Girl born with no hands wins national penmanship award
A first-grader who was born without hands has won a national penmanship award, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports.
Annie Clark, a 7-year-old at Wilson Christian Academy in West Mifflin, Pa., got a trophy and $1,000 as one of two national winners of the Nicholas Maxim Special Award for Excellent Penmanship from the Zaner-Bloser language arts and reading company.
Annie writes by wedging a pencil between her arms, the same way she feeds herself and even paints her toenails, the newspaper reports.
The national award is one of two given to students with disabilities --- the other went to an Ohio student with a visual impairment.
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondeadline/post/2012/04/girl-born-with-no-hands-wins-national-penmanship-awards/1
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Annie Clark was born without hands, but you wouldn't know it from her penmanship
Thursday, April 19, 2012
By Mary Niederberger, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Larry Roberts/Post-Gazette
Annie Clark, a first-grade student at Wilson Christian Academy in West Mifflin who won a handwriting excellence award, demonstrates her prowess with a pencil.
... Along with the Nicholas Maxim Special Award for Excellent Penmanship, Annie got a trophy nearly half her height and $1,000. She was awarded the prizes during a surprise assembly at her school.
When the purpose of the assembly was announced and Annie's name was called, she appeared stunned and overwhelmed as she quietly made her way to the front to accept her trophy and a bouquet of flowers, dressed in a ruffled white skirt and bright golden blouse. Initially she left the assembly with her classmates because she didn't want to miss math class.
But she returned a few minutes later to talk with reporters and demonstrate how she writes with a pencil wedged between her arms ...
http://old.post-gazette.com/pg/12110/1225468-55.stm
