Tulsa student wins trip to LA with essay entry

A Tulsa 6th grader from Town and Country school wants to save the American crocodile and her idea to do that won her a trip to Los Angeles. <br><br>Olivia Pacheco is the Oklahoma winner for the second

Tuesday, April 22nd 2003, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

A Tulsa 6th grader from Town and Country school wants to save the American crocodile and her idea to do that won her a trip to Los Angeles.

Olivia Pacheco is the Oklahoma winner for the second annual Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom Kids Summit. She was honored Tuesday in a special ceremony at her school. Her winning essay, "Operation Mistaken Identity" covers the differences between endangered crocodiles and dangerous alligators. She says people kill crocodiles by mistake. "I thought it was interesting the crocodile has been around since almost the dinosaurs and now they might not be around 20 years from now."

One winning essay was picked from each state. Olivia gets an all expense-paid trip to Los Angeles, where she gets to go to the zoo and also meet celebrities who share her concern about endangered animals.