Selected out of over 140 submissions, Annabelle Olagbegi’s poem “Pulsating” was chosen as the grades 6-8 winner in the Missouri Botanical Garden and Gateway Writing Project’s “Write Outside Your Door” writing contest.

Writers were encouraged to create a work about their experiences outside, with nature and as stewards of the environment. 

“I really like this one park that my mom would take my brother and I to. I was just imagining myself sitting underneath a tree, how that would feel for me, sitting underneath a tree when it’s raining,” Annabelle, a seventh grader, said about her inspiration behind the piece.

In addition to recognition, Annabelle’s win earned her a complimentary one-year membership to the Missouri Botanical Garden, as well as “a bunch of random goodies like notebooks and posters and a book,” according to the middle schooler.

Annabelle attends Thomas Jefferson School, a coed private day and boarding school in Sunset Hills. While she is new to the school this year, she shared that her writing has only gotten stronger since attending.

“It pushes me to actively write every day, and I think that’s very good for me. Attending TJ, everyone’s so different, so it helps me understand the worlds in my own stories,” she said.

Though Annabelle was the sole winner of the competition’s middle school category, another South County student — Jack Power from Lindbergh Schools — earned an honorable mention, the only other award given out.