Robins sixth-grader takes runner up prize in national writing contest

CEDAR RAPIDS - Joanne Lee, a sixth-grader at Regis Middle School in Cedar Rapids, recently received a guitar and CD signed by pop star Taylor Swift.

The items were her prize for coming in second in the national 'This is How I Shake it Off!” writing contest.

'I really like the way she tells her story through her songs, and I think that's really inspiring,” Joanne said of Swift.

In the contest, based on Swift's hit song 'Shake it Off,” students were asked to express the ways they cope with negative behavior and difficult situations.

More than 45,000 essays and poems were submitted from students in third through sixth grade.

Joanne, 11, of Robins, said she heard about the contest from her language arts teacher, Jari Hagen. Joanne decided to write about her brother, Justin, 8, a student at Kenwood Elementary in Cedar Rapids who has autism and is non-verbal.

'After I saw the topic name, I was kind of thinking about how people hurt me in ways but they don't realize that,” Joanne said. 'And they hurt me in ways when they're talking about my brother. I can't blame them though because they don't have a lot of education about (autism) and that's why I want to spread awareness about it.”

In her essay, Joanne wrote Justin 'is adorable in his own way, and I love him for that, but most don't see this side of children with disabilities.” She went on to discuss how she volunteers at her brother's school and tries to teach him at home. She also wrote about how much progress her brother has made, including using an app on an iPad to speak.

Joanne's mother, Seona, said her the writing contest was a really good chance for her daughter to express her feelings.

'I was so impressed because I know Joanne loves her brother and Joanne is such a good big sister,” she said. 'She's like a teacher and friend for him.”

Joanne said she doesn't think her brother is aware she wrote about him.

'But I try to treat him much better now because I just think that's going to make a huge difference in just letting people know that's still a really playful kid and he has feelings,” she said. 'When I treat him with respect, they start to treat him with respect too.”

This isn't the first time Joanne has received an honor in a writing contest. Last summer, she came in third place in a KCRG-TV9 contest asking students what they wanted to be when they grew up. Joanne, who enjoys language arts and art and says she wants to be 'any kind of doctor and maybe an author,” won a prize bag full of gift cards, water bottles, T-shirts and tickets to Adventureland.

Joanne said she was excited to receive the guitar from the Scholastic contest and is planning to buy some instruction books so she can learn to play it.

'I'm a really big fan of musical things,” she said. 'I'm already taking flute and cello lessons so my schedule is pretty full.”