Three Pickford Students Win Farm Bureau Essay Contest

Pickford Middle School students (from left) Alicia Manfrin, Bobby Rye, and Isaac Leach are this year's local America and Me Essay Contest winners.

Alicia Manfrin, Bobby Rye, and Isaac Leach, three Pickford Middle School students, earned first, second, and third place awards, respectively, in the 39th annual America and Me Essay Contest,

All three received award certificates. As the school's first place winner, Miss Manfrin's name will be engraved on a plaque for permanent display in the school.

Miss Manfrin's first place essay now advances to the state level competition, from which the top 10 essays in Michigan will be selected.

Several thousand eighth grade students from more than 500 Michigan schools participated in the contest. The topic was "My Personal Hero."

In her winning essay, Miss Manfrin calls her mother, Victoria Manfrin, her personal hero. She writes that her mother has shown her how difficult life can be, but she also demonstrates how to cope with difficulties.

"She has also shown me that in life you will make many mistakes, but that's what life is all about, and that each mistake somehow helps you later on in life," Miss Manfrin said. "She guides me through each one that I make, and shows me that it does help later on in life."

Miss Manfrin said her mother reared her by herself most of her life, and has served dual parenting roles in their household, adding, "She pulls it off quite fine, I must say."

"Throughout the years, my mother has worked very hard to get me the things I need and to take care of me," Miss Manfrin wrote. "I don't think that I have ever told my mom how much she has impacted my life with her wisdom and strength. I hope this essay gives her an idea about how much she means to me."

Mr. Rye said his hero is his late grandfather, Robert Elwood Carl Rosing, whom he called "one of the funniest people you would ever meet."

"...most of the time he was joking around. He was never mean to me," Mr. Rye wrote.

In his essay, he described his grandfather's life as tough, as he had to drop out of school in the sixth grade to work on the family farm. He later joined the United States Air Force and served in Korea and Vietnam. During his Vietnam service, he was in the security police and stationed at Tan Son Nhut Air Base. He was part of the Joint Defense Operations Center.

Mr. Rosing once literally gave someone the shirt off his back, and he always worked hard, Mr. Rye wrote. He most enjoyed working in the woods because "he said that the woods brought him peace," Mr. Rye wrote.

Mr. Leach said his personal hero is his father, Daniel Leach.

"To me, a hero is someone who challenges, inspires, and guides me," Mr. Leach wrote. "My dad is my personal hero because he challenges me. He challenges me in many ways, to be a good person and to see what I am capable of doing."

Challenging him to work, play a musical instrument, and teaching him to learn from his mistakes are some of the reasons Mr. Leach finds his father heroic. Another is his father's guidance through making mistakes and facing the consequences, "so I will learn to do the right thing next time."

"He has motivated me when I have felt discouraged or unenthused," Mr. Leach said. "He is an inspiration in my life because he has experience playing a musical instrument for more than 30 years. That shows me his commitment and dedication to music."

The contest is sponsored by Farm Bureau Insurance.