Six Hommocks Middle School students were honored by the Rotary Club of Larchmont as winners of the 2025 Essay Contest during its May 16th luncheon at the Larchmont Yacht Club. Club member Marian White has led the effort for the last 23 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 have gathered to celebrate the most talented of the young writers.
For this year’s topic, students in the 6th, 7th and 8th grades were asked to write about keeping the flame of motivation alive in the face of adversity. More than 100 students entered and three Rotary Club members (Michael Gedigk, Rafina Ibragimova 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: Sienna Rosall and Carr Voynov
Seventh grade winners were: Abigail Rocha and Mikayla Salomon
Eighth grade winners were: Jacob Nirenberg and Katerina Stoichkov
Each student read his/her entry to the audience. Marian White awarded each student with a gift certificate from J Anderson Books in Larchmont. After the luncheon, Club President Lester Nathan gave each student four award certificates from the offices of Assemblyman Steve Otis, Senator Shelley Mayer, County Legislator Catherine Parker and the Larchmont Rotary Club.
Hommocks English teacher Deb Sampayo thanked the Rotary Club for continuing to hold the contest and the students for their hard work and participation.
Guests are welcome at the club’s bi-monthly meetings. Interested individuals can contact the club at its website (https://larchmontrotary.org.) To view more pictures from the Awards Luncheon on the website, go to: larchmontrotary.org/PhotoAlbums/student-essay-awards-2025/.
