Olive Garden recently announced the beginning of its 17th annual national essay writing contest, Pasta Tales, for students first through twelve grade.

Students must write 50 to 250 words on the following prompt: “How would you help end hunger in your home town?” An official entry form must be completed and sent with the essay. Essays should be mailed by March 22, 2013 to Pasta Tales, PMB 200, 6278 N. Federal Highway, Fort Lauderdale, FL, 33308-1916.

The grand prize winner will receive a trip to New York, dinner at the Times Square Olive Garden and a $2500 savings bond. Olive Garden will also donate $5000 to fight hunger in the winner’s home city. A family dinner at a local Olive Garden and a $500 savings bond will be the prize for each grade-level winner.

High school English teacher Molly Sargent encouraged her students to participate in the Pasta Tales contest, noting that the prompt provides good food for thought for FC students.

“First, this is a writing contest for kids of all ages, which is kind of unusual,” Sargent said. “Normally, things like this are for high school kids only. The reason I was pushing it was because I loved the question ‘How would you help end hunger in your community?’ Our community here in Fresno is very impoverished; it’s one of the poorest urban communities in the country. To get kids to think about this is a good thing.”

Though he does not find a particular interest in participating in the contest, junior Ryan Stewart enjoys the restaurant for their gourmet food.

“I haven’t even heard about it,” Stewart said. “I don’t really want to bother writing an extra essay. Olive Garden is a great restaurant, though. They have great breadsticks.”

Sophomore Jordan Castro is not positive if he would submit an essay, but believes that Olive Garden is offering a chance for students of all ages to win the prize.

“I think it’s a good opportunity for for students; it’s not that many words,” Castro said. “Even for junior highers or other students who might want to enter, this is good. The low word count lets almost anybody enter. Hopefully a lot of people will submit essays and maybe someone from FC will take home a prize.”

For more information, go to the Olive Garden website or the Pasta Tales contest announcement.

For more news, read the Feb. 26 article, BRIEF: Parent Teacher Fellowship hosts fundraiser, Feb. 28.