Five
Niskayuna seventh-grade students win opportunity
to make positive impact on their communities
through annual GE essay contest
Van
Antwerp Middle School seventh-grader Maggie
Jordan is wise beyond her years. In an essay,
submitted to the annual GE ELFUN Society essay
contest by English teacher Kathy Cotugno-Surin,
Maggie wrote: “A simple gesture of kindness can
change lives. By giving young cancer patients a
unique toy, I could really be giving them
something much bigger; I could be giving the
gift of hope.”
For the essay contest, students describe how
they would use $500 to make a positive
difference in their community. Maggie’s idea is
to create special, personalized Teddy Bears for
children around her age that have been diagnosed
with cancer. She would use the money to buy
high-quality materials necessary to sew unique
and meaningful stuffed bears that would then be
distributed to hospitalized children locally. In
her essay, she explained that each bear would
have a heart or smiley face with the child’s
name embroidered on it to make that child feel
special by recognizing his or her dreams. For
example, if a child had a dream of being a
fireman, Maggie would create a "firefighter"
bear. She believes that these special gifts will
show children that others care and help boost
their spirits during the most difficult times.
In another winning essay, Maddie Rojas-Lynch, a
second Van Antwerp student, wrote of her plan to
help young hospital patients by establishing a
“lasting library” at a health facility in her
community. She even contacted nearby hospitals
to research a location where a children’s
library would be needed most.
Maddie wrote the following in her essay: “The
library would benefit many people in the
community. First and foremost, it would benefit
the patients. They would be able to relax and
take their minds off of their illness. If they
got bored, they could come to the library
instead of watching television.”
Maddie explained how one area would be stocked
with picture books for the youngest children,
while another section would contain chapter
books for school-age children and preteens.
There would also be bins or shelves for storing
markers, pencils, crayons, paper, and other
tools needed for creating books.
Iroquois Middle School had three GE ELFUN
Society essay contest winners – all from Frank
Adamo’s English class. Congratulations to Tim
Rice, Ritchie Assini and Inga Bagepalli.
Students and their families were recognized
during a special dinner ceremony at GE Power
Systems in May. Each student will be teamed with
an ELFUN Society member to accomplish their
project.
Five
Niskayuna seventh-grade students win opportunity
to make positive impact on their communities
through annual GE essay contest