Schools

West Woods Cancer Survivor Among Farmington Student Essay Contest Winners

Farmington Public Schools and the Farmington Rotary Club honored student winners Tuesday in an essay contest that they have been co-sponsoring for about 12 years.

"It's really a celebration of great writing," West Woods Literary Specialist Jill Pilon said.

Fifth grade winners include Kelly Gallagher, Kelly Ray, Amanda Rodrigues, Sidharth Shukla and Lillian Yim. Ryan Flanders, Kathleen Griffin, Mia Grzywinski, Molly McGuigan and Ryan Weinberg were the sixth grade winners. Shukla read his essay, "Staying Safe on the Web," Ray read about her experience battling a tumor in her tibia in "Dancing in the Rain," Weinberg read her essay, "Reality Shows are Unhealthy," and McGuigan told the audience about doing 47 acts of kindness in her essay, "Kindness."

Pilon, who had been working with Rotarian Michael Schloss on the essay contest for about four years, confirmed Tuesday that she is retiring at the end of the school year.

Schloss runs the essay contest as a literacy project for the Rotary Club, an area of focus for the organization.

"When you ask kids to write for a contest, it gives them an audience and inspires them to write to a higher level than they might writing for themselves," Pilon said.


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