Migrant students share stories of tragedy, hardship, hope, dreams

Students participating in the Migrant Education News Writing Contest tell personal stories that are filled with tragedy and hardship, hope and despair.

Besides the challenges of poverty, language and mobility, some have also lost loved ones along the way or faced other extraordinary obstacles.

Many of these stories will be shared in a workshop to be offered by Editor Ken Harvey during the 2006 LEAP Education Conference and Legislative Day, Feb. 9-11, in Olympia. Those top six students who are able to attend are invited to present their own stories as part of the breakout session, but the students or their schools would have to be responsible for housing, registration, etc. (Contact LEAP at 425-395-5542 for conference details).

The contest drew about 120 entries, and it was very difficult for the MEN staff to select the winners.

"As a professional journalist for over 30 years, I was very impressed with the students' stories about the challenges they have had to overcome as a migrant student," says Harvey.

Selection was based on the following criteria:

• 200 points given for the power of the story content itself with some consideration for staying on topic.
• 100 points for appropriate length (long enough to tell the story but not overly wordy).
• 100 points for story flow.
• 50 points for spelling and grammar.
• 20 points for photos, age, misc. considerations

Students who did not win one of the top six prizes are welcome to work on their story some more, adapt it somewhat to the new topic, "Sacrifices my family has made to pursue the American Dream," and resubmit their entry by the Feb. 20 deadline.

The top six winners can enter again, but their new stories must be significantly different from their winning entries in this contest.

Criteria for the next contest will be about the same, but we will solicit volunteer judges to assist in selection. We will also add 25 bonus points for those who submit their stories printed out and with an accompanying diskette or CD with the story in electronic format. That will expedite the judging process with volunteer judges possibly located in various parts of the state.

Some students wrote in English, some in Spanish, and many mixed the two languages liberally. That was fine for this contest and will, likewise, be acceptable for the February contest.

Here are the winners of this initial writing contest:

FIRST PLACE ($200)

• Melissa Espinoza, 11^th grade, Davis High School, Yakima

SECOND PLACE ($100)

• Lissett Alcala, 10^th grade, Davis High School, Yakima

THIRD PLACE TIE ($40 apiece)

• Alfonzo Guzman, 9^th grade, Burlington-Edison High School, Burlington
• Lucia Mendoza, 8^th grade, Washington Middle School, Yakima
• Flor Sanchez, 11^th grade, Davis High School, Yakima
• Irene Maldonado, 6^th grade, Washington Middle School, Yakima

FOURTH PLACE ($25)

• Diocelina Chavez, 12^th grade, Davis High School

FIFTH PLACE ($15)

• Yolanda Camacho, HEP, Washington State University

SIXTH PLACE ($10)

• Raul Martinez, 8^th grade, West View School, Burlington

SEVENTH PLACE TIE ($5 apiece)

• Laura Gil, 10^th grade, Davis High School
• Victoria Guerrero, 11^th grade, Davis High School
• Alberto Romo, 11^th grade, Davis High School
• Nereida Espinoza, 11^th grade, Davis High School
• Edith Castrejon, 7^th grade, Washington Middle School
• Mayra Alejandre, 8^th grade, Washington Middle School
• Maria Hernandez, 7^th grade, Washington Middle School
• Jose Garcia, 12^th grade, Davis High School
• Yerania Espindola, Heritage University

Because some of the students who participated in the Migrant Education News Writing Contest may be undocumented, ALL names in the stories printed here have been changed, and the contest position of the stories printed herein is not listed. Not all the stories could be printed, and some have had to be edited down to fit the space available. Additional stories and more complete versions of the stories can be read on the Internet at http://www.migrantednews.org