Saratogan wins short-story writing contest
Laurie Sleeper of Saratoga won first prize with her short story in a contest sponsored by the California Writers' Club. The former attorney has been accepted by the University of San Francisco's master of arts writing program and will be attending school there in the fall.
Eight-grader captures first in essay contest
Eighth-grader Anta Yu of Redwood Middle School captured first place along with four other students from across the nation in an Internet essay contest. Essays entered in the contest were about civil rights in the context of Rob Reiner's recent movie Ghosts of Mississippi.
Submitting original essays and artwork from her eighth-grade core history/literature class, Caitlin McGiffin found out earlier this month that Anta won first prize. Along with the distinction comes a $3,500 Toshiba computer for the classroom. Anta will also receive her own Toshiba laptop computer.
In Anta's artwork, she drew an analogy between the evolution of civil rights and a tree. In her winning essay Anta writes, "The movement is a tree grown from the seeds of inequality, prejudice and slavery. It has many bitter but strong roots. However, deep within the trees are the roots of hope and determination."
Impressed by Ghosts of Mississippi, McGiffin took her class to see the movie. She then integrated the movie into class discussions about the history and significance of civil rights. The civil rights essay and artwork became a class assignment.
Two other students in McGiffin's class, Erica Chuang and Gina Tsuei, placed second in the contest.
Students named to fall semester Dean's List
Calvin Yang of Saratoga, a major in biomedical engineering, was named to the Dean's List at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.
Merisa Annelies Knight of Saratoga has been named to the Dean's List at Wheaton College in Wheaton, Ill. She is majoring in mathematics.
Four Saratoga residents have been named to the Dean's List at Boston University. They are Daniel J. Garcia, Colleen M. O'Gara, Eric Rasmussen and Erica A. Stuart.
Darren Finnecy of Saratoga has been named to the Dean's List at George Fox University in Newberg, Ore.
This article appeared in the Saratoga News, March 19, 1997.
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