Catleya Carnakie-Brown relished the moment she was presented with her giant $1,000 check for the fundraiser. “That was such a big moment for me. I’m going to cherish that for a long time,” she said. 

Catleya, a sixth grader at St. Clare Catholic Academy, tied for third place when she sold 11 subscriptions. 

She employed an interesting sales technique to convince customers to buy subscriptions. “I told them it’s a Catholic newspaper that tells you what’s going on. And that’s kind of what got them to do it,” she recalled. 

While she is happy she earned third place honors in the fundraiser, she is even more pleased that her efforts helped her school. St. Clare Catholic Academy finished in first place among small schools when its students sold a collective 242 subscriptions. 

She loves St. Clare’s. “I love the communication between students, parents, and staff members. We all know what’s going on in the school and that’s good,” she said. 

Her favorite subject in school is English language arts. “I like to read and I like to write,” she said. In her spare time, she enjoys dancing, cheerleading, kickboxing, jiu jitsu, tennis, and swimming. 

Catleya won’t be spending her $1,000 prize — at least not right away. “I’m going to save it for my college fund,” she explained.