ShawneeDispatch.com

Children are the future leaders of Kansas. But for them to grow up, they must maintain a healthy lifestyle.

That’s the reasoning behind Austin Gillespie’s winning essay for Kansas Action for Children and Kansas Public Radio’s “Our Future Depends on Me” essay contest.

Austin wrote the winning essay for the eighth grade category of the contest, while attending Mill Creek Middle School this past school year.

“My social studies teacher told us about it (the contest),” he said. “Anyone who entered in our class would get extra credit.”

Austin wrote his essay in March, then he was chosen as one of 14 essays to be read on Kansas Public Radio. More than 160 seventh- and eighth-grade students entered.

In April, Austin recorded his essay.

“It was cool,” he said. “I hadn’t really been to a radio station. We had to go to an area where they record stuff for on air, with microphones and soundproof walls. I read my essay and they had a mixing process, so you could start again if you messed up.”

Austin’s essay aired on April 8. It can be found on Kansas Action for Children’s Web site, kac.org.

The contest asked students to write an essay about their plan to shape a better future for Kansas’ children.

“I wrote about health of children and the importance of that and how it could help us in the long run,” Austin said. “I had several ideas in it. A few were about making physical education a required thing in schools, and not taking it out of school. Also, feeding children proper nutrition and eating right. I talked a lot about the importance of living a healthy and active lifestyle.

“First, it’s important to ensure that kids are getting involved in some sort of physical activity,” he wrote in the essay. “Even if a child doesn’t have a high interest in some sort of sport, they can still get fresh air outside or get physical in a gym class at school.”

The topic of health was close to Austin’s mind before he chose to write the essay.

“My family, my mom works in that background,” he said. “It’s important to me. It was something that I was more passionate about writing because I have an understanding.”

Two months after the essay aired, Austin learned he was the eighth-grade winner. He received a $100 gift card to Amazon.com.

“We weren’t sure when they would chose the final winners,” he said. “We hadn’t heard anything in June, so I figured it was awarded to someone else. It was pretty exciting, because I wasn’t expecting it. I was really glad.

“I always thought these kinds of contests were impossible to win,” he said. “I would do it again if I had the opportunity. If you try your best, then it’s really easy to get somewhere with it.”