Local High School Student Wins Community Essay Contest

October 5, 2022

Port Saint Lucie - CCKids is proud to announce the winners of the Our Story/What I Learned in the Gap Community Essay Contest, a competition sponsored in September by Rosenthal, Levy, Simon and Sosa to celebrate Intergeneration Month.

Sean Gomez, a student from Jensen Beach High School, won in the open community category, while CCKids Road to Success Specialist Margie Dotson won in the staff category.

"All submissions gave powerful examples of the contributions the different generations can offer one another," said Christina Kaiser, CCKids Community Relations Director.

Some demonstrated the protective capacities of the older generations, while others showed how younger people use the examples of their elders to overcome generational trauma. Some, especially those submitted by CCKids staff, relayed lessons learned while working with kinship caregivers.

"We wanted to use the month to highlight the contributions of our kinship caregivers and to educate the community about the new Level 1 Licensing program," Kaiser said. "The essay contest really brought all that home."

Submissions featured a mix of fiction and non-fiction and were ranked by a panel of community judges. The panel included Children's Services Council of St. Lucie County CEO Sean Boyle, Guardians for New Futures President Debbie Butler and the facilitator of Grandparents Raising Grandchildren Support Group, Susana Lopez-Sierra.

Winners will each receive $175. Scroll to the bottom of the newsletter to read Sean Gomez's entry in the general community category.