National contest win brings storied vacation BY VINCENT TODARO Staff Writer SCOTT PILLING staff Apryl Nixon, a fourth-grader at Chittick Elementary School in East Brunswick, reads her award-winning essay about Hans Christian Andersen with her teacher, Lauren Gilman. EAST BRUNSWICK — She has learned some life lessons from his fairy tales, and now she’s about to embark on a real fairy-tale weekend. Apryl Nixon, a fourth-grader at the township’s Chittick Elementary School, is headed to Hans Christian Andersen’s hometown of Copenhagen, Denmark, for an action-packed weekend in a world far different from East Brunswick. As the first-place winner of a national essay contest, Apryl will mix with celebrities and heads of state as she gets a glimpse into the life of Andersen, the Danish writer who would have turned 200 years old in April. Apryl’s essay, part of a class assignment, wound up beating out 2,000 others submitted by children from around the country for the contest, run by the Hans Christian Andersen Foundation. Apryl wrote about Andersen’s famous story “The Fir Tree.” Apryl’s teacher at the Chittick School, Lauren Gilman, had Apryl’s class discuss lessons they learned as they read Andersen’s books, and in February asked the class to write about a lesson they believed the fir tree had learned. “The Fir Tree” is about learning to appreciate things in life, especially those you may otherwise overlook, and Apryl wrote about what she learned to appreciate in her life after reading the book. Gilman chose to have students enter the contest as part of her classroom instruction after learning about the contest on the Internet. “It’s to encourage kids to read and improve their creative writing skills,” she said. After Apryl and family members fly first-class to Denmark, they will take part in festivities with celebrities such as Susan Sarandon, Harvey Keitel, Harry Belafonte, Pele and Olivia Newton-John. They will meet the royal Danish family and serve as VIP guests of the mayor of the city of Odense. In addition, they will be given a tour of Andersen’s home, take part in an awards ceremony, visit the national soccer stadium and attend a show in Parken. Apryl said she is looking forward to the experience and noted that it will be the first time she has ever been out of the United States. She is a big fan of Andersen. “I like that he puts lessons in his stories,” she said. “The Fir Tree” is her favorite Andersen story, she said. She has also read “The Princess and the Pea.” She said she enjoys writing and that it took her three weeks to finish her essay. Gilman said she did not interfere with the students’ writings to improve grammar and spelling in the essays, which were 250 words or less. She did make sure the students observed some basic writing tenets though, such as having a strong beginning and ending. Gilman said Apryl’s story was strong, despite receiving no outside help. “In her essay, she had a very good opening sentence. I taught them it’s very important to have a good opening and closing,” she said. Apryl’s mother, Leslie, said the win was a nice surprise. She said her daughter simply “wrote what she felt.” “I was so shocked. It’s amazing,” Leslie said. “With the amount of celebrities and the royal family, it really is incredible. It’s like a fairy tale, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.” Richard Swett, a member of the Hans Christian Andersen Foundation, said the goal of this year’s events is to share Andersen’s life and stories with the world. He said Apryl captured what Andersen was about in her essay. “This remarkable fourth-grade student captured the spirit of Hans Christian Andersen’s legacy,” he said.