FOCAAdmin  Apr.20.2024

Francheska Cortes of Sacred Heart High School with Mr. Kenney her Creative Writing teacher on the left, and Harold McKoy the Friends’ Yonkers consultant on the right. Friends’ board members stand in back of Francheska.

 

$950 Cash Awards to Lincoln, Riverside and Sacred Heart Students

 

Follow the links below for the four winning essays! They are fantastic and we encourage you to dip in and take a look. Thirty-nine students from six Yonkers high schools entered the competition. A panel of seven local judges included a published author, a poet and radio show host, plus board members of the Friends.

Each contestant earned the judges’ praise for creativity! Students at Gorton, Barack Obama School for Social Justice and Yonkers Middle High School absorbed Old Croton Aqueduct history to tell stories that were funny, scary, reflective and fun to read. Both English and Science high school students took part in the competition.

Shennaiya Rose won $500 First Prize for herself and $500 for Lincoln High School. Her teacher, Ms. Sunitha Howard, is a New York State Master Teacher in Science.

Taylor-Rae Smith, Lincoln High School, won $300 Second Prize. Teacher Sunitha Howard says the school’s matching award money will make funding their out-of-state science class trips a lot easier!

Francheska Cortes, Sacred Heart, won Third Prize. This is the second year running that a prizewinner has come from Mr. Kenney’s Creative Writing class.

Francheska Cortes of Sacred Heart High School with Mr. Kenney her Creative Writing teacher on the left, and Harold McKoy the Friends’ Yonkers consultant on the left. Friends’ board members stand in back of Francheska.

Chiwendu Matthew of Riverside High School won $50 for herself and $50 for the school. Her teacher Ms. Gold-Balin has produced winners two years in a row for the Aqueduct Essay contest.