Kaitlin Duffy had never won anything in her life.

So when the ninth grader at Tahoma Junior High received an email informing her she had won the “Write a Bill” contest, “I screamed for a while.”

Sponsored by the Puget SoundOff and Washington State Youth & Government organizations, the “Write a Bill” contest was held for students 13-18 to encourage interest in local politics and the state legislative process.

At the same time the contest was held, Cary Collins, a social studies teacher at Tahoma Junior High, assigned his Pacific Northwest History class to write a bill.

“We’ve been talking a lot about government lately,” Duffy said. “He wanted us to see what it was like to write a bill.”

Collins said, “I wanted them to practice the legislative process in writing a bill.”

Duffy, 15, chose the subject of year round school, which has been up for discussion ever since the school district’s $120 million construction bond measure failed in late April.

“It got me thinking about how we would do it,” she said.

The assignment required the students to write a bill which followed certain standards. It had to have a title, a summary of its purpose, a definition of words used in the bill and a date the law would take effect.

Duffy argued in her bill year round school helps students remember information they have gained which can be lost during a three-month summer vacation.

“It’s not the best,” Duffy said of year round school. “But it’s not bad. If I had a choice, I would keep summer vacation.”

Collins mentioned the contest to his class as an extracurricular activity and shared with them the website where they could submit entries.

Duffy was enticed to enter the contest by the prize — a new Apple iPod Touch. It was also the first contest she had ever entered.

“I kind of figured there was nothing to lose,” she said.

Several weeks later, she received an email informing her she was a contender for first prize, though even then she didn’t expect to win.

“They sent it out to a lot of people,” she said.

The final email, she said, took her completely by surprise.

“I got really excited,” she said.

Collins felt like he had accomplished his goal for the assignment.

“That’s the best feeling that a teacher can have, because you feel like they’ve connected in the assignment in a way that they’re being successful,” Collins said. “You always like to see your student see success.”

Duffy, who will be a sophomore, recently went to Seattle for the award ceremony at the YMCA, where she was given her certificate and the Apple iPod Touch.