Miami Girl's Winning Moment Wins NFL Contest
5th grader born deaf wins football essay competition
By ARI ODZER and BRIAN HAMACHER
Updated 12:44 PM EDT, Tue, Feb 2, 2010
The Super Bowl hasn't been played yet, but one Miami girl is already a big winner.
Caroline Masia, a 5th grader at Highland Oak Elementary in North Miami Beach, will be rubbing elbows with the some of the NFL's big boys after she won the league's "Winning Moments" essay contest.
Yesterday, Masia, who was born deaf, was announced as the Grand Prize winner of the contest, and her class got a visit from Dolphins nose tackle Paul Soliai and running back Kory Sheets.
The contest was sponsored by the NFL Players Association as part of their "Stay Cool in School" Program. Kids submitted essays detailing their "Winning Moments."
For Masia, who had Cochlear implants to give her hearing for the first time in her life, picking a winning moment was easy.
"Every song I hear is special," Masia said yesterday, as she read her essay to Soliai, Sheets and her classmates. "My winning moment started with my first implant, leading to my first sound and continues every day that I can hear the beautiful sounds of the world."
For her Grand Prize win, Masia will get a chauffeur-driven limo ride to the stadium on Saturday, where she'll be put to work as a reporter for nflplayers.com. She'll get to attend special events and interview players for a piece that will be put on the Website.
She was still gripped by all the excitement yesterday but was starting to get her game face on for the of interviews.
"My heart was racing really fast and I was really nervous and anxious," she said. "And now I'm not anxious or nervous anymore."
First Published: Feb 2, 2010 11:19 AM EDT
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