2004 Winner, Audrey Kidwell

Many people have said that America is like a melting pot or stew, but I think our country is more of a garden. In a melting pot, all of the ingredients blend together into mush. When you make stew, it all becomes one flavor and nothing stands out. Try as I might, I can't think of any food that is truly able to be associated with America. But a garden is different.

When an immigrant first comes to America, he or she puts out new, young roots into the soil of our heritage. These roots become entwined, almost connected you might say, to other root systems, holding the soil together. With the soil held together, we are saved from erosion. We learn of the ways these people have suffered in their countries, so we know which mistakes not to make. It is good this way because when we learn about other nations, we can incorporate their strong points into our ever-growing garden. For this reason, the sun of freedom always shines over our garden.

Even though we are all different, we all originated as seeds. Some of us areviolets or mums, some ferns or vines, but none of us are weeds. We are all beautiful.This is wonderful because in many other places, no one accepts differences. In our garden we all help each other because our roots hold the soil together. Our garden is watered with kindness and friendship causing us to grow and to flourish. These things are good because in other places, the soil crumbles; the plants dry up, but not in America.

I love America because it has so many good qualities. We offer a home to immigrants so that they can be happy. They, in turn, make our nation stronger and help it to thrive. They pass on new traditions to us and enrich our culture. I can't imagine what our garden would be like without immigrants. It would be similar to a garden with only roses. Roses are nice, but I think variety and diversity is better. We are all lucky and should be thankful to be rooted in the garden of America.