After much planning and coordination, a virtual field trip took hundreds of 5th and 8th graders to California this afternoon to meet the Winner twins, America’s Youngest Multiple Award Winning authors (now sophomores in High School).  

The charismatic 16 year olds, Brittany and Brianna Winner, have published four books, numerous comics and built a thriving non-profit business that provides countless students with both inspiration and skills in writing.  

These young ladies also proved their skill in faciliation as they did some teaching today in Prescott's auditorium.   Middle School fifth and eighth graders enthusiastically interviewed and listened as the process of writing books clearly came to life.   

But there is more to the story of the Winner twins than phenomenal success.   There is also a compelling story about overcoming challenges. 

Born prematurely at 26 weeks, the Brittany and Brianna had difficulty reading in school. By the fourth grade, they were Special Education students diagnosed with dyslexia, dysgraphia, diminished visual acuity and tracking and more.   They could not read and were told that they would have a difficult time catching up with peers. 

But some software that converted speech to text along with the encouragement of their parents, resulted, just nine months later, in the completion of an 80,000 word best seller.   Their first novel, entitled “The Strand Prophecy,” gained national awards and recognition.   Now also singer-song writers, they released their first album at the age of 12 and are CEO and CFO of their own nonprofit company,  Motivate 2 Learn.    

Their journey from performance difficulties to child prodigies inside of a year is one that Prescott 8^th graders found inspirational.   With impressive focus and attention, Prescott fifth and eighth graders worked in the virtual interview with these extraordinary young women, learning practical things about the writing process.

Speaking from the big screen, Brittany Winner asked the group, “Where do you start a great story?”  “The end!!!!” Chorused the Prescott students, demonstrating that they'd been listening well.  The Winner twins were offering some creative and specific methods for story telling.

Their “If you can dream it…. You can write it!” program was presented to Prescott at no charge at the invitation of teacher Karen Fesler, who said she was impressed with both their story of overcoming obstacles and with their insightful approach to writing.   Said Fesler, "The great thing about these virtual field trips is that they provide great exposure and energy but don't require a full day away from normal class work." 

The Winner Twins’ facilitation skills are pretty impressive too, engaging the auditorium full of students in a dialogue as together they jointly created a draft of a sample book based in Candyland, set in 1962, in which Dr. Marshmellow and Bob puts himself through medical school after being raised by wolfs.   Dr. Marshmellow finds his true passion, creating life, and … well, the story continues….until his untimely end off of a cliff.

Such virtual field trips are a great way to take students to fascinating places and meet inspiring people like the Winner twins, who had taken the time to understand Cookevile and Prescott Middle School before “meeting” with the students today.