Chipotle Mexican Grill recently announced the 10 nationwide winners of its Cultivating Thought student essay contest, unveiling the winning works on the restaurant chains’ newest round of artistic cups and bags.
Summit High School senior, Abigail Alford, was among the winners with her story entitled “Two Minutes with Granny Sue.” Her winning submission shares a heartfelt story of triumph in a world full of “no’s” set to the soundtrack of an ice cream truck. (Fitting for a young musician with hopes to someday teach music to children.)
For a company that serves more than one million diners a day, that’s pretty nice exposure. Not to mention the $20,000 educational scholarship Ms. Alford will also receive.
Chipotle’s Cultivating Thought Essay contest was launched in May 2015. Middle and high school students (ages 13 to 18) were challenged to submit their original story (1,700 characters or less) about when food created a memory. Ten winners, including Ms. Alford, were chosen based on the criteria of originality, quality of composition and use of theme.
Two Minutes with Granny Sue by Abigail Alford
I had grown up around the word “No.” My parents, diligent in teaching me good manners, were especially fond of this word. My childhood requests for simple things—toys, mainly—were met with a loving, but firm, “No.” They said “No” to playing in the cold rain, they said “No” to getting the $50 light-up shoes, and they said “No” to the ice cream truck. Until one summer day. . .
About eight years ago, my family and I had gone to eastern Tennessee for a cookout. There was a sweet old lady who hosted it. Her name was Granny Sue. When I met her, I tried to call her Mrs. Sue, but (BECAUSE) my parents said “No” to addressing someone as anything else but “Mr.” or “Mrs.” She quickly corrected me, saying that everyone called her Granny Sue, and that we were not any exception. At this cookout, my friends and I were gleefully playing tag around her backyard when we heard the distant calling of an ice cream truck slowly rambling through her neighborhood. My friends got excited and ran to the front of the house to wait for its arrival. I was hesitant to follow, for the ice cream truck was just another “No” from my parents.
But then Granny Sue got up from her lawn chair and called to the kids in the yard. “Do y’all want some ice cream?”
My eyes suddenly lit up. Could I, in my childhood of “No’s” perhaps get a “Yes” from this sweet old lady? I looked at my parents expectantly. Receiving that glorious and coveted nod of approval, I raced to the front lawn where the truck was waiting to disperse its treasures to the children. The ice cream itself was nothing memorable. It was simply 50 cents of sweet “Yes.”
