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Essay Contest Winners Win Disneyland Tickets: Congrats Kevin, Kayla, and Lisa!

Patrick is a regular 826LA volunteer. When he’s not working for Disney, Patrick is drawing illustrations for student Field Trip publications (he’s made over 180 of them!). His personal goal is to illustrate 200 Field Trip books for 826LA. Patrick has also donated more than $20,000 in grants to 826LA through the Disney VoluntEARS, and in February sponsored an essay contest for 826LA’s After-School Tutoring students. Students were asked to write  a story about their favorite memory and submit it to Patrick and his team at Disney. A winner at each 826LA location was chosen and received three Disneyland Park Hopper tickets with a $100 Disneyland gift card!

The judges loved the students’ pieces so much that they couldn’t decide on just one winner from the group of writers in Mar Vista. Thanks to Ken Van Doren from Disney, enough prizes were donated to allow for three winners: Kevin and Kayla from Mar Vista, and Lisa from the Writing Lab in Echo Park.

The winners were announced to the students by our 826LA Program Coordinators after a day of tutoring. Rebecca, Tutoring Program Coordinator at Mar Vista, confirmed it to be “a really a poignant moment.” She asked Kayla to share her story, and towards the end of her reading she started crying and couldn’t finish it. Everyone applauded in a show of support for her powerful essay.

Thank you Patrick, Ken, and everyone at Disney Community Fund for generously supporting 826LA students in magical ways. Read Kayla’s story titled “The Happy Feeling Inside You” below, along with Kevin’s “My Happiest Moment” and Lisa’s “The End of the Beginning.”


The Happy Feeling Inside You

By Kayla

Let’s go back to 2014 at Mexico in Oaxaca. I was at a restaurant with my family. And we were all waiting for out food. Then i spot a little group of kids that didn’t have parents, and they were making very beautiful bracelets together. As I was watching them, out of nowhere this little boy came up to me and asked me if i wanted to by one of his bracelets because he and his friend need some money so that they could buy some food because they didn’t have much cash. Right away my grandparents said no thank you like everyone else said. So then i saw the look in his face, and it was as if he was saying in his head, “oh, not again,” but of course in Spanish because I was in Mexico and not many people knew Spanish their. So for a second i said to myself, “ how would you feel if you were in that situation.” So i told my grandparents if i could borrow some pesos (as in money), so i could give it to the little boy. So then they said yes and handed the money to me so i give it to the boy. So then I called him to come back and handed him the money. Right away He started showing me all the bracelets he had to sell. So then i told him, “ no I don’t want one, but still, keep the money. You need it more than I do” (Translated in Spanish). So then he thanked me and my family. He ran off to the ice cream shop and himself a vanilla ice cream cone. That’s when i started feeling something in my heart that made me really happy. Not only for myself but for the little boy.


My Happiest Moment

By Kevin  

My Happiest moment started a little bit scary when, i was scared for the first time in a very longtime. It was a regular day at school, I was playing soccer with other kids, but then i heard some shots and it terrified me. I started to run but then i some kids running to the gym so i sprinted as fast as i could. I made it just in time because they were closing it. We were all terrified. They were crying, other kids were praying. I felt all those feelings. A few moments later I heard my principal announcing that the guy was captured. I was relieved. This is my happiest moment because I SURVIVED.  I get to love another day! This made me understand something new. I learned that life is short and a life-threatening situation can happen at any moment. For this reason, it is important to enjoy the present and appreciate the things really matter. I went home and gave my mom an extra long hug to show how much I care about her. This made me appreciate the little things in life and thats why this is the happiest moment of my life.


The End of the Beginning

By Lisa

I walked into the auditorium behind my other classmates, we were in height order. We sat in unison. The seats were set on the auditorium stage. The top row stood up and one by one they recited their speeches and received their certificates. After we all recited our speeches we went outside of the auditorium to look for our families. “Lisa! I loved your speech!” my mom said as she and my dad hugged me. After we took a thousand pictures, we finally got in line to get food.“Sorry parents, but it’s time to kick you out.” The 5th grade culmination dance is about to start,” yelled Oricoli. Soon after all of the 5th grade was dancing inside the auditorium.

Now imagine, this: everybody having a good time. Dancing while the school technology teacher plays awesome music. In the hallway there is a flipbook machine. How it works is you are recorded doing something the machine prints out strips of your movement, and staples them together with the cover, and you have a flipbook.

A few hours passed by and everyone finished the pizza that was ordered. One of my three teachers yelled, “ice cream at the 5th grade pavilion!” I was standing near the door and i almost thought it was a stampede of elephants!  I was almost ran over! The ice cream felt cold and creamy on my tongue. All the kids went to the auditorium and made a really memory.

It was the end of the beginning.


If you are interested in supporting our students, become an 826LA volunteer today. Sign up for an upcoming Volunteer 101 HERE

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