New York Times Writing Contest: Kylie Named a Finalist

Last spring, when the class of 2026 was learning about their Pay It Forward Culmination, Emelio made a bold promise. If one of the students were to win a New York Times writing contest, he’d shave his head. All hair, gone! Completely bald! The contest: write an open letter about an issue you care about. A perfect alignment with Pay It Forward. These 7th graders had each already chosen an issue to research, and now they’d be preparing to write an open letter – an appeal to one powerful group or individual that’s meant to be read by the general public. A rhetorical letter of protest!

Hearing about this hair-raising (-shaving?) promise got those 7th graders hooting and hollering. They were hyped! Emelio gently emphasized that thousands of students from around the world submit to these Times contests, and though they all had a shot and Emelio of course believed in them, the odds would be long. One student then hollered, “What do we get if one of us is a runner up?” To which another student hooted: “Shave your beard!” Fine, said Emelio, great! He’d shave his beard if someone achieved runner up status. 

Well, Kylie Smutny came along. She was researching microplastic accumulation in the world’s oceans. Kylie set her mind on writing an exemplary open letter – and we are completely and totally THRILLED to report that, over the summer of 2025, Kylie’s letter was a finalist in the open letter contest! 

This is an enormous achievement – nearly 10,000 students submitted to the contest! Around 200 letters were chosen to be runners up; that amounts to a 0.02% chance of being chosen for this honor. And most of these students who submitted were high schoolers! So for Kylie to make it into the finalists bracket as a seventh grader is just a testament to her hard work, her drive, and her talent as a writer. 

Kylie’s letter is copied below in full. (And after months of stalling, Emelio fulfilled his promise… let’s just say he’s glad that his beard came back quickly!)

Congratulations, Kylie!

Kylie's Open Letter