Black History Essay Prizes Awarded
Five San Diego County students were awarded prizes in the fourth annual Black History Essay Contest at a presentation Friday night at Horace Mann Junior High School.
More than 3,000 students entered the contest organized by Juande Ragsdale Blevins, director of community affairs at the Comprehensive Health Center. The contest was open to students from first grade through college, and essays were judged for originality, content, mechanics, structure and clarity. The theme was: “What black history means to me.”
Second-grader Kathleen Ricks of Ericson Elementary School and fifth-grader Tionna McMartin of Del Mar Heights Elementary tied for the elementary level prize, and each won $50.
Eighth-grader Katina Tesis of Roosevelt Junior High School won $150 for the junior high division; Lincoln High School junior Siri Moore won $250 in the high school division, and San Diego State University sophomore Sakeenah El-Amin won $500 in the college division.
Blevins said her memory of a high school essay contest more than 30 years ago sponsored by the Daughters of the American Revolution, which she could not compete in because she was black, prompted her to start the black history contest here four years ago.
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