Lansdowne student loves home sweet home

École Lansdowne student Annika Kroeker knows home is where the heart is.

Annika is the Grade 4 grand prize winner of Habitat for Humanity’s Meaning of Home contest. The national writing contest saw 12,041 students in Grades 4, 5 and 6 submit poems and essays explaining what home means to them.

Annika’s winning essay earned her a brand-new iPad and the opportunity to direct a $30,000 grant to a local Habitat build.

“I’m amazed that out of all the entries, my essay got chosen,” Annika said. “It feels really good to get to donate towards a house for someone who needs it. I really like the mission of Habitat for Humanity and I’m happy to support it. My friend lives in a Habitat for Humanity house and it’s really nice.

“As for the iPad, I’m excited to try drawing digital art and to play Minecraft online with my friends.” 

Lansdowne teacher Léona De Rosa and her Grade 4 class submitted 22 entries to the writing contest, raising $220 for a local Habitat for Humanity build.

In her essay, Annika wrote that she lives in a “brick house with white stucco, but that is not what my home is like.” For her, home is what’s inside the house, and that doesn’t mean the furniture.  

“It is the hopes, the dreams, the people and the pets that the house holds inside itself that makes it truly a home,” wrote Kroeker in her essay.

Annika, who is turning 10 this summer, shares her house with her mom and dad and her 11-year-old sister, as well as a few other creatures. Annika has six neon tetra fish named Eennie, Flash, Dash, Tic, Tac and Toe, while her sister has a pet crested gecko named Ecko.

Annika has her own room, which is painted light purple. In her free time, she likes to read, paint, sculpt clay and do “almost any other craft.”

“I love to make surprises for my family and friends in my own space,” Annika said. “I often have a “Do Not Enter” sign on my door so they don’t see what I’m working on. I have made cards, birthday gifts, scavenger hunts, games and coupons for my family. I also like to snuggle my stuffed animals and play with them in my room.”