Gateway Young Achievers 2006

Ladue kid shows talent in original play

(Seventh in a Series)

Eleven-year-old Leonardo Di Cera wrote, directed and starred in an original play at Conway Elementary School last year. He also won both state and national education awards for his school performance.

Leonardo's play, "Don Gato (Mr. Cat)," was the only one written by Conway students. Other acts in the variety show were adapted from folk tales or previously written pieces.

These were just some of the achievements that helped Leonardo win one of 12 2006 Gateway Young Achiever of the Year awards.

Young Achievers are selected on their record of good grades, outside activities and leadership. Winners receive a $1,000 savings bond. There were 12 grand prize winners, four each from elementary, middle and high schools.

(This is the 7th of eight profiles by Young Saint Louis.com on elementary and middle school awardees. If you'd like to read previous profiles, go to Past Stories at the top of the home page and click on June, 2006; July, 2006; August, 2006; September, 2006; October, 2006 and/or November, 2006.)

Leonardo Di Cera

Leonardo's award was based on this work as a 5th grader at Conway Elementary. Now, he's in 6th grade at Ladue Middle School.

During the first semester at Ladue Middle, he said he's concentrated mostly on his academics. But, after his first report card produced all A's, he is starting to get involved with outside activities and service.

For one thing, he's getting involved in sports again. He was in both swimming and soccer clubs in elementary school and plans to restart both of those sports.

Leonardo was involved in the gifted Idea Lab and now is in the gifted Apogee program at Ladue Middle.

While at Conway, he got interested in airports. In the Idea Lab, he designed an airport. He also created a clay model for a new airliner passenger seat. But, don't expect it to show up in a commercial airplane any time soon.

For one thing, it was designed to be spacious and to recline fully into a bed. The model also included a computer built into the seat, along with a TV set and video game player.

He carried over his interest in airports by calling the manager of the Spirit of St. Louis Airport in Chesterfield to ask for a guided tour. Leonardo's father, Enrico, said, "He made the call on his own. We didn't know about it until the manager called back."

Leonardo got his airport tour, which is used mostly for corporate and private planes.

Leonardo's letter of support for the Young Achiever competition was written by Nancy Tinsley, a counselor at the Conway school. She said he demonstrated outstanding academic achievement and his behavior "was exemplary."

She said he volunteers for all service projects "without hesitation" and has "endless ideas for service projects to help others."

At Conway, he participated service projects such as Toys for Tots and Hurricane Katrina aid. At church, he and his family participated in the Snowflake Project, which raises donations for the homeless.

His interest in writing extended back to 2nd grade. He entered a national poetry contest and his entry was published in a poetry anthology. Titled "Valentine's Day," it read:

" Valentine's Day
  "fills with love.
"Smells sweet as sugar,
  "tastes tasty.
"I hear love coming out of the kitchen window
  "from the wing of a dove.
"I love Valentine's Day."

About his "Don Gato" play, Leonardo said he had to change the ending because teachers thought the first one was too sad for the kindergarteners in the audience.

"At first, Don Gato died accidentally before he could get married. But, we changed the ending so that he came back to life," Leonardo said.

"The audience found that the new ending was funny when Don Gato came back to life. So, I guess it was good that we changed it," he said.

Leonardo is bilingual, speaking both English and Italian. Both of his parents are from Italy, although Leonardo and his brother and sister were born in this country.

He plans to go to Ladue Horton Watkins High School and then to college. But, he hasn't decided on a course of study. "I might go into business management," he said.

"I'd like to own a large hotel or a big business," he added.