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Orange County 6th grader wins 'Why Mom Deserves a Diamond' contest

Orange County 6th grader wins a diamond for his mom
Orange County 6th grader wins a diamond for his mom 02:13

Not many 12-year-olds can say they got their mom a diamond for Mother's Day.

However, an Orange County sixth-grader did just that with his poem about his mother.

"I don't like writing that much," said Rancho Santa Margarita student Jason Ross. "I do love reading but poetry is not my thing. I guess it is now."

Ross won the "Why Mom Deserves a Diamond" contest after Sarachman, and encouraged her class to write a poem about their moms.

"It was amazing but I always think his writing is amazing," said Beth Sarachman, the student's English teacher.

The contest became a tradition 30 years ago, as a way for the competition's founder Mike Watson to honor his adoptive mother and the birth mom he never knew. In the three decades, he's given away more than 18 carats of diamonds to kids who have written about their moms. 

The newest mother to receive a diamond said she's going to keep it close to her heart.

"I think I'll put it into a necklace," said Ross's mom Valerie Bracken.

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