The student: Christina Wu, 8
School: Ilchester Elementary School
Special achievement: Third-grade short story winner for the State of Maryland International Reading Association Young Authors' Writing Contest. As a Howard County winner, Christina read her winning story, "Sundaes on Sunday," on Feb. 4 at Junior Editions bookstore at The Mall in Columbia.
Christina's story is about two siblings adjusting to their parents' divorce during a drought-ridden summer in Texas. "And when the scorching sun is high in the sky, Mama won't even let Jeremy and I out of the house," she writes.