Posted by Howard Richman on October 23 2009 at 01:39:06:
An article in a South Carolina newpaper tells the story. Here is how it begins:
There can only be one best. Best fisherman, best apple-bobber, best double-dutch rope skipper. The best 4-H essayist in all of America, on the subject of the dance language of honey bees, is Helen Coats, an 11-year-old Rock Hill girl.
Helen´s essay entered in a national beekeeping contest called “The Bee Dance — Not Exactly the Electric Slide,” beat essays from children in 27 states.
She won the South Carolina contest first, then the national contest. Margie Sippel, who runs the Clemson Extension Service´s 4-H programs, said Helen is the first national winner from South Carolina in the annual essay contest. Then Helen did one better and beat everybody else in the country, too.
“And before I started, I didn´t know much about bees, except they make honey,” Helen said.
But she sure found out a lot. Then she went out and won a national contest, judged by experts in bees and experts in writing, and the $750 that goes with it.
Howard
Click here to read Helen´s prize-winning essay