- May 1, 2024
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Fourth-grade students from St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic School were named April winners in an international essay contest along with students from Massachusetts, Connecticut, Mongolia, India and Nepal.
After local author Richard Wainwright wrote his 11th and final book, “Royal Koi and Kindred Spirits,” in 2005, he was searching for a way to still be involved in the community.
His thoughts immediately took him to his family, his grandchildren. And more specifically, the world they are going to live in when they are grandparents themselves.
This exploration of thoughts also brought Wainwright back to Adamas, “The Crystal Palace of Adamas,” that is. In this 1995 book, Wainwright explores three essential questions: How has technology affected the planet? How does the population control itself? How do we preserve and distribute the natural resources we have?
“When I wrote it, there wasn’t as much concern or awareness as there is today of how rapidly the population is changing because of pollution and natural resources, whether it be here in Palm Coast, or Beijing or Europe,” Wainwright said as the sun shone through the window of his Palm Coast home.
Wainwright also began looking into climate change and decided that instead of leaving a small inheritance to his grandchildren, maybe he could do something that would, in a small way, make a difference for millions of grandchildren.
How? Like a drop of water.
Like a Drop of Water is an international essay contest founded by Wainwright in 2009. Students are asked to send in essays about how they and their communities can mitigate climate change, reduce pollution, help preserve natural resources and discuss the effect of increased population.
“My concept in starting Like a Drop of Water is that if we are able to help the young people who are getting their education today and growing up to be aware of how the world is changing … then maybe the quality of their lives, when they get to be 75, will be better than it would be if nothing is done,” Wainwright said.
Palm Coast winners
To date, more than 100 students from Palm Coast, to Mongolia, have submitted their thoughts on how to make a difference.
Eight students from Anne Reeves’ fourth-grade class at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic School were selected as winners for the month of April. Joshua Ceballo, Faith Donasco, Willow Darlington, Bryanna Pado, Andoni Alfonso, Olivia Hale, Liam Dineene and Sophia Alvarez were the first winners from Palm Coast.
Since the start of the contest, essays have been submitted from 10 countries, and Wainwright said there is one sharp contrast between the young people who live in the United States and those who live across the world.
“For the most part, U.S. young people have a pretty good idea on how we can change things, and they are involved in projects, but their lives haven’t been directly affected to a great degree,” Wainwright reflected. “Nepal writers write about climate change and glaciers melting and flooding. Young people in Mongolia talked about the area, which is very arid, as having an even longer dry spell than in the past.”
The contest will continue through June 2015, by which time more than $50,000 will have been awarded to students throughout the world.
To read students’ ideas, visit www.likeadropofwater.org.
