Schools
2 Albany Fifth Graders Win Honors in Writing Contest
Fifth grader Zachary Adler and Miles Williams from Ocean View School were honored in San Francisco Wednesday night for placing in the top 10 winners of a Northern California essay/poetry contest on "Why I am glad America is a nation of immigrants."
Two fifth graders from Renee Theriault's class at Ocean View Elementary School were invited to the stage in San Francisco Wednesday to read their winning essays and poems in a Bay Area contest about America's immigrant roots.
Zachary Taylor placed second and Miles Williams placed fifth in Northern California in the 2013 Celebrate America Creative Writing Contest for fifth graders. The topic was "“Why I am glad America is a nation of immigrants.”
More than 310 entries were submitted, and the top 10 winners read their work at the awards ceremony, held at the Chinese American Citizens Alliance lodge. It's the 11th year that the local contest has been organized by the Northern California chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association.
The national contest, held each May, is sponsored by the nonprofit American Immigration Council.
A PDF file with all 10 winning essays and poems is attached, in order of the winners. The top three have the names of the students attached to them. The remaining seven have just the number that was assigned to the entry in the judging. You can use the list of winners, listed in order below, to determine which student wrote which entry.
- Justin Thai, Olinda Elementary, Richmond, entry #296
- Zachary Adler, Ocean View Elementary, entry #156
- Zakaria Fares, Olinda Elementary, Richmond, entry #286
- Abby Smith, Hall Middle School, Larkspur, entry #244
- Miles Williams, Ocean View Elementary, entry#154
- Ellison Barber, Hall Middle School, Larkspur, entry#224
- Kellie Lu, St. Gabrielle School, San Francisco, entry #50
- Matteus Sunshine, Hall Middle School, Larkspur, entry#227
- Alejandra Benavides Fuentes, Making Waves Academy, Richmond, entry #198
- Jamie Chan, St. Gabrielle School, San Francisco, entry #20
Editor's note: Based on a news release naming the top three winners of the contest, we published a brief article about the top three on Albany Patch on Tuesday morning, but technical problems with the changeover to our new platform Tuesday night caused it to disappear. (We're still working on restoring it.) We'd like to thank reader "CC" for alerting us to the fifth-place winner also being from Ocean View. Here is CC's comment, which appeared on the original article before it disappeared:
CC commented on Essay Honor for Albany 5th Grader from Ocean View School: "Not only did Zachary Adler win second place, but another Ocean View 5th grader -- MilesWilliams -- also won 5th place! Both students are in Renee Theriault's class. Having 2 students place in the top 10 finalists (out of 310 entries from around the Bay Area) is a testament to the quality of Ocean View's students and teachers. Way to go, Zachary and Miles!"
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