Sequoia High School 'Young Writers' Honored in Scholarship Contest

Submitted to Patch by Beth Harrison of Peninsula Young Writers.

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Lucie Pereira, a junior at Crystal Springs Uplands School, has won the prestigious Peninsula Young Writer’s Contest Grand Prize for her short story “Isaac.”

“The writing is clean and colloquial, the character amusingly complicated. The resolution of the story is unexpected and yet satisfying,” said Lee Rossi, one of three contest judges.

The contest received entries from high school students at Carlmont, Sequoia and Notre Dame, Belmont.

Beth Harrison, the founder and director of Peninsula Young Writers, a nonprofit organization that holds writing workshops and camps for youth and sponsored this contest, said, “We had such varied and creative submissions this year. We are thrilled to recognize and celebrate aspiring writers as well as high school writing programs."

"Next year we plan to expand the contest even further to reach more talented students," Harrison added.

A total of eight schools were represented in the contest, including Sequoia High School in Redwood City, St. Francis High in Mountain View, Everest Public High School in Redwood City, Woodside High School, Carlmont High in Belmont, Crystal Springs in Hillsborough, Bellarmine College Prep in San Jose, and Notre Dame High School in Belmont.

The other six prize winners were:

First Prize, Poetry: Rylan Ducker, an 11^th grader at Sequoia High School, for his poem “Painting My Reflection.”

Honorable Mention, Poetry: Carmen Vescia, a 9^th grader at Sequoia High School, for her poem “Bully.”

First Prize, Fiction: Hanna Bolaños, a 12^th grader at Sequoia High School, for her story “The Gift of Gatsby.”

Honorable Mention, Fiction: Savanna Won, an 11^th grader at Sequoia High School, for her story “Last Voyage of the Windswept.”

First Prize, Non-Fiction: Evan Hart, a 10^th grader at Sequoia High School, for his nonfiction narrative “Santa vs. the Scientific Method.”

Honorable Mention, Non-Fiction: Carson Predovich, an 11^th grader at Sequoia High School, for his nonfiction narrative “Friday the 13^th.”

Winners were chosen by an independent panel of three judges.

The prizes were as follows:

Grand: $250 cash plus a scholarship to PYW High School Writing and Publishing Workshop this summer.

First: $50 cash plus $25 gift certificate

All winners also received certificates, which were presented at the awards ceremony held on Monday, March 18 at The Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Redwood City.  A scholarship drive for this summer’s workshops was also launched that evening.

This contest was generously underwritten by David Amann of Edward Jones Financial Services.

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