PLEASANT HILL, Calif., June 10, 2014 – Twelve local students were recently rewarded for their skills and creativity with the inaugural Contra Costa County Attendance Awareness Poster and Essay Contest. This contest is part of the Every School Day Counts campaign. Dozier-Libbey High School (Antioch) senior Marc Castillo was the grand prize winner for the Poster Contest, and DeAnza High School sophomore Sanilie Foster took top honors in the Essay Contest. The two winners will each receive a $200 Target gift card.
There were more than 200 submissions (174 posters and 56 essays), and the first 100 students each received a $10 Target gift card. Along with the two grand prize winners, the top five winners in each category received $100 Target gift cards. These generous prizes were sponsored by a donation from the United Way of the East Bay and Association of California School Administrators (ACSA) Region 6. The contest winners will also be honored at a County Board of Education meeting in September, and their posters and essays will be used extensively to promote Attendance Awareness Month, held in September.
Every School Day Counts: Attend today, Achieve for a Lifetime! is an awareness campaign advocated by Contra Costa County’s Superintendent of Schools Joseph A. Ovick, Ed.D., and District Attorney Mark Peterson. This campaign is designed to provide communication resources to schools, engage school communities, and boost student attendance as soon as children enter school.
Students suffer academically if they miss 10% or more of school days, regardless of the reason. Research proves that students who are chronically absent in kindergarten and 1st grade are far less likely to read proficiently by 3rd grade. By the 6th grade, if a student continues to be chronically absent, it is a leading indicator of whether he or she will drop out of high school. In the 9th grade, chronic absences area a better indicator than test scores of a student’s likelihood to graduate from high school. And chronic absenteeism is the most powerful predictor of delinquent behavior.
The Contra Costa County Office of Education (CCCOE) has been actively involved in three county wide initiatives to promote awareness of the importance of consistent school attendance, and is promoting this message with the logo: Every School Day Counts: Attend today, achieve for a lifetime! The 2014 Attendance Awareness Poster and Essay Contest was a recent effort to raise awareness among middle and high school students, and the response was tremendous.
“The most important part of this contest was the excitement and enthusiasm of the students involved,” said CCCOE Director, Innovation & Support, Lindy Khan, Ed.D. “It was also quite moving for the judges to read the poignant essays of how students overcame some significant life challenges to reverse their poor attendance/achievement patterns in order to now become successful students.”
POSTER CONTEST:
- Winner: Marc Castillo, grade 12, Dozier-Libbey High, Antioch
- Top 5: Elizabeth Huezo, grade 11, Dozier-Libbey High, Antioch
- Top 5: Serena Neal, grade 9, Dozier-Libbey High, Antioch
- Top 5: Kenneth La, grade 9, Dozier-Libbey High, Antioch
- Top 5: Jewelanne Giu, grade 9, Deer Valley High, Antioch
- Top 5: Edwin Vilches, grade 9, Dozier-Libbey High, Antioch
ESSAY CONTEST:
- Winner: Sanilie Foster, grade 10, DeAnza High, Richmond
- Top 5: Abigail Rickli, grade 6, Adams Middle, Brentwood
- Top 5: Alexandria Rickli, grade 6, Adams Middle, Brentwood
- Top 5: Avery Rickli, grade 6, Adams Middle, Brentwood
- Top 5: Andres Gobea, grade 8, Carquinez Middle, Crockett
- Top 5: Tara Adkisson, grade 12, Briones Independent Study, Martinez
