Local fourth grader deemed best in the west for handwriting competition

REXBURG, Idaho (KIFI)- A mother's inspiration led one fourth grader to the top. The Zaner-Bloser Company recently announced the winners of their handwriting competition that encourages students nationwide to participate.

The Western region winner for all fourth graders is Ruby Waldron of Rexburg. A student in Mrs. Hayes's class at Lincoln Elementary School, Ruby only recently learned how well she did in the competition on Wednesday.

"I love it. I don't know. It's just crazy.  like, I kind of like things neat. So maybe that's why. I don't know," Ruby said.

The competition Ruby participated in asked her to write one sentence, "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog."

Ruby not only wrote the sentence but did so in cursive. She shared what she likes about writing cursive.

"It's pretty. I like how it looks. Mom's cursive has always been an inspiration to me for how I wanted to write when I was older," Ruby said.

Her teacher Marian Hayes says she has sent student writing samples to the competition for the past seven years. She says she's thrilled for Ruby's success.

"I feel like I've won when they win because I get to celebrate with them," Hayes said.

While the possibility of a class-wide celebration is in the works, they did a little celebration in class on Wednesday. Mrs. Hayes also shares that while Ruby isn't the first student to succeed in this competition, she is the first to win it on a regional level.

"I did have a boy a few years ago win on the state level, but Ruby's come farther than he did on that," Hayes said.

While Ruby had heard from her mom earlier Wednesday that she had won the contest, no one else at Lincoln Elementary had heard about her win before Local News 8 stopped by. The Local News 8 crew was happy to break the news to the school.