Not too many people think a concussion is funny. But Rebecca Carrol, an eighth-grader at The Meadows School in Summerlin, found a way to turn hers into a winning story.

She was notified in late January that she was the middle school-level winner for a nationwide essay contest sponsored by the Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor in New Jersey. The contest asked students of all ages to discuss the importance of humor and describe a time when laughter helped to ease a difficult, frightening or sad situation.