper, we went back to the cabin to relax. Some nights we'd watch one of our favorite movies and have popcorn. Other nights we'd read our books or do a puzzle.

Our cabin is very small. There is a kitchen/sitting room with a wooden table to sit at. Then, there's a small bedroom, in which the twin bed takes up most of the room and a bathroom that's so small, you can use the toilet and wash your hands at the same time! The shower is just as small. We have just enough hot water for the two of us to take quick showers. Even though we have small living quarters, it's a great experience.

In the mornings, Mom and I sometimes like to get up early. I drink hot chocolate, and she drinks her coffee. We watch the deer and her fawns play together near the edge of the forest as the sun rises. The fawns chase each other and kick up their heels and the doe even got in on the fun too. We'd go for walks in the afternoon along the club road some days. Our cabin is across the street from Lake Millecoquin.

During our girls' trip we always go to Mackinac Island for at least one or tow days. Mackinac Island is my favorite place in the worked. We take the Star Line Ferry from St. Ignace, which is about an hour away from Naubinway. The ferry ride is exciting with the waves crashing into the boat and a big "tail" of water shooting up from the back of the boat, making a little rainbow beside it.

Once we get to the island, we go shopping in the unique little shops that make up Main Street. We always have to get a Mackinac Island Fudge ice cream cone, and since the island is famous for it's fudge, we bring fudge home to the rest of our family. We walk along the streets and look at the beautiful old Victorian homes whose yards are filled with pretty spring flowers. No cars are allowed on the island, so you see many horses and carriages. Once, Mom and I went on a carriage ride with an old couple. It was really interesting to learn about the island and its history from our guide. We walked along the boardwalk in the cool breeze and the warm sunshine, seeing the pretty flowers with the lake and the Mackinac Bridge in the distance. Being on Mackinac Island is like stepping into another world.

The morning we left was very bittersweet. It was really hard to leave, but we were ready to get home to our family. As we drove down the club road, we saw the fog rising from Millecoquin Lake against the pine trees. It was as if the lake was giving us one last pretty view before we had to go. I watched Naubinway until it disappeared into the distance as we drove down U.S. 2, and we both dreamed of the trip we would take next year. when we would make more memories together that we would both treasure forever.

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The recipients are excited about their awards...anxious to see them published and anticipating your comments.

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1 Peter 1:24
For, "All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall,
1 Peter 1:23-25 (in Context)

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