SCOTT CITY SENIOR STANDS ON HEAD FOR SIGNED PHOTO OF KATHY IRELAND

SCOTT CITY -- Kenny Smith certainly didn't anticipate receiving an autographed picture of swimsuit model Kathy Ireland.

Smith, a senior at Scott City High School, wrote a letter to Ireland as part of an English assignment.

And when two photographs arrived four weeks later, Smith lost his bet with classmates and teachers and had to stand on his head.

"I didn't think we'd get anything back, so I told them I'd stand on my head if we did," he said, adding that he kept one of the pictures and donated the other to the school.

About 80 students wrote letters to their favorite celebrities for the assignment.

Senior Tim Froggatt received an autographed picture of Jean Claude Van Damme.

"I like his movies and he's my favorite action figure, so I wrote to him," Froggatt said. "I was surprised we got what we did but I hoped we'd have more than what we got."

Although every student had an equal chance, 10 received a celebrity response and 12 letters were returned because of incorrect addresses.

Most assignments don't generate this type of feedback, said June Swift, who teaches English classes at the school.

Most people have to have a reason to write, and unless they write a business letter, the only writing they do is personal, she said.

So to teach a lesson on business letter writing, Swift asked her students to write their favorite celebrity. Each student also requested items to be auctioned for a school fund-raiser.

The students received books, pictures and T-shirts signed by celebrities like Jay Leno, Hank Williams Jr., Billy Graham, Oprah Winfrey and Troy Aikman.

Junior Steve Armstrong was one of the first students to get a letter, receiving an autographed copy of Hank Williams Jr.'s biography.

Armstrong chose Williams for one reason: "I like to listen to his music," he said.

Other celebrities who received letters but didn't respond were Michael Jordan, Reba McEntire, Steven Spielberg, David Letterman, Tom Hanks, Bill Gates, Cindy Crawford and Brad Pitt.

Because not many items were sent, Swift asked each student who received a gift to donate $1 to the high school library.

Not only will the library benefit from the writing exercise, but seventh-grade students also learned from the assignment.

"We played off the idea of writing and the celebrities," Swift said, adding that seventh-grade students began a unit on heroes and celebrities.

Community leaders also spoke to the students about their own personal heroes. The students also discussed the qualities they admired in heroes and if those same qualities were found in celebrities, Swift said.

Before completing the unit, the students will interview a living hero for an essay assignment.