Zac White and his family were in Topeka Thursday night to receive a first-place award for winning in a state-wide contest.
Zac entered the sixth-grade level competition in the 2009 Sunflower State Games Essay and Photovoice Contest sponsored by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment through its HealthyKansas program.
“My mom called me one day and told me that the Sunflower Games was having a contest and I looked it up,” Zac said this week. “So, I did it.”
The contest dovetailed nicely into the 12-year-old’s interests — sports, writing and eating healthy.
The Sunflower Games are organized athletic competitions for Kansans of all ages.
“They have like basketball and soccer, and it’s for all age groups, guys and girls,” he said. “I have played basketball in it twice.”
He’s also participated in the Young Writers Conference, an annual gathering of youngsters in school district who meet with well-known authors and talk about writing.
“I’ve always written,” Zac said.
For his essay topic, Zac wrote about shopping for and cooking a healthy meal for the family with his soccer-playing sister, Kylie, 19, who was home at the time from Baker University.
His entry also included a photograph of him choosing parsley from a vegetable bin at a grocery store.
“That was just a recent memory that I had of that category, so I decided to write about it,” Zac said.
And, although Zac said he and his sister are close, they usually do not plan and prepare family meals together. On that day, however, they fixed a healthy meal centered on lemon chicken penne pasta. That became the topic of his essay, “Eating Healthy Can Be Fun.”
“We were bored,” he explained how the idea became a reality. “We both like chicken and spaghetti, so we looked on the Internet for stuff like that, and we found that dish, so we made it.”
They shopped together for the ingredients and came home to work as a team making the food from scratch.
Zac chopped the parsley, juiced the lemons, prepared the noodles and cut up the chicken they’d cooked outside on the grill. Parmesan cheese, Italian seasonings and lemon juice in the appropriate amounts rounded out the ingredients for the main dish. The pair made fresh green beans and used a blender to mix orange concentrate, Splenda sweetener, skim milk, water and ice into orange Juliuses for dessert.
Their parents, Rick and Jami White, were surprised when they got home and found a healthy dinner ready to be eaten, he said.
Jami White said that Zac is conscious of eating right and exercising to stay fit and healthy.
To keep himself in shape as well as entertained this summer, Zac has attended the student athlete conditioning program at Emporia Fitness, the Emporia BaseballAcademy, basketball camp and is playing on a baseball team.
He said that healthy meals are part of his daily routine, and snacks usually are granola bars and fruits, not candy, chips and colas.
“You can be healthier and be able to play harder and live longer,” Zac explained the reasoning behind the exercise and eating regime.
On Thursday night, he picked up the rewards for his efforts.
“I get like a lot of prizes,” Zac said. “I get a medal, a savings bond, a T-shirt and other things.”
He was to read his winning essay during the reception.
“It was fun working together as we divided up the tasks to make supper,” Zac wrote.
“Our parents were impressed with our awesome supper and everyone thought the Orange Julius’ (were) really good.
“My sister and I both play sports and know that staying healthy is important. Eating healthy makes a big difference in running, jumping, and over-all athleticism. It’s even better when healthy food is this fun to make, and tastes great!”
madpoet (anonymous) says...
Good for him! Sounds like that's one kid who won't grow into a couch potato. :)
July 11, 2009 at 9:58 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
create (anonymous) says...
Great work, Zac! How about sharing that recipe and the one for a healthier Orange Julius.
Perhaps the Gazette will print your essay too. An aspiring writer at this age is so refreshing.
July 13, 2009 at 8:07 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )