Pictured: Charlotte Dowell and Marion White
Six Hommocks Middle School students were honored by the Rotary Club of Larchmont as winners of the 2022 Essay Contest during its May 19th luncheon at the Larchmont Yacht Club. Club member Marian White has led the effort for the last 21 years, coordinating in September with the Hommocks English Department to determine a relevant topic and then selecting Rotarian essay judges to determine the winners. Each May, families, teachers, Rotarians and special guests gather to celebrate the most talented of the young writers. Past winners have even gone on to become professional writers!
For this year’s topic, students in the 6th, 7th and 8th grades were asked to write about a person who inspired them. Almost 100 students entered and three Rotary Club members (Michael Gedigk, Elaine McCrimmon and Alex Vo) judged the entries on various criteria such as creativity, expression and grammar. Marian White thanked the teachers of the English Department for the effort each one has put in over the years encouraging their students to enter the contest.
Sixth grade winners were: Nuala Connolly and Charlotte Dowell
Seventh grade winners were: Sigal Cutler and Lucian Keefe
Eighth grade winners were: Maeve Secker-Walker and Jack Noonan (who won last year also)
Each student read his/her entry to the audience. Marian White awarded each student with a gift certificate for Anderson’s Bookstore in Larchmont. After the luncheon, Past-President Marion Anderson gave each of the students award certificates from the offices of Assemblyman Steve Otis and County Executive George Latimer plus one from Larchmont Rotary.
Hommocks Assistant Principal Adriane Hirsch-Klein and English teacher Deb Sampayo thanked the Rotary Club for continuing to hold the contest and the students for their hard work and participation. Club President Lester Nathan concluded the meeting.
