Little Green Thumb

Editor's Note: Every week, Elk Grove Patch will publish a profile of one of Elk Grove's younger residents. Know of an Elk Grovian age 18 and under with an interesting story? Nominate them by sending us an email or posting a comment with their name, age, and why they should be featured in Generation Z.

Name: Matthew Ng

Age: 8

School: Joseph Sims Elementary School

Accomplishment: Won a new garden for his school in a landscape design contest

Key to awesomeness: Overcoming shyness

If you're a third-grader who's not known for being outgoing, becoming a finalist in a garden design contest where you have to talk hundreds of visitors to the Northern California Home and Landscape Expo into voting for you could be intimidating.

"I was kinda scared at first," admits Matthew Ng, 8, who drew the winning design in the contest sponsored by children's book publisher Karden's Corner. Still, Ng spent all day standing beside a miniature model of his garden, shaking every visitor's hand and asking for their vote.

What was his pitch? "There is a star-shaped pond and some fish in the pond. There's an artist area, some bird houses and a shed."

Sound appealing? The judges thought so. Ng beat out over 100 other entries January 30, winning a visit to his school from the company, which fights childhood obesity by encouraging kids to play in the dirt. Company workers, with some help from community members, will install Ng's garden at Joseph Sims Elementary this spring free of charge.

The school's current garden, a small, mostly barren plot of land that serves as a shortcut to get to the library, is "just not functional," said Ng's proud teacher, Katheryn Wood.

"Hopefully we'll have something now that the kids will actually use," she said.