Young authors, old landmarks

COEUR d'ALENE — Elise Jones admitted she was a bit nervous as she waited for the winners of the Kootenai County Historic Preservation Society's Student Essay Contest to be announced.

The 16-year-old St. Dominic's Girls School junior had been told she won something, but it wasn't until the announcement was made Monday evening that she knew her essay, "The Importance of Preserving Rose Lake School," earned her the first-place award in the high school category and a cash prize of $200.

“It’s really exciting because I want to be a journalist,” Elise said with a beaming smile.

More than 70 people attended the awards ceremony, which was held in Room 1 of the Kootenai County Administration Building in Coeur d'Alene. Proud parents and supportive siblings poured into the room from the rainy evening to applaud their student writers, who submitted essays about North Idaho's historic building sites and structures.

Elise's mom, Djalaih Jones of Post Falls, said she is very proud of her daughter, who is the fourth of 12 children.

"We're not surprised because she has such a talent for writing," she said. "We actually have a little newsletter that we do at Christmas and she always does a great feature article. She's always been an excellent reader and writer."

Elise said writing about the more than 100-year-old school was an educational adventure. Her love of history and writing made the project fun for her. She credited Rose Lake Historical Society board members Ray and Gail Chatfield for helping her with information and caring so much about the old school, which she began researching in late September. She said something she learned was how Rose Lake students helped each other during the Great Depression and both World Wars.

“I walked around (the school) and saw everything; it was really neat, like something out of an old movie,” she said. “I learned that it’s really important to keep the old things, the memories, keep them alive. We really need to keep it going.”

Another Post Falls student took top honors for the middle school category. Immaculate Conception Academy seventh-grader Simon Estrada, 12, won first place for his essay, “The Importance of Preserving St. Thomas Catholic Church.” With a broken arm in a sling made of Old Glory, the young man discussed why he chose the historic church as his topic.

“It seems like a neat church, it’s 100 years old, most of the original stuff is there, it’s in good condition,” he said, adding how he thought it was interesting how the parish survived trying times, such as the Depression, and how the church itself has remained intact for so long.

He said it’s exciting to win. Although he claims he usually is “not very good” at writing, he said he definitely enjoys history.

“It’s one of my favorite classes,” he said. “The contest is fun, you learn a lot of stuff from it and you practice writing.”

Simon’s dad, Michael Estrada, said it was great news that his son took first place.

“I know he worked hard on it. He tried to do as much research as he could,” he said. “I think (Simon’s teacher) Mr. Eberlein’s been great in putting a lot of focus on local history.”

Michael said he feels it’s important students and youths start thinking about history “because so much of today’s culture is really just focused on pleasing themselves and video games and everything else.”

“This gets them outside of that and focused on important things in the local communities that meant a lot to the community through the years," he said. "It's just a good way to get them outside of themselves and focused on things in the community that are important."

The Kootenai County Historic Commission's Student Essay Contest is open to sixth-through-12th-graders and has about doubled in entries from last year, although no seniors submitted essays this year. Contest committee chairman Skip Fuller said he would love to see more students get involved with the contest. Anyone with ideas or suggestions for engaging more of the student population and motivating student writers to participate can email him at diski@live.com

"I think it's very important that people in the community, particularly young people, get a sense of their roots, what's come before them," Fuller said. "It's the old, 'If you don't know where you've been, you won't know where you're going.'"

Several students received honorable mentions for their well-written history essays.

Second- and third-place winners:

• Middle school second place — Cajetan Hughes, Immaculate Conception Academy, sixth grade, "Corbin Ditch."

• Middle school third place — Post Falls Middle School, Alexander McCabe, eighth grade, "Corbin Ditch."

• High school second place — Jason Whitehead, homeschool, 11th grade, "Corbin Lime Kilns."

• High school third place — Emily Brown, homeschool, 11th grade, "East Hayden Lake School."