The National Campaign to Stop Violence
Announces Local Teen Recipients in the
Do the Write Thing Challenge
More than 25,000 Palm Beach County Students Participate
Top Two go to Washington DC
WEST PALM BEACH, FL, April 29, 2014 – One eighth grade student, from Royal Palm Beach, wrote about her drug addicted mother, whose boyfriends would physically abuse her and her older sister. A sixth grade boy, from Boca Raton, wrote about his older brother who was shot and killed for the $50 dollars he had in his pocket. The act robbed him of ever getting to know his older brother.
This is just a sampling of the compelling essays written by more than 25,000 Palm BeachCounty middle-school students in their efforts to stop youth violence in the Do the Write Thing Challenge (DTWT), a program from the National Campaign to Stop Violence. However, the program does not focus on the poignant stories that often come to light in essays and in-class discussion. The focus is to help students identify the causes of bullying and violence, examining the impact it has on them and most important…what each student can do to help prevent it.
Ten students – five girls and five boys – selected by the Palm Beach County Steering Committee of the National Campaign to Stop Violence will be recognized Monday, May 12 at a recognition luncheon held at the KravisCenter for the Performing Arts in West Palm Beach. The top boy and girl will receive an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, D.C. June 14-18, where they and other “Ambassadors” from around the country will be honored in a national ceremony. From the 25,000 Palm BeachCounty middle school students who participated in the Do the Write Thing Challenge, 292 were selected as finalists, who, with their parents, teachers and principals will attend the May 12 recognition luncheon.
The top five girl recipients are:
Rank and Name Residence School Grade___
1. Kennedy Thomas Royal Palm Beach Crestwood Middle 8th grade
2. Kaitlyn Adams West Palm Beach Conniston Middle 6th grade
3. Caira Palmer Greenacres Lantana Middle 8th grade
4. PatriciaWilloughbyLake Worth Christa McAuliffe 8th grade
5. Manuela Leyva Boca Raton Boca Raton Middle 7th grade
The top five boy recipients are:
1. Michael Lesh Boca Raton Don Estridge 6th grade
2. Dakota Downs Pahokee Pahokee Middle 7th grade
3. Keimoni Hunter West Palm Beach JFK Middle 6th grade
4. Josue Rendon Greenacres L.C. Swain 7th grade
5. Jamarian Green Lake Shore Lake Shore Middle 8th grade
At the luncheon, a video produced by the West Palm Beach Youth Empowerment Center (YEC) Audio and Video Program will present the experiences of the top ten recipients and the ways they are stopping bullying and teen violence. Led by tech guru and media educator Dwayne Taylor, the YEC program invites teens, many of whom live in neighborhoods directly affected by violence, to commit to his program of rigorous technical training and artistic development to reach the goal of producing professional-quality television and video programs.
Surprise celebrity guests appearing at the luncheon include NFL super-star Anquan Boldin and the Harlem Globetrotters. Boldin, one of the greatest athletes in Florida history, was the star, wide receiver in Super Bowl 2013, playing for the Baltimore Ravens. Last year, he went with the San Francisco 49ers and was voted by the coaching staff and players the Team MVP.
Known worldwide as the “Ambassadors of Goodwill”™, the iconic Harlem Globetrotters is one of the most recognizable franchises in sports. Players from the team will demonstrate their basketball finesse and give their message about bullying.
For the seventh consecutive year, the luncheon will be underwritten by West Palm Beach-based Florida Crystals Corporation, North America’s largest sugar producer. More than 850 guests are expected at the Kravis event.
The William H. Pitt Foundation will provide $500 grants to the school principals who had the highest participation in the program. The law firm of Larmoyeux & Bone, P.L. is providing administrative support for organizing and directing the efforts of the Steering Committee.
The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office has underwritten the entire cost of publishing all of the writings of the 292 students from the 29 traditional schools that fully participated in the program and two alternative schools who selected one of their best submissions.
“The program’s goal is to reduce youth violence in schools, neighborhoods and at home,” explained West Palm Beach trial lawyer Bill Bone, chairman of the local steering committee of the Do the Write Thing Challenge. “Many young teens have been bullied by the way they look or talk or act and that can be very traumatic sometimes resulting in enormous pain and even suicide.”
Not all students who submitted writings are at risk or have had experience with violence in their lives. Others may have witnessed it.
All of the entries were read by multiple panels of volunteer judges representing a cross section of Palm BeachCounty educators, law enforcement and judicial leaders. Submissions were evaluated for content, not grammar, spelling or structure.
The Palm Beach County Steering Committee for the 2014 Do the Write Thing Challenge includes: Bill Bone, Esq. Civil Trial Lawyer, Larmoyeux & Bone; Pepe Fanjul, Jr., Executive Vice President, Florida Crystals Corporation; Honorable Dave Aronberg, State Attorney and Lynn Powell, Esquire, Office of the State Attorney, 15th Judicial Circuit Court; Honorable Ronald Alvarez, Palm Beach County Circuit Court Judge, Juvenile Division; Sheriff Ric Bradshaw and Captain William Kenny, Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office; Honorable Paulette Burdick, Palm Beach County Commissioner, District 2; Don Carson, Retired Executive Vice President, Florida Crystals Corporation; Honorable Ted Deutch, Member of Congress, 19th District of Florida and Darcy Farnan, District Representative for Congressman Deutch; Honorable Lois Frankel, Member of Congress, 22nd District of Florida and Felicia Goldstein, District Representative for Congresswoman Frankel; Honorable Carrie Haughwout, Public Defender and Jennifer Loyless, Office of the Public Defender, 15th Judicial Circuit Court; Sandra Jinks, Principal, Palm Springs Community Middle School; Honorable Jeri Muoio, Mayor, City of West Palm Beach; E. Wayne Gent, Superintendent and Diana Fedderman, Director of Secondary Education and Kim C. Williams, Asst. Director, Single School Cultural Initiatives at Palm Beach County School District.
For more information about the Do the Write Thing Challenge or the KravisCenter event, call Bill Bone at (561) 832-0623. The recognition luncheon is by invitation only.
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Backgrounder: There are 36 middle schools in Palm Beach County with a total enrollment of 36,620 students. Palm Beach County is the 12th largest school district in the nation and the 5th largest school district in Florida. Because of encouragement and support from the district administration virtually every middle school student had the chance to participate in classroom discussions centering on the problem of youth violence. There were 25,167 students who took the “Challenge” and submitted essays, poems and graphic designs addressing the three questions about the causes, personal effects and solutions for this problem. The 25,167 submissions were narrowed down to the 10 best student writings from each of 29 traditional middle schools, and the single best student writing from two alternative middle schools that committed to offer the program to all of the students enrolled in those schools. Those 292 submissions were published in a book that will be given to all participants, their teachers, law enforcement, members of the criminal justice system and each school library. The 292 submissions were narrowed down to the “Top 10” best writings in the District and a panel of local dignitaries personally interviewed those 10 students to select a boy and girl Ambassador to represent Palm BeachCounty at the National Recognition Program.