Flashback to Last Day of Summer

Eighth grader Tehya Long wrote the following essay on the last day of summer in McGraw, as she sat near the bleachers by the baseball field behind the high school.
The 8^th grade students captured the natural beauty of the area, filtered through the lenses of their unique perspectives and backgrounds. Each then drew a picture of a favorite scene, although Tehya drew many, creating a small and vivid book. 
So, as winter begins, here is a look back to Friday, September 22, through Tehya’s eyes. - Mr. Cowit
         In the last warmth of summer, three things are keeping me cool; the trees, breeze, and rocks.  Surprisingly, rocks are comfortable if you sit on a lot of them at once.  But they didn’t get that way by themselves. Before I sat down, I took out one rock and dug a little divot with my foot to sit in. I continued getting comfortable for a few minutes until I was ready to write.
    I love how all the rocks are different sizes, shapes, and colors.  As I look to my right, I see an orange rock with black stripes.  It looks as if it is made of the tiniest crystals that are hand painted by nature. There must be at least one thousand crystals in just that one rock.  I see rocks as big as a soccer ball and as small as a grain of sand.
     I turn around when suddenly I hear rustling in the weeds and flowers behind me.  I continue to stare at them as if something is going to pop out and scare me.  When nothing does so, I look at the flowers I’d been staring at.  They are beautiful colors of yellow and purple.  I get up from the rocks and pick one of each.  The purple smells like an orange Lifesaver.  The yellow smells like pollen.  I then stick the flowers in the rocks so that they are standing tall, hoping one day they would grow.  I thought it was funny that almost immediately after I planted the flowers Mr. Cowit came by and asked me if they grew there by themselves.  I told him no and laughed because I tricked him.
     I then realize that in all of this background noise, I can hear many different types of birds.  One does three little chirps, one sounds like a sprinkler, and one sounds like a hawk.  I see the hawk flying from tree to tree. It’s a brown muddy color and it’s flying in and out of my view, looking for food. It needs to get nice and fat before its long flight south for the winter.  All of the birds will be leaving us soon, to find somewhere with nicer weather for the cold harsh winter.
     Now, I’m laying back and relaxing, looking at the blue sky.  It looks as if someone took cans of baby blue and white spray paint and closed their eyes to paint the sky.  The clouds are big and fluffy and there are a lot of contrails too.  I wonder where all of the people on those planes are going. Maybe going to see friends and family or on a business trip.
     I have only flown once or twice and I loved seeing everything being tiny. Then, my memory starts to fade as the sun pokes out from behind a tree.  It warms my face with its last strength before fall.
     I decide to look at one of my favorite things about fall before we go inside: the trees.  Off in the distance I see a field of green because summer isn’t over yet. Soon the trees will be such vibrant colors; they will look like new crayons.  It is amazing how many shapes leaves can be. Tall and skinny or short and stubby. I like leaves the most because they remind me of my childhood. I always made little wreaths and drawings of the fall leaves to give to my family and teachers.
     I just love nature because there is such a variety of plants and animals.  There are trees thousands of times larger than an ant, and rocks and birds somewhere in between.  Nature makes me curious and happy that things so large and tiny can thrive together in perfect harmony.
By Tehya Long