A Chapa Middle School 8th grader claimed the grand prize in the Southwest Water Company’s annual essay writing contest.
Sofia Caballero claimed the top prize in the contest, which had more than 150 submissions from Hays CISD middle school students. The essays were scored anonymously by a panel of Hays CISD English Language Arts teachers.
Winning students received prizes ranging from $100 to $500. Finalists were selected from Barton, Dahlstrom, McCormick, Simon and Wallace middle schools. Students from all six Hays CISD middle schools were encouraged to submit an expository essay that discussed various water-related topics that impact their life or the world today.
The winning essay, “The Importance of Water,” was written by Caballero. She earned a $500 Visa Gift card.
“This is the first year that SouthWest Water Company opened the writing contest to all middle schools in Hays CISD, and we are very pleased with each school’s participation,” Gary Rose, director of operations, SouthWest Water Company, Texas Utilities, said. “We always look forward to seeing how students express their thoughts, opinions and ideas as they describe water’s importance in their life and in the world; it’s our privilege to offer this opportunity to a larger number of students in 2018.”
Contest scoring guidelines followed the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) rules for expository essays.
SouthWest Water also recognized the following students as contest finalists. Each received a $100 Visa gift card: Allana Llabres, Barton Middle School; Rhett Bedwell, Dahlstrom Middle School; Emma Fernandez, McCormick Middle School; Ashlee Goodwin, Simon Middle School; Krystal Cortez, Wallace Middle School.
