3 Area Students Among Winners of Essay Contest

State Assembly Speaker Antonio R. Villaraigosa and Los Angeles City Councilman Mike Feuer announced Sunday 10 grand-prize winners, including three San Fernando Valley students, in an essay contest on American heroes.

The essays of Olivia Gonzalez of Monlux Elementary School in North Hollywood, Jessie Binkow of Sherman Oaks Elementary School in Sherman Oaks and Paul-Emile Desrosiers of Superior Street Elementary School in Chatsworth were chosen out of 30 winning essays from the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Grand-prize winners were announced at a luncheon honoring all 30 winners at Taix, a French restaurant in Los Angeles, where an audience of 150 students, family members and teachers had gathered.

Sponsored by Villaraigosa and Feuer, the contest took a look at modern-day heroes. Staff members for the speaker and councilman judged the entries and found that the essays were not about traditional heroes.

“They didn’t involve athletes, movie stars and national political figures,” said Elena Stern, communications director for Villaraigosa (D-Los Angeles). “Most of them were written about their mothers and their fathers and other family members, and they were even more touching for that reason.”

A number of the winning essays about parents and family members with incredible challenges in their lives were read aloud.

“There was not a dry eye in the house,” Stern said.

Gonzalez wrote about her parents, Alisa and Guadalupe Gonzalez; Binkow wrote about his grandfather, Arthur Sachs; and Desrosiers wrote about his mother, Letitia.

The essays were judged on content, originality, creativity, grammar and presentation.

The 30 winners each received certificates signed by Villaraigosa and Feuer.

“All the kids in this contest were winners,” Stern said.