Five Morgantown Elementary students recently placed in a state-wide poetry and poster contest sponsored by the Mississippi Counseling Association. Second-graders Clairessa Wilson, Liz Sims and Renada Mosby placed first, second and third respectively in the primary poetry division with original poems relating to the contest theme: Career Development for the 21st Century. Chelsea Stewart, also in second grade, won third place in the primary poster division with her poster about family careers, which featured sports personalities Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods and tennis players Serena and Venus Williams.

Fifth-grader Nicole Ballard placed third in the intermediate poetry division with her poem about teachers. &uot;I’ve wanted to be a teacher since I was about 3 years old,&uot; said 11-year-old Ballard. &uot;Because you get to work with children.&uot;

&uot;To see kids get an education, would be my explanation, for my life, not to see their strife,&uot; she quoted from memory.

Wilson, 7, also chose to dedicate her poem to teachers — and preachers.

&uot;Because I have a preacher who baptized me who I love very much, and I love my teacher,&uot; she explained.

Wilson said she displayed her first-place trophy &uot;with her other trophies on the TV.&uot;

Sims, 8, proudly recalled telling her grandmother about her award-winning poem about policemen.

&uot;When I showed my grandmother my second place ribbon, she picked me up in the air and kissed me,&uot; Sims said.

Her poem reads: &uot;A policeman is a person who helps keep you safe, Sometimes they even have to use mace.&uot;

&uot;The best thing I like about my poem is I tried my best,&uot; Sims said.

Mosby, 7, said she chose to write her poem about nurses, because &uot;I would like to be a nurse when I grow up, because I can help people feel better.&uot;

The most difficult part about writing her poem, Mosby said, was thinking of a word that rhymed with &uot;nurse.&uot;

After much thought — and some help from her teacher — she settled on the word &uot;purse.&uot;

&uot;When I grow up I would like to be a nurse,&uot; her poem reads. &uot;So I can walk around and carry this cool white purse.&uot;

All four second-graders are in Mrs. K. Proby’s class, and Ballard is in Mrs. B. Winston’s fifth-grade class.