Byen, Santos win first SCPA essay contest

Catherine Byen and Victoria Santos were recognized last Friday night after being named first-place winners in the first Saipan College Prep Academy essay writing competition.

Byen, a Marianas High School junior, was taken off-guard by her first-place win because, according to her, she entered the competition not feeling that confident in her essay writing skills.

“I was very happy to win this award but mostly I’m very surprised by the results because this was my first entry and my first actual essay contest. I was never really confident in my work but I got the confidence from my instructor and that pushed me to take this chance and actually put in the effort,” she said.

Byen added that the contest was also a stepping-stone for her to continue to take risks and she aims to try again next year.

Santos, a Mount Carmel School junior and a non-SCPA participant, said that she learned about the competition through her Composition 2 instructor who encouraged her to sign up.

“I feel so happy I won and I’m very surprised that I won because this is one of the first contests I’ve ever joined,” she said.

Both Byen and Santos said their essays focused on why they agree with teen activist Greta Thunberg on why climate change is the most important issue the world faces today.

Byen said she believes it’s the most important issue today because it affects everyone and not just one group.

“It doesn’t affect just one specific group., I emphasized that it’s a big issue because it impacts everyone, even animals, and everything on this earth,” she said.

Santos said she agreed with Thunberg because climate change could potentially destroy the earth in the long run and, without a world to live in, what’s the use of dwelling on other issues.

“I think climate change really is an important issue because of how other issues will affect us if there’s no world to live in. For example, the sea levels have been rising over the years and it’s going to continue to rise even more if we don’t do something about it,” she said.

In other results, SCPA students James “Jinseok” Park took second place while Seung Ju Lee and Jinju Thompson tied for third.

In the non-SCPA category, Cevina Hwang took home second place and Juan Ada placed third.

The Saipan College Prep Academy is a newly-created company that provides college advising and essay writing help to Saipan students.