Pikes Peak Pebble Pups and Earth Science Scholars: Pebble Pups Recognized at the Student Literary Awards

By Julie Shimon
Colorado Springs Pebble Pups
On May 16, 2013 two Pebble Pups, Caden Rothzeid and Jack Shimon, both in 2^nd grade, were invited to attend the Student Literary Awards hosted by Colorado Humanities as finalists in the River of Words (ROW) poetry contest. Unlike all the other finalists who entered the contests through their schools, Caden and Jack have to thank their Pebble Pups teacher Steven Veatch for not only bringing ROW to their attention, but more importantly for inspiring their creativity through his Pebble Pup club. The reception was held at the Denver Public Library and honored poetry and art finalists from ROW as well as Letters for Literature.

River of Words honorees at the Denver Public Library

The reception began with an introduction by Maggie Coval, Director of Colorado Humanities, who was thrilled to “honor the finest student writing and art” out of hundreds of entries within Colorado alone. She said this year had some of the “most beautiful and memorable entries”, and after attending the reception and listening to 1^st place finalists read their work I have to agree.

The River of Words judges for Colorado were Jim Ciletti, a master poet, and Justice Gregory Hobbs of the Colorado Supreme Court, who has been judging this contest for twelve years. Justice Hobbs was in attendance and hosted the poetry awards. The finalists in each category were called forward to receive an anthology of the work and then the 1^st place winners read their poetry. Caden did an amazing job reading his 1^st place poem in Category 1(K-2^nd grade) called “The Volcano Poem.” He even got some giggles at the end with his final line “I love to learn about them, I don’t think they are a bore.” Jack took second place in this category with his poem “The Waldo Canyon Fire.”

1^st Place winner Category 1, Caden Rothzeid with Justice Hobbs

At the conclusion of the State Poetry Awards Jack was called forward to read his poem which was also a National Finalist. The State and National awards are judged independently by a completely different panel of Judges. This was a big honor for Jack. At the end of the awards presentation all the winners and families were invited to enjoy a nice reception and each winner received a cool certificate and gift bag.