Foothill High junior’s essay earns her a trip to Africa

Mona Shield Payne / Special to the Sun

First-place winner Kayla Cothrun reads her essay “Don’t Fool with Mother Nature,” focusing on the negative and positive effects of human’s actions, during a reception for the Las Vegas Environmental Essay Contest prize winners held Wednesday at Foothill High School. Selected as the first Environmental Youth Ambassador for Nevada, Cothrun won the grand prize trip to Thula Thula, South Africa.

By Jean Reid Norman (contact)

Wednesday, April 1, 2009 | 7:37 p.m.

When Foothill High School junior Kayla Cothrun started on an environmental essay for Carrie Fleming's English class, she was just hoping to get an A.

She not only received the A, she also won a trip to a private game reserve in Africa this summer and a new job as Nevada's Environmental Youth Ambassador.

She received prizes and accolades for her 950-word essay during an assembly Wednesday at Foothill. Runners-up Callie Nielsen, who won second place and $500, and Kabir Suri, who won third place and $300, were also honored. Both are also Foothill students.

In addition, Fleming, who assigned the essay to her Advanced Placement Language and Composition class, was awarded a $500 prize for her effort, and fellow AP English teacher Chelsea Moss won a certificate for hers.

The inaugural essay contest was sponsored by the Earth Organization, a South Africa-based environmental advocacy group, America's Schools Program, which raises money for education, and the Henderson Chamber of Commerce.

"I never thought I'd be the winner," Cothrun said. "I really just wanted to get an A on the paper."

She and her mother will go to Thula Thula game preserve in South Africa, which is owned and operated by Lawrence Anthony, also the founder of the Earth Organization. As part of the assignment, the students were told to read Anthony's book "Babylon's Ark," which tells the story of how he rehabilitated the Baghdad Zoo after the U.S. invasion of Iraq left it decimated.

The book inspired her, Cothrun said.

"The main point of the essay is helping the environment now," she said. "Helping animals not only helps them but also benefits the human race and future generations to come."

She is still trying to figure out what it will mean to the state's Environmental Youth Ambassador.

"My job is to raise awareness and try to inspire my peers and other students," she said.

She plans to come up with some specific plans for her position while she is at Thula Thula, she said.

She is most looking forward to seeing a new culture, she said. As part of the 11-day trip, she will visit a Zulu school.

"I will get to meet kids my age who are going through so many more problems. We are so lucky compared to them," she said. "It will be nice to meet them and understand what they go through."

Jean Reid Norman can be reached at 990-2658 or jean.norman@lasvegassun.com.