Each category of students ranged from grades one to the tertiary level and were tasked with writing an essay describing their COVID-19 experience.

In the tertiary category, Olivia Freeman from the H Lavity Stoutt Community College submitted the top essay, winning herself a MacBook Air laptop.

At the secondary level, the winners of grades 7 to 9 and grades 10 to 12 categories were Anjanique Cheltenham of the Elmore Stoutt High School and Ryan Ramlall of the Bregado Flax Educational Centre (Secondary Division), respectively. The two won Lenovo laptops.

Grades 4 to 6 at the primary level saw two students winning in this category.

Aaliyah Freeman of the Ebenezer Thomas Primary School and Tykai Fahie of the Joyce Samuel Primary School each won an iPad device.

The winner of the ‘grade 1 to 3 category’ was Danya Lettsome of Cedar International School. She won an iPad Mini.

Inspiring submissions

The organiser of the competition, Sharie DeCastro — a Territorial At-Large Representative — said it was inspiring to read all of the essays submitted by the contestants.

“Students showed their creativity and articulated their views using varied writing styles that vividly captured their experience and ideas. It was humbling and insightful to envision the impact of the pandemic from their perspective,” the legislator said.

“While COVID-19 forced us to modify our educational initiatives, we were eager to connect with students in a different way, namely through this essay competition. It was a resounding success and I look forward to the competition next year,” she added.