2024 NATIONAL MEDAL
for Museum and Library Service Finalist

Adults

Get Up

I was sleeping. It was my first day of summer vacation. I had just completed my junior year of high school. My summer plan was to get a job and save for a car. At 7:30, I suddenly woke to the noise of a vacuum cleaner in my bedroom. It was my mother who announced if you want a job start looking early in the morning. Guess what! I got up.

Gravel

"Mary kicked the gravel as she walked, forming clouds of dust up to her knees. She imagined her feet were on fire and each step was only a few seconds away from setting the ground ablaze.

She didn’t hear the sirens screaming behind her. The cop cars whizzed by in a panic, swirling up the dirt around her like a dust devil. They squealed as they turned at the next street. Her street."