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Do the Write Thing
Canutillo students win top honors in essay contest
Posted on 04/18/2019
This is the image for the news article titled Canutillo students win top honors in essay contestBy Lhaisha Contreras

From more than 8,200 essays submitted from local districts, 42 top essays were selected in a contest, with five students representing Canutillo ISD as semi-finalists and one of two national finalists.

The Do the Write Thing Challenge is an annual contest where students all across America rise to the challenge of doing something to end youth violence. It gives middle school students an opportunity to examine the impact of youth violence on their lives. Alderete Middle School students Celeste Nunez, Lily Garcia, Brianna Martinez, Esther Parra, and Canutillo Middle School student Mia Lopez were among the semi-finalists.

A committee comprised of attorneys, judges, professors, and counselors met to interview the semi-finalists and their parents from the region. On April 13, the semi-finalists attended a recognition reception where top essays were recognized and the top 2 national finalists were announced. Nunez is one of those finalists.

In her essay, Nunez says that she wants to inform people about the harm that violence does.

“I felt shattered like a puzzle unsolved,” Nunez writes. “I am fed up knowing that people feel unworthy or dissimilar or isolated.”

Nunez will represent Canutillo and the El Paso region at the Do the Write Thing Recognition Week in Washington D.C. this July. During the recognition week in Washington, the essays will be published into the Library of Congress. Nunez will participate in leadership sessions and have opportunities to meet and interview national leaders and members of Congress.