Kate Mainwaring

Kate Mainwaring, a sixth grader at Powell Middle School, is making waves in a state competition.

Her teacher, Amanda Johnston, issued the class a social studies assignment to write an essay on “What Patriotism Means to Me.”

Not content to simply churn out the 300 required words and be done, Mainwaring really gave the topic a lot of thought, she said, before returning to Johnston to ask more questions.

Then Mainwaring started to research the topic.

“As I researched it, it just came to me,” the 12-year-old said. The paper focused on personal freedoms. 

The topic was also the theme of the contest held annually by the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW).

Johnston had outlined the contest rules when she made the assignment, and said if anyone wanted to submit their paper to the contest, she would be happy to do that for them.

Mainwaring did want her work submitted, and then basically forgot all about it.

“It had been a long time, months, I don’t really know how long it was,” she said, before she heard back. 

But when Mainwaring got home from school one day, her mother, Sarah, told her she’d won and there was a check waiting. Mainwaring didn’t name the sum, but said it was a fairly nice amount of money the VFW had for her.

Originally, the paper won for Powell and now has won the district competition. It has gone on to compete at the state level, and Mainwaring expects to hear from that contest in a few more weeks. She isn’t sure what the state level award brings in the way of prizes, but the national prize is $5,000.

Outside school, Mainwaring stays busy with a younger brother, Cody, and showing livestock in 4-H. She has a dog, three cats, three horses, a couple of steers and eight heifers. She also keeps goats, and will show them and the steers at the Park County Fair.

After she completes her schooling, Mainwaring hopes to become a livestock show judge for cattle and goats. While her college choice isn’t sure yet, she is considering Brigham Young University — Idaho.