AHS junior Ejigayehu Case and senior Reilly Mader wrote winning personal essays for the Lakefly Writers Conference Competition.

Case won first place ($100.00) and Mader won third place ($50.00).

Here is a piece of Case’s 1st place essay: about her birth name.

“Nine Letters”-Case.

 Pronounced “edge-ih-guy-u”; although, that’s not the case for attendance on the first day of

school, substitute teachers, people on the announcements, and countless others. Letters are often added or forgotten when it rolls off the tongue of some. But still, my name remains special to me and the ones I got it from.

Here is a section of Mader’s third-place essay: about her dad and relating to golf.

“Because of My Dad” -Mader.

The back nine of Hamilton Mill Country Club looked incredible. With white bunkers, fairways

like carpet, and refreshments along the way, we were all in for a treat. Because there were no

rangers on the back nine, Brady and I got the opportunity to drive the carts; it was a dream come true. With the back nine going similar to the front, the 18th hole was our last opportunity to win the match. My dad had an eight-foot putt for birdie after knocking it on for 165 yards out with his 8-iron. This was my chance to prove that I could help myself. “It breaks left to right, aim half a pin to the right and it should drop,” I said to my dad. With complete silence surrounding us, you could hear our hearts beating. Bump bump, bump bump, bump bump.

You can view their essays here.

Cases said that their essay was everything that they have seen or felt in life. 

Case tried to connect that with their name. 

Case said, “I was surprised that I had won first place because I personally didn’t think that it was that good and I had forgotten about it by the time I found out.”

Case heard about the competition through their composition class. “Mrs. Carnell gave us the assignment of writing an essay about our names which we then all submitted to the competition.”

It had taken Case a week to write the essay.

Case says, “I am satisfied with the final product.”

Mader was inspired by the game of golf and his dad, Tyler Mader. 

Mader says, “My dad has always helped me out for life’s greatest challenges and I thought it was time to connect two important things in my life, my dad and golf.”

Mader was excited to hear the news about his placement.

Mader said, “It’s not every day you place top three in a writing completion so I will take it!”

Mader heard about this competition through his Advanced Composition teacher, Carnell. 

She told the class about the competition and they all entered it.

It took Mader only three hours to finish his essay. “I really enjoyed writing it so time went by quickly.”

Mader says, “I am very satisfied with how my essay turned out. I think I would have some minor changes after reading over it but overall, I’m happy about it.”

“I just want to thank Mrs. Carnell for not only being a great teacher, but also giving us these opportunities to share our writing and get credit for it.”