Students win stamp essay contest

Alecia Foster

MONTROSE -- Three little words on the U.S. Postal Service’s new stamp

conveyed a strong message to Katelyn Fritts.

“When I see the ‘United We Stand’ stamp, I always think of everyone

working together,” the Fremont Elementary School fifth-grader said.

The student and others at Fremont were recently invited to share their

thoughts on the new stamp in an essay contest sponsored by the North

Glendale Post Office.

Katelyn and Michael Breeden, also a fifth-grader, were named winners

in the contest.

Both said the stamp left them with positive feelings -- very different

than what they felt shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks.

“I felt sad and I didn’t understand why anyone would want to do such a

thing,” Breeden said of the attacks.

Fritts agreed. “I was kind of scared because my mind told me that it

might come here,” she said.

The postal service’s release of the new stamp came after much request

from the public, said Terri Bouffiou, spokeswoman for the postal service.

The students received ball caps, calendars and stamps as prizes. All

of the essays written for the contest are displayed at the North Glendale

office.

WINNING ESSAYS

“I think the new stamp is beautiful and wonderful. One of the best

things about it is that it says ‘United We Stand.’ It makes me feel

invigorated when I hear, see or say those three words. It makes me feel

that way because it shows the way we are strong. We are strong because

we’re working together. We all care about America and each other. The

stamp shows how we can work together.” -- Katelyn Fritts.

“I think that it’s good to make a United We Stand stamp. It’s a good

idea because it will make people remember we’re still a free country. I

hope that it will make people remember what happened and bring us all

together to win this war against terrorism. Hopefully, more people will

be exposed to stamps to see what the post office is doing with the

stamps. Now people might start collecting stamps because this is so

important and is something people can pass down to show their children.

By the time we have children, hopefully there won’t be any more terrorism

and we’ll have more world peace.” -- Michael Breeden.