ACSI Creative Writing Festival

The Creative Writing Festival is a mail-in event giving

fourth graders an opportunity to develop their writing

abilities and skills either as rhymed or free-verse poetry, an

essay or a short story.

The objective is to provide opportunities for students to

develop creative writing abilities and skills; share their best

written work with others and to have their works evaluated

by 3 objective judges (professors from Malone University).

The top 25 entries from fourth grade classes will have their

work submitted to the contest. Superior ratings earned at

the District Creative Writing Festival advance to the next

level, the Regional Festival. Stories, essays or poems that

receive a superior rating at the Regional Festival are

published in an ACSI Creative Writing Book.

Piano Travels

When I sit at the piano bench, my fingers get impatient.

They know they are about to take a magical vacation!

First we’re off to Russia to play Rachmaninoff.

My fingers have to pound so hard I think they might fall off!

Next we head to Italy

to play Tarantella Brillante. It makes me think a spider

is crawling up my leg!

To calm myself I switch to Bach, Aria in F.

Now I’m breathing calmly, no more pounding in my chest.

Let’s jet to Spain.

Fingers flying, playing Matador. This music is so lively,

my feet tap on the floor.

Allegro Fantastico, sets a happy pace.

My fingers are excited now. A smile lights up my face!

The music takes me far away

with each and every song. My fingers just refuse to rest.

Won’t you come along?

Aidan ‘20

Indian Hunter

Bold and strong I stand.

At ready with my bow and arrow,

I hear many things.

The sound of the wind is strong,

like the song of a peace pipe.

The rustle of the trees

covers my footsteps and breathing.

A sudden snap cracks like thunder.

The deer trots within range.

I let my arrow fly.

Quicker than a lightning flash I hear a thud.

Now I bring back my catch

so my village may feast.

ACSI 2011 Judges Comments: Great Job. Keep up the poetry. You have a gift.

Charlotte ‘19

The Winter Forest

The winter forest is dark and cold.

The moonlight streams through the branches

creating a mosaic of shapes and forms.

The fluffy white snow covers the trees with its whiteness.

Animals of all types scamper around the forest floor.

Laying down I look to the sky,

I feel God’s Holy greatness

as my eyes gaze to the stars that watch the winter forest.

ACSI 2011 Judges Comments: Your poem paints a beautiful picture of winter, Keep up the writing, you are good at it. God bless you!

Charlie ‘19

Meeting My Di-Di

This is the story of how I met my di-di (or little brother.) I bet you’re thinking this is a boring story about how I went to the hospital and saw my newborn baby brother. But no. This is a totally different story.

Will was born in a poor town in China, and he spent almost three years there waiting to be adopted. We spent those three years waiting, too, but we were busy doing truckloads of paperwork and being dragged to boring appointments, meetings and interviews.

FINALLY, the waiting was over, and things got a little more exciting. For two weeks, my mom and dad were in China, and my favorite time of the day was 7:30(ish) because that’s when we would Skype with them. The first time I ever saw Will was on a computer screen. The three of us (me, my brother Adam and my sister Mia) crammed ourselves around the monitor. We greeted him with, “Ni Hao,” and he exclaimed, “Babido!” We never quite figured out what that meant, but we were impressed by the joy in the face on the screen.

I always liked waking up every morning and finding a present that my parents left for me. It was cool to touch something my mom and dad had touched, and fun knowing Will would touch it pretty soon too.

Will was the real present I wanted though. Questions swirled around in my head. Questions like: Would he be calm or crazy? Would he tolerate going into the cold snow? What would he look like? Well duh, I knew that. But I guess seeing someone in person is a lot different than seeing them on a grainy Skype screen…

The waiting was over on December eighteenth. Well, technically it was about three o’clock in the morning on the nineteenth. It was a snowy night and my parents drove up in an old white car. Will slipped into the mudroom behind my mom’s legs. All eyes were on him, so I understand how he felt scared. Mia went up to him and said, “Hola.” I giggled silently.

When my mom took off his shirt, she revealed to us a cross on a red thread. We had prayed that by some miracle, he could have lived with Jesus-freaks. When we saw the cross, we knew that our prayers had been answered. We didn’t take that off Will’s neck for a long time.

Will. I remember that I won our debate about his name. Mom wanted to call him Owen, and Dad wanted to call him Max. (He thought four would be the MAX number of kids that we would have.) But I did win, and he was known as Will from then on.

I volunteered to be Will’s tour guide, saying, “Welcome to the Welcome Home Tour! Please keep your tears tucked away.” The first place we visited was the basement. We spent a lot of time down there. I am going to guess that Will’s favorite thing was our big green wagon. We pulled him around and around until we couldn’t pull him anymore. I remember wondering if he had ever seen so many toys. (I’m not sure he even had toys in China.) Chugga chugga choo choo! Next stop: upstairs.

The next place we raced was Will’s room. We lifted him into his bed and he giggled. His face lit up like a light bulb when he saw his stuffed animals. Now that was worth waiting for.

After touring all the bedrooms and jumping on everyone’s beds, my grandparents took a couple pictures. Those were probably the first pictures of all six of us together. Smiling was VERY easy right then.

Next, we progressed downstairs. We showed Will the Christmas tree that we had put up about a month earlier. We showed him the living room. We showed him the kitchen and the cookies that were on the counter. While we were down there, Mom and Dad gave us our presents from the trip. I got a necklace and a t-shirt that said Jie-Jie. (This means big sister in Chinese.) When I put it on, I was proud to be Willie’s jie-jie. After a couple more rounds around the house, we ran upstairs and went to bed. I lay there thinking about how amazing God is. He can match orphans up with the perfect families. I felt fortunate to be Will’s big sister, as well as proud to be a hero. He was my di-di, and I was his jie-jie.

ACSI 2011 Judges Comments: heartwarming story, very sophisticated; loved your story.

Abigail ‘19

Meeting My Di-Di

This is the story of how I met my di-di (or little brother.) I bet you’re thinking this is a boring story about how I went to the hospital and saw my newborn baby brother. But no. This is a totally different story.

Will was born in a poor town in China, and he spent almost three years there waiting to be adopted. We spent those three years waiting, too, but we were busy doing truckloads of paperwork and being dragged to boring appointments, meetings and interviews.

FINALLY, the waiting was over, and things got a little more exciting. For two weeks, my mom and dad were in China, and my favorite time of the day was 7:30(ish) because that’s when we would Skype with them. The first time I ever saw Will was on a computer screen. The three of us (me, my brother Adam and my sister Mia) crammed ourselves around the monitor. We greeted him with, “Ni Hao,” and he exclaimed, “Babido!” We never quite figured out what that meant, but we were impressed by the joy in the face on the screen.

I always liked waking up every morning and finding a present that my parents left for me. It was cool to touch something my mom and dad had touched, and fun knowing Will would touch it pretty soon too.

Will was the real present I wanted though. Questions swirled around in my head. Questions like: Would he be calm or crazy? Would he tolerate going into the cold snow? What would he look like? Well duh, I knew that. But I guess seeing someone in person is a lot different than seeing them on a grainy Skype screen…

The waiting was over on December eighteenth. Well, technically it was about three o’clock in the morning on the nineteenth. It was a snowy night and my parents drove up in an old white car. Will slipped into the mudroom behind my mom’s legs. All eyes were on him, so I understand how he felt scared. Mia went up to him and said, “Hola.” I giggled silently.

When my mom took off his shirt, she revealed to us a cross on a red thread. We had prayed that by some miracle, he could have lived with Jesus-freaks. When we saw the cross, we knew that our prayers had been answered. We didn’t take that off Will’s neck for a long time.

Will. I remember that I won our debate about his name. Mom wanted to call him Owen, and Dad wanted to call him Max. (He thought four would be the MAX number of kids that we would have.) But I did win, and he was known as Will from then on.

I volunteered to be Will’s tour guide, saying, “Welcome to the Welcome Home Tour! Please keep your tears tucked away.” The first place we visited was the basement. We spent a lot of time down there. I am going to guess that Will’s favorite thing was our big green wagon. We pulled him around and around until we couldn’t pull him anymore. I remember wondering if he had ever seen so many toys. (I’m not sure he even had toys in China.) Chugga chugga choo choo! Next stop: upstairs.

The next place we raced was Will’s room. We lifted him into his bed and he giggled. His face lit up like a light bulb when he saw his stuffed animals. Now that was worth waiting for.

After touring all the bedrooms and jumping on everyone’s beds, my grandparents took a couple pictures. Those were probably the first pictures of all six of us together. Smiling was VERY easy right then.

Next, we progressed downstairs. We showed Will the Christmas tree that we had put up about a month earlier. We showed him the living room. We showed him the kitchen and the cookies that were on the counter. While we were down there, Mom and Dad gave us our presents from the trip. I got a necklace and a t-shirt that said Jie-Jie. (This means big sister in Chinese.) When I put it on, I was proud to be Willie’s jie-jie. After a couple more rounds around the house, we ran upstairs and went to bed. I lay there thinking about how amazing God is. He can match orphans up with the perfect families. I felt fortunate to be Will’s big sister, as well as proud to be a hero. He was my di-di, and I was his jie-jie.

ACSI 2011 Judges Comments: heartwarming story, very sophisticated; loved your story.

How to Take Better Care Of God’s Earth by Saving Energy

I found out recently that there is a big hole in the ozone layer that protects the

Earth from the Sun’s harmful rays. This is causing Global Warming which is melting

the polar icecaps causing floods. It is also drying up rivers and lakes causing droughts.

This big hole in the ozone layer leaves a big hole in God’s heart. He’s sad because the

humans He created in His image, that are supposed to take care of the Earth, are ac-

tually harming the planet He created. To stop Global Warming we need to do a better

job of taking care of the Earth and prevent the hole from growing any bigger. This will

allow us to also heal the hole in our relationship with God. I’ve been doing some re-

search and I’ve come up with some ways to help stop Global Warming. I’m going to

cover a few of the ideas that I’ve come up with.

You can start with simple things like turning off lights when you leave a room, or

turning off lights when they are not necessary to use at that time. If you really need to

use lights, a really easy way to save energy is to use compact fluorescent light bulbs. I

had my Dad replace all the lights in my house with them. He said he is saving lots of

money because they use so much less electricity versus the old fashioned light bulbs.

That leads me to another idea called solar panels. Solar panels create free electricity

by absorbing energy from the Sun. It doesn’t create any pollution like other methods of

generating electricity like burning coal or wood. That’s why I call solar power “clean en-

ergy”. You can use solar panels in many different ways, and here is one of them. You

can put solar panels on top of your house and that can provide enough energy to pow-

er your whole house!

Another way to conserve energy is by taking shorter showers, or not taking one

as often. This will also bring down the price of your water bill! Hybrid cars like the Prius

are helping to save gas and they also run much cleaner so there are very few emis-

sions. Soon enough, there will be full electric cars that may spell the end to gas sta-

tions! So remember, start with the easy stuff and then try something more challenging

like installing those solar panels or buying a Hybrid car!

Doing all of these things helps us be better stewards of God’s Earth. We can use

the Sun, which He also created, to our advantage in creating “clean energy”. Healing

the hole in the Earth’s ozone layer also heals the hole in God’s heart. When He sees

someone putting solar panels on their house, He smiles down on them.

Alex ‘17

Grandpa and Me

When I was only five, I realized that my grandpa had something wrong with

him. I found out he had Alzheimer’s disease but I did not know what it was. So I

asked my mom about it and she told me. When I knew what it was, I was so sad I

couldn’t go to sleep. I was thinking about him. I worried that he would die soon and

really be sick. He is still an amazing grandpa.

The next time I saw him he taught me how to play football. He taught me how

to play quarterback. He said to scream “Hut-hut!!!!!” He said to scream it really loud

and to be really mad at the other team. I thought that was pretty funny! But he was

pretty serious. Sometimes he tells some funny stories and they make me laugh.

Some people say that he always had a sparkle in his eye but now I don’t see that

sparkle in his eye very often.

I have noticed some weird things going on with my Pap Pap. One time he put

on the wrong shoes. He put my grandmother’s shoes on. He forgets my name and

calls me by my brother’s name, Nick or Michael. He is not allowed to drive his car and

sometimes he wants to drive again. Once I saw him wander down our road wanting

to go home and see my grandmother. I had to get him and walk him home. Some-

times I have to help him take his seat buckle off because he doesn’t remember how

to. I also open the car door for him.

The worst part is when he gets very sad. He gets sad when he has to leave

home for a really long time and starts to cry. It makes me feel scared and sad. I feel

like I want to help him but sometimes I don’t know how. But I do know that I can either

give him a hug or shake his hand. I say “It’s alright Pap Pap.”

Even though he has Alzheimer’s there are still a lot of things that I can do with

my grandpa. I can play baseball and football with him. We can still make funny stories

and jokes. We can still watch the Steelers play football together. I know he loves me

with all his heart and I still love him with all my heart!

Anthony ‘17

ACSI Creative Writing Festival

The Creative Writing Festival is a mail-in event giving

fourth graders an opportunity to develop their writing

abilities and skills either as rhymed or free-verse poetry, an

essay or a short story.

The objective is to provide opportunities for students to

develop creative writing abilities and skills; share their best

written work with others and to have their works evaluated

by 3 objective judges (professors from Malone University).

The top 25 entries from fourth grade classes will have their

work submitted to the contest. Superior ratings earned at

the District Creative Writing Festival advance to the next

level, the Regional Festival. Stories, essays or poems that

receive a superior rating at the Regional Festival are

published in an ACSI Creative Writing Book.