Framingham Girl Wins National Boys and Girls Club's Literacy Contest

​Unhappy with the ending of the New York Times bestselling book The Fault In Our Stars, Ariana Lourie, 11, made a video and changed the ending of the book into a happy one.

Earlier this month, the McAuliffe Charter student uncovered her own happy ending, when she learned she was the national winner in a literacy contest sponsored by Staples and Boys & Girls Clubs of America.

Yesterday Lourie, who attends the Boys & Girls Clubs of MetroWest Pearl Street Clubhouse was honored for her video. The two teenagers, from the book, plan to get married Lourie’s video. In the book, Hazel mourns the death of her boyfriend Augustus.

Lourie won the national contest via popular vote. She received more than 4,700 votes from across America.

Framingham Patch ran an article in October, encouraging the community to vote for Lourie - one of three finalists, in the grade 6-12 contest.

“This couldn’t happen if I didn’t have great friends who offered, before I even asked the question, to help me,” said the Framingham girl, 11, before a crowd of more than 100 Boys & Girls Club members from Framingham in the Danforth Gym Tuesday afternoon.

Staples Foundation Chief Culture Officer and President John Burke awarded Lourie an Amazon Kindle for winning the national contest. Staples also gave a Kindle to the Pearl Street Clubhouse of the Boys & Girls Club of MetroWest.

Burke said the “New England Patriots may have Tom Brady as its leader but Framingham has its own leader Ariana Lourie.”

The Boys & Girls Clubs of MetroWest serves more than 3,500 children and youth each year with a low membership fee of only $25 per child, which makes it one of the largest and most affordable Boys & Girls Club organizations in Massachusetts. This year marks the organization’s 70th year of providing quality out-of-school programming for the children and youth of greater Marlborough, Hudson, and Framingham.

Two of Framingham’s three state representatives - Tom Sannicandro and Chris Walsh -- attended yesterday’s celebration, and awarded Lourie a proclamation from the State House.

“Your excitement and enthusiasm for reading is a good example for all the participants in the summer reading program,” said Rep. Walsh.

“Could you imagine, everybody in this country, and they picked Ariana from the Framingham club as the winner,” Rep. Sannicandro said.

“The entire membership was just in awe,” said Rep. Walsh.

There are more than 4,100 Boys & Girls Clubs nationwide, serving nearly 4 million young people annually. The organization, with Staples, sponsored the “Make Good Reads Happen” contest, over the summer.

Boys & Girls Club of MetroWest President Fran Hurley said Staples employees came to the clubhouse to read to kids in June to kick off the summer reading program, and yesterday Staples employees and the state representatives read to more than 100 club members after the ceremony to honor Lourie.