Poetry pays for Sha'anan Levy.
The 12-year-old Sebastopol boy is headed on free seven-day trip to the Cayman Islands Friday as one of 15 winners in the 2011 National Geographic Hands-On Explorer Challenge.
More than a 1,300 contestants sent in photographs and a 300-word essay last fall detailing how they explore their world.
Sha'anan worked for months on his entry, but he was stymied by writer's block until he decided to switch from prose to poetry, which he'd recently worked on at school. He receives independent study at home through Orchard View School in Sebastopol.
"That worked better," he said. "It took some revising but I got it to my liking."
He snapped his photograph at his parents aquatic nursery in Santa Rosa, placing a frog he found on top of a water hawthorne, a winter-blooming plant that was the only thing around still flowering, he said.
In March, he found out he was among the winners, the only one to write his essay in poetic form. He received a Nikon camera that he's been using to take outdoor photos ever since. On Friday, he'll begin using it to document his trip to the Caribbean country.
Widely known as a tax haven and off-shore finance center, the Cayman Islands also boast some impressive natural wonders. Sha'anan and his fellow winners will swim with the stingrays in "Sting Ray City," see endangered blue iguanas and descend as deep at 120-feet in a submarine, among week of activities.
"Our days are packed with all the coolest things you can do there," said Sha'anan, who will be accompanied by his mother.
The winners will be blogging throughout for National Geographic Kids' web site. Keep your eyes peeled to see if Sha'anan writes his entries in verse.
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