Hewlett sophomore places third in national essay contest

Gabriel Terraza, a 16 year old sophomore at Hewlett High School, placed third in the nation in Scholastic Action magazine's Tell Us Your True Teen Story contest, according to the Nassau Herald. Terraza, an English as a New Language student whose native language is Spanish, wrote about his move from Guatemala to Woodmere and about two things that helped him settle in, streaming video games and cycling. "I enjoy gaming streams in my free time, and my passion is cycling," he said. "Very few people are passionate about this sport, and to be successful you have to be daring."

Terraza received a congratulatory letter and an American Express gift card from Scholastic Action. Two of the magazine's editors, Anna Starecheski and Christy Damio, visited Hewlett High on May 27 to meet him and sat in on presentations by his classmates, who spoke in English about where they came from and what defines them.

The recognition continues a run of success for ENL teacher Caitlin Rubin, who said her students have placed in the contest every time she has entered over the past six years. Rubin runs a unit every other year in her ENL 9/10 class built around Scholastic Action's True Teen Stories, where students read and research published entries before writing and presenting their own. She said she did not know cycling meant so much to Terraza until he picked an article about a teen who started a bike repair business. "Then he wrote about cycling in his own story, and I realized that's why he chose it," she said.

Damio said she was struck by the students presenting in a language many are still learning. "Speaking in public is hard enough, but doing it in your second, third or fourth language is incredible," she said. "It's so brave, and it blows my mind."