Students win $100,000 in scholarships in annual Maltz Museum 'Stop The Hate' essay contest

CLEVELAND - Local students received $100,000 in scholarships as the fourth annual “Stop The Hate: Youth Speak Out!” essay contest winners were revealed at an awards ceremony at Severance Hall on Sunday.

The annual essay contest is sponsored by the Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage. This year’s top honor went to Gabrielle Jones, a senior at Cleveland’s Marting Luther King Jr. High School.  Jones was awarded the grand prize of a four-year $50,000 scholarship.

You can read Gabrielle’s award winning essay here. http://5.wews.com/rBh

Runners up included Hannah Schmidt of Brush High School (four-year $25,000 scholarship) and Jane Kim of Beaumont High School (four-year $15,000 scholarship).

In addition to the top honors, 21 other students grades 6 to 12 received awards.

The winners were chosen from 1,800 student essays from seven eligible counties – Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake, Lorain, Medina, Portage and Summit.

Students were asked to share their stories by describing an act of discrimination and to reflect on their own response by writing a 500-word essay with a plan of action to affect change.

Essays were scored on content, writing, originality and creativity, and utilization of the theme of personal responsibility.  Nearly 6,500 essays have been received in the contest’s first four years.  This year, essays dealt with a variety of issues including racism and ethnic discrimination as well as sexuality, mental illness, special needs and cyberbullying.

 

FULL LIST OF WINNERS

Grand Prize (four-year $50,000 scholarship)

Gabrielle Jones – Martin Luther King, Jr. High School, Cleveland

 

First Runner-Up (four-year $25,000 scholarship)

Hannah Schmidt – Brush High School, Lyndhurst

 

Second Runner-Up (four-year $15,000 scholarship)

Jane Kim – Beaumont High School, Cleveland Heights

 

Honorable Mentions ($1,000 cash prize)

Telayne Keith – Our Lady of the Elms High School, Akron

Sarah Krafcik – Padua Franciscan High School, Parma

Rachel Lieberman – Orange High School

Bryan Naelitz – Marion L. Steele High School, Amherst

Zachary Schwartz – Solon High School

Ciera L. West – Whitney Young High School, Cleveland

Allyson Zabell – Orange High School

6th – 10th Grade Division cash prizes

10th Grade: $300 First Prize: Corinne Sinclair, Cleveland Heights High School $200 Second Prize: Adrian Berr, Cleveland Heights High School $100 Third Prize: Mayam Assar, Cleveland Heights High School

9th Grade: $300 First Prize: Zachary Kenna, Stowe-Munroe Falls High School $200 Second Prize: Josh Chernomorets, Solon High School $100 Third Prize: Hailey Delphia LaFrance, Kenston High School, Bainbridge

8th Grade: $300 First Prize: Julia Jantz, Learwood Middle School, Avon Lake $200 Second Prize: Lucy Grierson, Rocky River Middle School $100 Third Prize: Sapir Flank, Fuchs Mizrachi of Cleveland High School, Beachwood

7th Grade: $300 First Prize: Marisa Lancaster, Hathaway Brown School, Shaker Heights $200 Second Prize: Arjun Ramachandran, Solon Middle School $100 Third Prize: Graci Homany, Hathaway Brown School, Shaker Heights

6th Grade: $300 First Prize: Srikar Dudipala, Copley-Fairlawn Middle School $200 Second Prize: Brian Luck, Copley-Fairlawn Middle School $100 Third Prize: Micah Stark, Copley-Fairlawn Middle School

For more information on the Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage and the “Stop The Hate: Youth Speak Out!” essay contest, visit: http://www.maltzmuseum .