Sara Hinesley is a 10 year-old girl from Maryland who was born with no hands, but she has never let this hold her back from achieving anything that she sets her mind to. Her positive attitude and hard work recently won her the Nicholas Maxim Award in the 2019 Zaner-Bloser National Handwriting Contest!

“The things I can’t do, I try to figure out the ways I can do it and try my best to make it work,” Sara explained. “I just try my hardest and put my mind to it and this is what happens.”

The award that Sara won is given to children who have a cognitive delay or an intellectual, physical or developmental disability. The award comes with trophy, prize money and educational materials, and Sara could not have been happier to win it!

“I felt excited and proud,” she told “Good Morning America.”

Making this accomplishment all the more amazing is that Sara won the award writing in cursive.

“I think it’s kind of hard — well sometimes easy and sometimes kind of hard — cause you don’t really remember all the letters to write,” she said of writing in this style.

Sara was born in China and was adopted by an American couple when she was six, moving to this country just four years ago. Since she has no hands, Sara has developed her own method of gripping the pencil or pen with her arms to write.

“Sara is very motivated and a disciplined student,” said her mother Cathryn Hinesley. “She excels really at about anything she tries.”

“I have never heard this little girl say, ‘I can’t,'” added Sara’s teacher, Cheryl Churilla. “She’s a little rock star. She tackles absolutely everything you can throw at her, and she gives it her best.”

Sara is a third grade student at St. John Regional Catholic School, and when she isn’t busy with school, she likes doing the same thing as any normal kid.

“I like to play, I like to watch TV,” said Sara, who also said she likes spending time with her sister Veronica.

Sara is due to be given her award on June 13, and her family can’t wait for the ceremony.

“She has this independent streak where she just knows that she can do it and she’ll figure out her own way,” Cathryn said of her daughter. “She is beautiful and strong and mighty just the way she is, and she just lives that way. She really does.”

Find out more about this incredible little girl in the video below!