Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, June 1, 1990 TAG: 9006010127
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-2 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: KEVIN KITTREDGE SHENANDOAH BUREAU
DATELINE: BUENA VISTA LENGTH: Medium
Drugs, she wrote in an essay contest spon Coffey sored by Hardee's restaurants and Apple Computer, can destroy personal relationships, drain bank accounts and get you into trouble with the law.
She won first prize: an Apple computer, which she received at a PTA meeting thid month.
Coffey, an 11-year-old sixth-grader at Parry McCluer Middle School, was competing against students in 14 counties and several cities.
She was one of only seven first-place winners in the statewide contest, according to a Hardee's news release. A winner was chosen from each of the state's seven Superintendent's Regional Study Group areas.
Coffey competed with students from Charlottesville, Bedford and Lynchburg, as well as the lower Shenandoah Valley.
The contest, in which students were invited to submit short essays on the topic "Users are Losers," was designed to help educate children about the perils of substance abuse, said Roy Page of Lewis Advertising Inc., in Rocky Mount, N.C.
Lewis Advertising is handling the publicity on the essay contest for Boddie-Noell Enterprises, which owns most of the Hardee's restaurants in Virginia.
The contest, held with the cooperation of the state Department of Education, also seeks to reward students for doing their part to battle drug and alcohol abuse, Page said. It is limited to children under the age of 15.
Coffey also wrote that drugs can ruin lives. She said she had no direct knowledge of substance abuse, but had learned about drug dangers from school drug-awareness programs and other sources.
"I've watched a few movies," explained Coffey. "Like, a guy does drugs and loses his girlfriend."
Coffey was one of about 90 Parry McCluer Middle School students to enter the contest under the direction of Linda Downs, a language arts teacher. Downs said she had all of her students write the essays after seeing a contest advertisement.
She said Coffey's methodical work habits and her rewriting may have helped her win first prize.
"She always does a rough draft before she turns in a final copy," said Downs. "She tries her best. Her classmates are very proud of her."
Some 30,000 students throughout the state submitted essays, according to the news release. First-place winners received the computers, and second- and third-place winners received savings bonds.
In addition to winning a computer for herself, Coffey won a computer for the school, Downs said.
She said her writing students already use word processors, and Coffey's first-place finish will give the budding writer a computer for home use as well.
"I've been wanting a computer," Coffey said.
Coffey, described by Downs as a straight-A student, lives in Buena Vista with her parents, Debbie and Larry Coffey, and her brother, Brandon.
She has won other small contests in addition to the essay contest, sometimes winning free pizzas and other items, said her mother.
"She's the luckiest thing I've ever seen. We're thinking about getting her to pick some lottery numbers," she said.
She also said her daughter loves to read and write.
by CNB