Essay on Grandma Gail Street Wins First Place

Fifth graders Wylder Hawley, Drake Wellnitz, and Andrew Karges submitted the three winning essays during the local Grandparent Essay Contest sponsored by the Milbank Area Retired Teachers and Personnel Association (MARTA) and AARP South Dakota. Wylder took first place. Drake penned the second-place essay, and Andrew was third. 

P.J. Brock of Hill City was South Dakota’s state essay winner for 2025. Since 2003, the essay competition has raised awareness of the more than 8,000 South Dakota children who live in grandparent-headed households and the important contributions grandparents make to their grandchildren’s lives.

Grandparent Essay – First Place Milbank Area – Grandma Gail Street
By Wylder Hawley
My Grandma Gail is one of the smartest people I know. She always has an answer for everything. She always has a solution to my problems and is fun to hang out with. She is important to me because she is always there for me when I need help with schoolwork or any issue. I like to have sleepovers at her house because we have no bedtime, we always go somewhere fun, or we just relax and watch something together. I also like to go visit her in Arizona doing many different activities. One of her hobbies is making quilts for her grandchildren because she likes sewing and giving us gifts. She also likes playing the piano for us. She does it for fun and to entertain people at the nursing home. Lastly, she likes to paint pictures and give them to people or hang them in the house somewhere.

My grandma is important to me because she is a good influence and a fun person to be with. She helps me when I am doing something wrong or if I am having a problem with something. My Grandma is a good influence because she stays calm when she is stressed and is always nice and caring. One example of when my grandma helped me is when I was doing something wrong was when I was trying to learn to play golf. She taught me how to swing the club, how to grip it, and what club to use when in a certain spot. My grandma helps me fix things that I accidentally break and need help fixing like when I was getting ready to go fishing and my fishing pole reel was missing a gear and wouldn’t work. My grandma is the fixer of all problems.

It is fun to go on vacation and visit my grandma when she and my grandpa are in Arizona. When we go there, we like to go hiking in the mountains and play games like Jenga, cards, and play in the pool with my brothers. Last time we went there a couple of weeks ago, we got to their house and swam, rode bikes, and went hiking up to a cave that we found the first time we went there. That night, we watched a show and ate supper. The first time we visited, my mom was with us, too. Sometimes, when we go visit them, we celebrate the holidays together since we missed them back home.

My grandma has many hobbies including painting, golfing, playing piano, and sewing. My grandma says she likes painting and playing piano because it calms her. She often likes to give her pictures to her grandkids and plays piano for elders in the nursing home or during church services. She even wants me to learn a duet to play with her. She likes playing golf and playing outdoor games because her grandkids like to golf along with her. Lastly, she likes to sew because she likes making her grandkids quilts for special occasions like finishing confirmation at church or a graduation. Plus, with all the boys in our family, we keep her busy fixing holes in our jeans.

She was born in Ortonville, Minnesota in 1950. She grew up in Revillo and turned into a good influence for me. She enjoys painting, playing piano, sewing, and playing games with her grandchildren. She thinks about her grandchildren a lot and we enjoy going to Arizona each year to visit her. I will always remember going to visit her in Arizona and going to her house after school when she is home. I like how my grandma has a solution to every problem, and she is always fun to go outside and play games with.

This is to raise awareness of the more than 8,000 South Dakota children who live in grandparent-headed households and to, also, acknowledge the importance Grandparents contribute to their grandchildren.

Submitted Photo: Andrew Karges, Wylder Hawley and Drake Wellnitz.