Wilmette girl explores Caymans as contest winner

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Emmie Hine of Wilmette, studying nature in the Cayman Islands, was one of 15 young people chosen as winners of this year’s National Geographic Kids Hands-On Explorer Challenge. | Photo courtesy of Laura Hine

Updated: November 2, 2011 12:46AM

When Emmie Hine heads back to Wilmette Junior High School this fall, she will have more vacation stories to share with her friends than most eighth-graders.

After all, not everyone has the chance to swim with stingrays, see endangered wildlife, explore tropical island caves, hike protected nature trails and learn more about the natural world of the Cayman Islands.

Hine got that chance this month; she was one of 15 young people chosen as winners of this year’s National Geographic Kids Hands-On Explorer Challenge. The young men and women were chosen from among 1,000 contestants from across the country who entered the contest; they visited the Cayman Islands from July 8-15.

‘Amazing’ time

“It was an amazing experience,” she said Tuesday.

During their trip, Hine and the 14 other contest winners got to explore the Cayman’s Mastic Trail, saw endangered blue iguanas at the Queen Elizabeth II Botanic Park, snorkeled at the dive site of a sunken ship, explored island caves and visited the Cayman Turtle Farm.

Swimming with wild stingrays was a high point, she said, “because they let you pet them. They still had their stingers, which was a little scary at first, but I got over it.”

She said one of her favorite trip memories will be watching turtles come out of the water at night, to dig nests on the beach. Another highlight was hiking and seeing woodpeckers — almost wiped out in the Caymans by Hurricane Ivan — feeding a new chick.

The National Geographic Kids challenge, now in its fifth year, is dedicated to promoting hands-on exploration among American young people. Competitors are expected to write an essay and provide an accompanying photograph explaining how they actively explore their world, and what excites their passion and curiosity as they do it. Previous winners have gone on expeditions to the Galápagos Islands, South Africa, Australia and Peru.

Hine is a longtime reader of the National Geographic Kids magazine, (and its grown-up counterpart, the National Geographic) and decided to enter the contest when she saw a notice for it in the magazine.

Essay on sailing

She wrote her 300-word essay on her love of sailing — she has sailed for four years and loves going to area regattas — and about helping her mother Laura work on a community garden plot. She also took a picture from Lake Michigan, looking back at the shore, to illustrate the essay.

“I take a lot of pictures when we’re on vacation, but this was the first time I’d deliberately taken a picture for something like this,” she said.

She said she thought she had done a good job describing why she enjoyed sailing and gardening, “but I was still pretty surprised when they called and told me I’d won.”

In fact, she and her mom, Laura, had almost forgotten about the contest after sending in her submission last fall, when contest officials called earlier this year to tell them she had won.

Laura Hine described her 12-year-old daughter as “very generous and thoughtful. She’s very smart, she loves to read and to sail, she’s just a wonderful kid.”

In addition to sailing, which she has done for four years, Hine loves to read. She’s interested in archaeology and medicine as possible future careers. And now, after hearing a National Geographic photojournalist talk about his experiences, she’s added that career to her list of possibilities.