Students win $10K for Habitat for Humanity

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This article was published 13/06/2024 (516 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

For writing poems about what home means to them, a pair of Winnipeg elementary students have each been awarded $10,000 grants for Habitat for Humanity Manitoba.

Out of 2,834 submissions from budding writers across the province, and 15,000 across the country, Emily Virginia Jones and Winter Rose Wright had their work chosen by a selection committee at the national charitable organization.

Jones is an 11-year-old Grade 5 student at École Riverview School, home of the Raccoons, while Wright, also 11, is a Grade 6 student at École Seven Oaks Middle School, home of the Hawks.

The students heard about the Meaning of Home contest from their teachers, who explained that each entry to the national contest would be matched with a $10 donation to their local Habitat branch.

“We all signed up and I was really hoping that I would win so that I could help people in need to get a home,” Jones told the Free Press in an email.

Jones, whose favourite poets are Edgar Allan Poe and Robert Frost and whose favourite book at the moment is Kathy Kacer’s Hidden on the Highwire, decided to write about her own homes and her experiences with her “wonderful parents.”

“I thought that writing about how lucky I am and showing how some people don’t have that would help make my poem more meaningful,” she said.

Wright, who mentions Richard Wagamese as a personal fave, said she took the contest’s question at face value.

“I wrote about what home meant to me because I thought I could share my opinion and also be relatable,” she said.

Wright said Wagamese’s work inspires her.

“Not only do I respect him as a writer, I respect him as an individual.”

Both writers took their time when composing their winning entries — each titled Home — to the contest, which has raised $2.7 million for the charitable organization since the first edition in 2007. The contest is sponsored by Sagen, a private Canadian mortgage insurance company.

“At first I thought that my poem would take only a week or so, but it ended up taking a month and a couple weeks,” said Jones, who said her entire class wrote really good poems.

“Many times I had to restart a stanza because I just didn’t feel like it was going with the rest of the poem. It was difficult, but I really enjoyed making it.”

“It took me about a month to make the poem,” said Wright. “I really wanted to take my time and let it sink in. It was a lot more challenging than I thought because I didn’t wanna just rush into it. I wanted to take my time and not overdo it. It took me to the last second to finish my poem.”

Both Wright and Jones, who were two of nine entrants nationally to receive $10,000 grants to their local Habitat branch, believe in the power of poetry.

“Poetry has lots of meaning, and when you write poetry, it has more meaning than when you’re writing just a story,” said Jones, who appreciates Frost for that reason and Poe for his rhythm.

”When I read poetry, it makes me feel like I’m in a whole new world of literature.”

“Poetry is a window into one’s mind. It lets people express themselves in the most interesting way possible. But for me, it’s different. A swipe of a pencil takes me out of this world into a place of creativity and imagination,” said Wright.

ben.waldman@winnipegfreepress.com