National Postal Museum Smithsonian Institute
They are 2 groups of 5th grade students. One group is from Barrington, and the other group is from Chicago. As part of an ongoing Pens For Kids program at their schools, they were asked to participate in an essay writing contest. The questions…
Why do you feel penmanship is important and what does it say about you as a person?
With all of the high-tech methods of communication, what does the phrase, “The Art of Writing,” mean to you and your generation?
I received 32 essays and all were handwritten. The Barrington student’s essays were graded by the Chicago teacher and Chicago student’s essays were graded by the Barrington teacher. Fair. The best part was I actually got to read them all. And what they wrote made me pause. We still have young students that have a passion for writing in Chicago and in Barrington.
And so the winners of the contest, based on penmanship, content and grammar are…
Kenneth Hughes, Jr. from John J. Pershing West Middle School in Chicago, and Augustine Benjamin from Roslyn Road School in Barrington.
The prize…a trip to Washington, DC to represent TT Patton at the Smithsonian National Postal Museum’s, Family Festival Day in May 2010. All sponsored by the Pen Collectors of America, Pens For Kids fundraiser held by TT Patton.
Now that makes my day! Who knew the next generation would discover writing…again.
For more information on Pen Collectors of America, go to http://www.pencollectorsofamerica.com.
Pen Collectors of America
So, I love it when a client calls ‘just to see what we have in stock.’ ‘Not looking for anything in particular, just browsing’…on the phone. After chit chatting for a while, I shared that we have white note cards with red trim in stock. HIS whole mood changed. ‘REALLY?’, he said with excitement in his voice. ‘Can you email me a picture?’ So I opened the boxed and snapped a picture of it. Before I could call him to make sure he received the photo, he had already emailed me his address to send him a box…OVERNIGHT!
