Thirteen elementary students in the Centralia School District were honored at the Centralia School Board’s regular meeting on Thursday for winning a school-based writing contest.
The contest, “For the Love of Writing,” was created this year by the district’s teaching and learning staff and facilitated by teachers at the district’s four elementary schools.
“We thought up a wacky idea when we meet weekly and said, ‘how can we encourage our students to write more in their classrooms?’ Our teachers are doing an incredible job across the district, but writing is hard,” Centralia School District Executive Director of Teaching and Learning Jeff Broome said during the school board meeting on Thursday.
The contest lasted six weeks, with Elementary Education Specialist Sara Alvarado putting out videos and resources to help kids with their writing.
“The reason why we started ‘For the Love of Writing’ is that we know the first thing that we need to do is to get kids to love writing. So, this really was just something fun to spark inspiration for our teachers and our students, and I think we’re all just really excited to celebrate all the hard work these kids have done,” Alvarado said.
Each of the winners recognized during Thursday’s school board meeting received a certificate, a pencil and a temporary tattoo.
The For the Love of Writing winners are:
• Poppy Moseley, Edison Elementary
• David Brewer, Edison Elementary
• Sonora Gonzalez, Fords Prairie Elementary
• Ivy Markstrom, Fords Prairie Elementary
• Daneiris Byrd, Fords Prairie Elementary
• Vesper Trupo, Fords Prairie Elementary
• Elaina Salinas, Washington Elementary
• Tyden Norsian Paulson, Oakview Elementary
• Ariadna Angel Bautista, Oakview Elementary
• William Fink, Oakview Elementary
• Dilan Silverio Diaz, Oakview Elementary
• Riley Brown, Oakview Elementary
• Roberto Francisco Ancelmo, Oakview Elementary
