Stanislaus, Merced students shine in farm story contest

Students from Stanislaus and Merced counties nearly swept a statewide story-writing contest on farm themes.

The annual “Imagine This ...” contest has a top honor for each grade between third and eighth, and only the fourth grade had a winner from elsewhere. All of the winners will be honored Wednesday as part of Ag Day at the Capitol in Sacramento.

The California Foundation for Agriculture in the Classroom sponsors the contest, inviting factual or fanciful entries that show what the kids have learned about farming.

A little more about the local winners:

▪ Jack Overholtzer, a third-grader at Gratton School in Denair, won for “The Life of Charlie the Quail.” It tells how Farmer Brown found a quail nest while driving his tractor and took a particular liking to a baby bird named Charlie.

▪ Kayleigh Lugowski, a fifth-grader at St. Anthony School in Atwater, won for “The Story of Great Grandpa Grape.” It follows a single fruit from vineyard to raisin packer, grocery store and kitchen.

▪ Gargi Rao, a sixth-grader at St. Stanislaus School in Modesto, won for “Regal’s Escapade.” It describes how a cucumber grows on a farm and ends up in a pickle jar.

▪ Stephanie Temnyk, a seventh-grader at Gratton, won for “A Cat’s Game.” It’s about a cat that tries to make itself useful on a farm.

▪ Grace Reyes, an eighth-grader at St. Anthony, won for “The Raindrop’s Great Courage.” It’s about a raindrop in a cloud that prepares to fall and help irrigate crops.

The winning stories, which can be read at www.cfaitc.org, will be compiled in a book to be distributed to school libraries and classrooms. They were illustrated by art students at Central Catholic High School in Modesto and two Sacramento-area high schools.

Several students in Stanislaus and Merced counties won regional awards:

▪ Baylee Matthew, a seventh-grader at Gratton, for “Baylor the Queen Bee.”

▪ Isabella Dowd, a third-grader at Gratton, for “A Quail Tail.”

▪ Grace Reis, a fourth-grader at Gratton, for “Bottom Dwellers Elementary.”

▪ Katelyn Hartshorn, a fifth-grader at Sacred Heart School in Patterson, for “Katie’s Fruit Salad.”

▪ Daniel Bogetti, a fifth-grader at Sacred Heart, for “Nuts.”

▪ Andriana Cardenas, an eighth-grader at St. Stanislaus, for “The Wonderful Process of Cheesemaking.”

▪ Otto Kellner, a sixth-grader at St. Stanislaus, for “The Eye of the Potato.”

▪ Jacob Nunes, a fifth-grader at St. Anthony, for “The Breakout.”

▪ Aryanna Sobrevilla, a sixth-grader at St. Anthony, for “Mr. Agua-Cate.”

▪ Riley Parr, a sixth-grader at St. Anthony, for “Sarah’s Journey.”

▪ Lenna Foster, a seventh-grader at St. Anthony, for “A Place Called Home.”

▪ R.J. Garcia, an eighth-grader at St. Anthony, for “Stewart’s Wild Adventure.”

This story was originally published March 17, 2015 at 6:15 PM with the headline "Stanislaus, Merced students shine in farm story contest."