PEABODY — A trio of students at the West Memorial Elementary School received awards Monday afternoon for their submissions to the Healthy Peabody Collaborative’s art and essay contest, which asked third graders to identify someone who “claps for them” and fourth graders to reflect on internal strengths.
Brayden Coburn was selected as the winner for the third-grade art contest at the West, while Gwen Murphy and Luca Mosca won the fourth-grade essay contest. The contests spanned each of the city’s elementary schools, and winners were chosen from each school.
Winners in the art contest were selected by seventh and eighth-grade students at the Higgins Middle School who joined the collaborative’s after-school leadership program, while members of the Peabody Rotary Club judged the essay contest. Two Rotarians — Emily Cooper and Police Chief Tom Griffin — were on hand at the West to hand out the awards alongside Sandi Drover, the collaborative’s outreach coordinator.
The collaborative, a division of the Police Department, oversees and facilitates the program, with Drover serving as the primary organizer. She told the students that her role is to be an advocate for the city’s youth in all areas.
“Just know when you’re not at a meeting in City Hall, I am. I have you in my heart and in my head,” she said. “And I listen to what you tell me about what you need, how you want Peabody to be the best it can be, so you can be the best you can be. And I’m the person that tells all the people that.”
Before handing out the awards, Drover asked the students, gathered on the lawn outside the school on Bow Road, to first think about what they would bring with them on a typical school day. Then, she asked them to think about what they would need to be the best person they can be.
Answers from students ranged from sticky notes, to kindness, to being a good friend.
For his submission to the contest, Brayden Coburn selected his older sister, Sophia Coburn, a high-school freshman, identifying her as someone he can count on and trust. The elder Coburn actually attended the ceremony Monday, embracing her brother after he was announced as the winner.
Brayden Coburn was given a bucket full of art supplies urging him to “keep creating,” while Sophia Coburn was gifted a Champion for Youth Award from the Rotary. His submission will be displayed in the school.
Griffin announced the first winner of the fourth-grade contest, Murphy, who wrote about a moment when her family was singing Christmas carols around the holiday season and she noticed people emotional and upset due to the death of her grandmother. Upon observing that, Murphy went to retrieve a blanket made by her late grandmother, which Griffin said “really made everybody feel special.”
Cooper, a candidate for the library board of trustees, presented the award to Mosca, who she chose as a winner. While she said it was “almost impossible to choose” one winner, Mosca’s essay stood out because of its “extraordinary” combination of determination, compassion, sportsmanship, and kindness.
Both fourth-grade winners were gifted $25 Barnes & Noble gift cards.
In addition to Coburn, Murphy and Mosca, students at each of the city’s elementary schools will be presented with awards for their submissions. The Grade Three Healthy Peabody Collaborative Art Contest Winners are: Brown School – Maddison Legault; Burke School – Stella Murphy; Carroll School – Maria Coelho; Center School – Jinanalys Hunt; McCarthy School – Zane Mugo; South School – Hailey Packard; Welch School – Jaylah Duran Vargas.
The Grade Four Healthy Peabody Collaborative Essay Contest Winner are: Brown School – Jonah Rodriguez, Syrus Jalali, Remy Vail, Ishika Punjabi; Burke School – Avery Leccese, Grayson Roberge; Carroll School – Shayla Marie Ruiz, Sophia Dias, Christopher Harris, Amoreybell Canela-Almonte, Matthew Flamenco; Center School – Jayden Viaud, Omar Fernandez, Sofia DeAndrade, Jeremiah Senfumo; McCarthy School – Jennamarie Canuel, Mya Reid; South School – Chase Mulvey, Grace Vaz, Edison Chin, Nazareth Reyes. The Welch School does not have fourth-grade students this year due to construction.
Dover said the essay and art contests date back roughly a decade, and she has seen students cycle through both ends of the program: first as participants in elementary school and then as middle schoolers judging the art contest. She said feedback from students throughout the years has been “nothing but positive.”
“A lot of times kids were winning a writing contest when they didn’t think of themselves as a writer. And so I’ve heard anecdotally how kids’ writing has improved since then because they have the confidence to know that they can do it,” she said. “The same can be said for the artwork.”
