As it does every year, the Wellington Rotary Club sponsored several contests as part of its annual peace initiative. Schools throughout the community participated during April and May in poster, poetry and essay contests. The involvement of Wellington students was tremendous and broke the record of previous years.
Winners will receive their prizes at the Rotary Club’s World Peace Day Ceremony on Friday, Sept. 21 at 6 p.m. at the Wellington Rotary Peace Park on Royal Fern Drive.
The object of the entire peace initiative is to provide a view of conflict resolution and multicultural understanding aimed at the promotion of world peace and understanding.
Contest winners have been chosen. The selection of winners of the poster competition for all fourth-graders proved to be difficult amid the heavy competition. This year’s competition attracted more than 350 submissions. Wellington’s elementary schools participated for a prize of $50 to each school’s winning student, as well as a $50 prize to the classroom teacher. An overall winner from all of the finalists will receive a $75 check.
The elementary school poster prize winners are as follows: Equestrian Trails – Alex Venegas (student) and Caroleen Rodriguez (teacher); Elbridge Gale – Hailey Poignant (student) and Dr. Nicole Crane (teacher); Panther Run – Jaime Waterous (student) and Shannon Culp (teacher); and Binks Forest – Milena Chib (student) and Karen Carney (teacher). Students and teachers will each receive checks for $50.
The overall winner was Karissa Neal from New Horizons, who will receive a $75 check. Her teacher, Jude Valdov, will receive a $50 check.
Neal’s winning poster is being used as part of the Rotary Club’s advertising campaign and is currently on display at various businesses around the community.
The club also received poems from middle school students. The winners are Amira Richards of Emerald Cove Middle School and Olivia Polden of Wellington Landings Middle School. Both girls captured the spirit of the peace initiative. Rotary offers a special thank-you to their teachers, Amy Yuzenas and Kerry Emery. A prize of $75 will be awarded to each student.
The winner of this year’s essay competition was Irieka Morris of Palm Beach Central High School. Rotary thanks her teacher, Joy Ostaffe, for her work in guiding Morris. Morris will receive a $100 prize.
A community-wide photographic contest was also held, also on the subject of multicultural understanding and conflict resolution with the aim of world peace. Both color and black-and-white photographs were accepted for judging. This year’s winners are all from Wellington High School: first place, Emily Deems; second place, C.J. King; and third place, Katherine Donahue.
During the World Peace Day Ceremony on Sept. 21, Boy Scout and Girl Scout troops will march in to be honored with merit badges for a series of peace-associated tests they were given earlier in the year. Several other peace prizes will be awarded to people from the community deemed to have contributed during 2012 in the promotion of peace.
The Wellington Rotary Club wishes to invite all of the winners, their teachers and families, and Wellington residents to attend the celebration. The club congratulates all the students and teachers and members of the community who participated and also thanks the volunteers from the Wellington Rotary Club who worked with the schools.
For further information, contact Larry Kemp at (561) 333-2770 or larry.kemp@comcast.net, or visit www.wellingtonrotary.org.
