The Hon. Lissette G. Fernández, Peekskill City Court Judge and Luis Segarra, Principal & CFO, The Crescent Companies & Peekskill Rotary Club sponsored the 1st Annual National Hispanic Heritage Month Student Essay Contest.
Peekskill Rotary’s National Hispanic Heritage Month Student Essay Contest was open to all students enrolled in the Peekskill City School District in grades 4th-12th. Students submitted a written essay describing what this year’s Hispanic Heritage Month theme – “Esperanza: A Celebration of Hispanic Heritage and Hope”– meant to them. Five winners were selected and awarded a $100.00 scholarship.
4th - 5th Grade Winners
Giada Frega
Hillcrest Elementary School: 4th Grade
Esperanza: A Celebration of Hispanic Heritage and Hope.
What Hispanic heritage and hope means to me is it's when you have passion about your culture. It is when you're passionate about where you live. You believe what you believe in and you love what your country looks and feels like to you. To me as a Colombian I am passionate about the food and the clothes and cultures. When I eat Colombian food, I feel like I am In Columbia far the first time. I feel like I am at the dinner table sharing a meal with my ancestors, laughing, having fun living, and learning about my culture. Whenever I put on a Colombian dress, I feel like I am dancing and swaying and laughing with my people and our culture. I feel like I am at home, and I am at Columbia. I can be with the people of my cultures who can teach me their ways? I want to be with the people and live my life. I want to become more passionate about my country. I am Colombian. This is what Hispanic heritage means to me. It is to be passionate about the country. This is my life, I am Hispanic.
Annalise Martis
Hillcrest Elementary School: 5th Grade
Hispanic Heritage Month
"A Celebration of Hispanic Heritage and Hope," that means to me that this is a celebration of a bunch of important people, that got us to where we are now. People that were slaves and had been freed and gave our entire country freedom. So, we could all have the ability to make our dreams come true, and give our own opinions, all because of these amazing people. They risked everything they had, so they could give us amazing lives so we could do anything we want to be able to do. We have to make sure that we do the same for the people that will come after us. We can make their lives even better than ours, so they can be happy and make the world a better place, for even more people to come.