Simi Valley girl's essay chosen as runner-up in national contest

Erica Dion

Erica Dion of Simi Valley, a sixth-grader at St. Rose of Lima School, is a runner-up in BIC Corp.'s national essay contest, the "Quality Comes in Writing" program.

She will receive a $100 cash prize.

Winners were chosen out of nearly 11,000 essay entries from around the country by Lifetime Learning Systems, an independent judging organization.

The essay contest is part of an educational kit called "Quality Comes in Writing," created for BIC by Lifetime Learning Systems Inc. The kit, which was distributed nationally last fall to about 40,000 schools, is designed to help students in grades four through six develop strong writing skills.

Following is Erica's winning essay.

It's Saturday morning, and I played an exciting soccer game. I take off my sweaty shoes, and I feel the lush grass between my toes.

The sun is shining, and a cool breeze feels refreshing. I grab my reusable water jug, my soccer bag, and a few of the water bottles littering the field to recycle. Today is perfect, and I savor this beautiful day. I wish every day would be just nice as it is now, but sadly my wish may not come true.

Twenty years from now a little girl, like myself, may not be able to enjoy a beautiful summer day. Instead she might be stuck inside because it is too hot to play.

As I walk inside my house, I realize that I left the light on in my room. I rush upstairs to turn it off. Although everyone forgets, and we all make mistakes, there are still many good things that we can do to help the environment.

We can change our light bulbs and replace them with energy efficient ones. We can play outside instead of watching television. We can do our part today to make the world a better place tomorrow.