First-graders efforts win party for classmates
Skyway Elementary first-graders had an unexpected party this fall thanks to 6-year-old Brooklyn Cunningham. Fujifilm representatives stopped by her classroom with cookies, juice, T-shirts and disposable cameras for everyone to honor Brooklyn’s grand prize win in their Fish, Photograph and Release Photo Contest.
The competition is designed to promote fish conservation, and entries came from 29 states. In Brooklyn’s age group of 5- to 10-years old; there were 86 entries and 40 entries in the 11-to-16 age group. More than 1,900 sanctioned fishing derbies were held around the country to introduce the contest to young anglers. The Cunninghams participated in one of the derbies and learned of the competition that day. The family then planned another fishing trip to Twin Lakes to get a photograph of Brooklyn in action.
It looked like a doubtful day for finding fish as her father, Dave, canoed across the lake. An eagle circled the boat and showed off the dinner that he had plucked from the water, while the Cunninghams caught nothing. Back on the boat docks, Brooklyn met up with a school of sunfish. She and her brother Bennett, 4, had fun catching them and tossing them back. Her mother, Natalie, captured the moment in a snapshot of Brooklyn holding up one of her pint-sized fish.
The photo was submitted along with an essay by Brooklyn on “Why I love to fish and why fish should be returned to the water.” Here’s what Brooklyn had to say:
“Fishing is full of fun surprises. You can catch many different and beautiful fish that you’ve never seen before. Fish should be returned to the water for birds and other animals to eat. Also, maybe they’ll have a chance to grow bigger so I can try to catch them again!”
For her efforts, Brooklyn won a $1,000 U.S. Savings Bond, a twin-pack of disposable cameras, and a plaque with her photo and essay.
Brooklyn has captured trout about twice the size of her sunfish, but the Twin Lakes fishing trip remains one of her favorites because of the number of fish she caught that day. There were too many for her to count. The essay topic was no stretch for her since she fished with her family a few times before and always released her fish.
“This is the size fish we catch, so we don’t usually bring them home,” said Natalie Cunningham.
Her father normally helps put the worms on for bait and takes the fish from the hook for his children. He also helped Brooklyn brainstorm for her essay. She came up with ideas while Dave wrote them down.
“I thought of it and I wrote it and I chose one,” Brooklyn said.
It was a challenge to whittle her ideas into 50 words, but she enjoys writing stories and hopes to find more contests to enter, she said.
Look for Brooklyn’s award-winning photo and essay on the Fujifilm Web site at www.fujifilm.com/fishing as of Dec. 30, or see it in a spring edition of FLW Outdoors magazine, a national publication.