The Rotaract Club of Belize - is a voluntary organization which is made up of young people - whose aim is to carry out community service oriented projects. One of their most recent projects was a story writing competition - that involved primary school students of the Belize district. It started in November and today the winners all gathered at the Turton Library for a brief ceremony - where prizes and certificates were handed out.
Hershel Armstrong - President of the Rotaract Club of Belize
"Over the last few months have had a story writing competition within the primary schools of the Belize District and today was the combination of the competition where we awarded our top three places for each category. It started off with the idea of having the children write about their experience, their joy of living on Belize and our club this year try to focus more on children, more on literacy, more on promoting reading and writing as well and so the idea behind the competition was to have the children write a short story that would talk about how they feel and what experiences they have had as being a child in Belize and so we've had participants from St. Joseph, Our Lady of Lourdes RC, Belize Elementary and a few other schools that took part as well and in the end we had the stories being red, being judge and we awarded three top three finishers for each category; Standards 3,4,5 & 6."
Amberley Marin- first place winner, BES
"I did the story a little late because I had exams and I had to study for them, so I was kind of in a rush. I had written an essay and I had found out there was a story that I had to write so I had to so a little changes to it at the last minute."
Monica Bodden
"Now how did you actually come up with the idea of your story?"
Amberley Marin- first place winner, BES
"Well I was thinking about Belize and I really saw it was like walking into a candy shop and how funny it is and tasting all the candies."
Monica Bodden
"How long did it take you to put that piece together?"
Amberley Marin- first place winner, BES
"Like one or two weeks."
Monica Bodden
"You did a lot of work? You work on it every evening after school?"
Amberley Marin- first place winner, BES
"Yes."
Monica Bodden
"And actually to know that you actually came in first place. How does that make you feel?"
Amberley Marin- first place winner, BES
"I really feel like a superstar because in school I had won this other competition at the Leo Bradley Library where you had to read out loud with an expression and I came in first with that too."
Lexi Morris - first place winner, Our Lady of Lourdes RCS
"The name of my story is "Village Limousine" and it's about these three kids who have an over active imagination who finds an old abandoned bus and decides to turn it into a limousine in their imagination."
Monica Bodden
"Now how did you actually come up with this idea?"
Lexi Morris - first place winner, Our Lady of Lourdes RCS
"Well it was based on a true story, I change it up a little bit because my friend and I use to go in a wheel barrow and had them push us around like we were super stars."
Monica Bodden
"Now how long did it actually took you to put the piece together?"
Lexi Morris - first place winner, Our Lady of Lourdes RCS
"I love writing stories so it took me like about one day and then we just find the mistakes and change it up a little bit and made it sound professional."
Monica Bodden
"Now when you heard that you won first prize, how excited were you?"
Lexi Morris - first place winner, Our Lady of Lourdes RCS
"They didn't tell me what I won they just tell me I came in first and like 'firs for what?, no I came in third, I didn't came in first' and I told everyone."
The Rotaract Club of Belize plans to make this event a yearly project. And for those of you who may not know, the Turton Library is the oldest Library in the country.
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