It’s hard to believe but this is the sixth annual Handwriting Contest the Clarkson Historical Society has sponsored, and we want to thank all the 171 students who entered the contest. We appreciate the work of all entrants and the teachers who took the time with their students. Because the judges for the contest have very high standards and take their job very seriously, only nine winners can be chosen, which means the contest is very competitive. But there are still students in grades four through 12 who write in almost perfect handwritten script, and the Society celebrates their achievements every year near the birthdate of John Hancock, whose prominent signature was the first one on the Declaration of Independence.
This year’s winners are:
Fourth and Fifth Grade Category
•First – Jacob Martinez, home schooled
•Second – Ezekiel Primer, Lake Ontario Baptist Academy (LOBA)
•Third – Jemiah Primer, LOBA
Sixth, Seventh and
Eighth Grade Category
•First – Audrey Buck, LOBA
•Second – Andrew Martinez, home schooled
•Third – Candace Harris, home schooled
High School Category
•First – Leah Buck, LOBA
•Second – Chester Jabieski, LOBA
•Third – Charity Huber, LOBA.
Six of the nine winners are from the Lake Ontario Baptist Academy, and three are home-schooled. There’s a lesson in this, which is that all these students have been instructed in cursive from the first grade on. However, there are still some other teachers who teach their students cursive, which is a good sign. This year there were several students from the Brockport and Byron-Bergen school districts, and one from the Kendall school district who were semi-finalists, which we were delighted to see.
This coupled with the fact that the old adage, “practice makes perfect,” means that even a short daily practice in cursive writing can make our public school students successfully compete with the winners.
Anyone who would like to read newspaper articles that we’ve collected about the importance of teaching cursive writing may call 637-5810.
Mary Edwards
Clarkson Historical Society
