Nathan Wray, an eighth-grade student at Mayport Middle, was selected from more than 300 entries as a 2009 winner for the Florida Council of Teachers of English (FCTE) Writing Award. Wray was one of 15 in the state, and the only student from Northeast Florida, selected.
For the award, Wray submitted Apartheid in South Africa, a research paper on apartheid and a first-person letter in which he placed himself in 1991 South Africa and wrote a letter to President de Klerk. In the letter, Wray takes on the persona of a Jacksonville business man who owns
"a small summer apartment in Johannesburg." He encourages President de Klerk to collaborate with such prominent men as Mr. Oliver Tambo and Mr. Nelson Mandela to solve the problem of apartheid.
Wray was recommended by his Language Arts teacher, Linda Bishop, who applauded Nathan's ability, at 12 years old, to imagine South Africa in 1991 and write about what the country needed at the time.
Bishop has recommended her students for the FCTE award in the past; this is the fifth time in 10 years that she has had a state winner.
Wray will be receiving a $100 check during FCTE's conference in Orlando. FCTE is a non-profit organization promoting knowledge, communication and cooperation among those responsible for teaching English and Language Arts in Florida.
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