Seventh grader Kinzie Graf wins a national scholarship

Lucette Moramarco

Associate Editor

In May, seventh grader Kinzie Graf of Fallbrook won the Rush Revere Young Patriot Scholarship from The Rush and Kathryn Adams Limbaugh Family Foundation.

According to the foundation's website, "The Young Patriot Scholarship benefits young readers from ages four to twenty-two years old. Rush and Kathryn Adams Limbaugh wrote the bestselling Adventures of Rush Revere Series to teach accurate American history to young people in a fun way. Liberty the talking horse, Rush Revere, and the Manchester Middle School 'Crew' travel back in time to meet historical figures like Abigail Adams and learn about events and people directly from the source."

Kinzie homeschools with her mother who heard about the Rush Revere books from a neighbor while they were studying the American Revolution. Sue Graf said she ordered the books, "and Kinzie loved them immediately. She would beg me to read them to her (she's not a strong reader because of dyslexia)."

She also said they spent hours reading the books, and then she found out there was a free curriculum to go with each book on the website. "It was great because she could do it on her own. She could read the questions, write the answers, and look up answers she didn't remember. All great skills," Sue Graf added.

The scholarship application requires students to create a three-minute or less video by completing and expanding upon the following phrase: "Hi Liberty, I love to read about American history because..." They then upload their video to YouTube and provide the link with their online application.

Kinzie wrote about the contest for her school's website explaining that "Rush Revere is a fictional character who teaches middle school. He's a different kind of teacher because he goes on adventures with the kids by time traveling. I found out about the contest and decided to enter."

She decided to make a Rush Revere stop motion video. "I thought it would be fun to make, and I used the first book for inspiration. I worked on it for two weeks and it was hard.," she wrote.

But her efforts paid off as "One day the people from the Foundation set up a time to talk to me and they said that I won! I couldn't believe it! It made me so happy. I really wanted to win, but I didn't think I would. I won $2,500, two sets of the book series, a set of audiobooks, and an American flag! My family is going to buy a flagpole and hang it up at our house.

"I want to thank the people at the Rush and Kathryn Adams Limbaugh Family Foundation for the scholarship prizes," Kinzie added.

Sue Graf said Kinzie's video "was definitely a movie of love. I think it's got over 600 still shots in it and, honestly, the editing down to 3 minutes was the hardest part. I think it was 5 minutes long originally."

The Graf family moved to Fallbrook three years ago so Kinzie could attend Friends of Willow Tree (a Waldorf learning center). They found Sparrow Charter School (also Waldorf-based) and joined it last year when it started a homeschool arm.

With quarantine, Sue Graf learned that Kinzie does much better with pre recorded lessons. "She can watch, pause, go back, watch again – she is profoundly dyslexic and has always struggled in school. We 'officially' homeschooled this year, but like most other people, we've been kind of homeschooling since the end of fifth grade (spring 2020), she said.

Sue Graf continued, "The nice folks from the Limbaugh Foundation said that thousands of entries came in, and Kinzie's stood out – imagine that. The child who struggles to 'do school' like others actually was outstanding enough to win a National contest!"

On the charter school's website, staff posted this message: "Sparrow Homeschool is proud of Kinzie Graf! Kinzie is an outstanding 7th grader who's been recognized for blending her creativity and computer skills for the Rush Revere Young Patriot Scholarship."

Kinzie said she would love for people to watch her video by going to : https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4GuxZGIGGhE.

To learn more about the book series and the scholarship, visit https://officialrushlimbaugh.com/rush-revere/.