2009 Winning Essays!
Jaxson Alfers
It was an abnormally warm day for the middle of winter, but Gill was inside playing a video game. His mom told him to turn off the TV and go outside to play. He grabbed his ice skates and ran all the way down to the frozen Missouri River. Gill’s dog, Bill, secretly followed him.
Bill hid in the bushes while Gill sat down on a park bench to put on his ice skates. He skated and skated until he came to an ice fishing house. No one was inside but he noticed a fishing pole leaning against the house. He skated back to the park bench to get his boots. Excited to go back to the empty fishing house, he ran and ran.
Gill grabbed the fishing pole and suddenly caught a fish! The biggest fish ever! He was so excited that he jumped up and down so hard that the ice started cracking. He tried to run but he fell through the thin, cracking ice!
Out of nowhere, his dog, Bill, came to the rescue! Bill pulled Gill out of the cold water just as the fish swam away!
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Ethan Hough
One night, Gill exclaimed, “I want to be an explorer like Louis and Clark,” and crafted himself a tinfoil boat. He collected items for the trip: paint, hard hats, blocks and ribbon. Gill took a midnight plane from Omaha to Three Forks, Montana to the mouth of the Missouri.
As Gill began, he saw high rock walls and hundreds of evergreens. The sun was shining; the birds were singing.
Thunk! Gill was stuck between two rocks.
“How am I going to get out of this mess?”
Out of the blue appeared a long gray catfish with curly French whiskers. He looked like he needed some color, so Gill splashed his paint on the catfish.
The catfish said, “Bonjour, you must have some magic paint!”
“Yes, can you help me?”
The catfish made the rocks magically disappear and was on his way again.
“Thank you,” Gill said.
Gill sailed through North Dakota and passed by many sandbars, and the water was so low the bottom scraped the boat. It was getting late, so Gill rowed just into South Dakota and he pulled the boat over to the side of the river, tied it up, and made a campfire. He fell asleep star-gazing while listening to the coyotes howl.
He was awakened by the honk of a tug-boat going by and noticed his own boat was halfway under water. Gill noticed a group of busy beavers working nearby and gave them all the hard hats he brought and asked them to help with the mission of building a new boat. They were done in no time. Gill gave them the reward wood blocks and they went back to their own work.
Gill sailed on past Iowa, Nebraska and Kansas. Finally he came to the luminous lights of St. Louis mirrored on the river. He saw the “Gateway to the West” and the arch reminded him of his rainbow at the museum and he missed home. An eagle swooped down and flew him back to his place on the sign. He gave him the decorative ribbon for his nest.
“I did it!” Gill exclaimed!
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Niya LaRoda
My name is Gill. I’m a blue little boy from head to toe. My adventure begins on a snowy winter day. I am getting ready for my journey down one of the longest rivers in the U.S.
I get into my boat as the snow falls on my face. The river looks smooth and calm. All the trees and everything on the ground are white. Before I know it, I fall fast asleep.
When I wake up, the sun is shining. I heard birds singing. I put my hand in the warm water. Underneath are tadpoles and all kinds of fish, big ones and small ones. I cannot believe my eyes. As I turn my head to the side of the river I see a turtle starring back at me.
As I paddle down the long river, my arms begin to tire. I take out a cold bottle of water to drink. I pull out my favorite sandwich to eat. As I am eating, a flock of birds flies by. I grab my camera out of my backpack and take a picture. I turn to grab my sandwich but it drops into the river! But, it’s okay because my mom made me an extra one.
As I eat my sandwich it starts to rain. All I see are frogs jumping up and down. It looks like they are dancing.
I am beginning to miss home. So, I turn my boat around and it stops raining.
I paddle my boat as fast as I can. I am racing with all the fish in the river. I beat the fish home!! The snow starts to fall again. I know I am home and Nebraska is where I belong.
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Maria Grazia Stanco
One cold and windy night, Gill sat outside the Omaha Children’s Museum. He eased himself from where he was standing. He quietly snuck down the road and sat on an old, creaky bench. While he sat shivering, a faded sign caught his eye. “Time Machine! $5.00 to travel back in time. Come in!”
Becoming curious, Gill sauntered inside the building. He fiddled with the contraption, moved the dial to Lewis and Clark, and sat down in a chair. He stood up, tripped on some chords, fell down, and knocked into the switch. He was instantly dragged back in time. He landed with a THUD on some grass and heard voices in the distance.
“Sacagawea, where should we pitch our tents?” said an eager sounding man’s voice.
“How about over here?” a woman replied. “When we’re done, we can get in our canoes and keels and map out the river area.”
Gill realized where he was and became excited. He jumped up, ran his hand through his hair, and introduced himself.
One of the men said, “I’m Meriwether Lewis and these are my partners, William Clark and Sacagawea. We’re mapping the West. Would you like to join us for awhile?”
Gill nodded his head and hoisted himself proudly into a keel boat. He helped his companions row the boat down the Big Muddy.
They rowed up the river and eventually Lewis commanded them to take shore. They saw an interesting looking plateau and hurried off, forgetting to tie up the boat. They roamed the prairie with Lewis and Clark mapping out the area.
When twilight appeared, the group headed back to shore. They stopped with a halt when they couldn’t see their boat. Sacagawea shrieked and pointed to the distance, where the boat was drifting down a calm part of the river.
They set off running. Catching up to the boat, Gill asked if they could return to their initial point. Arriving on shore, Gill thanked the group, returned to where he landed, and instantly appeared in front of the Omaha Children’s Museum. He sat down to think about his adventure.
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