MHS junior wins essay competition

Essay contest winners Amea Reyes, seated center, Melvin Kapileo, seated left, and Mohammad Khan, seated right, hold up their plaques while having their picture taken with their parents and competition staff on Oct. 26, 2016. (Michael T. Santos)

Marianas High School junior Amea Reyes won first place in the “In Memoriam” essay writing competition organized by the Northern Mariana Islands Municipal Council.

Reyes and other winners were feted during an awards ceremony held yesterday at the Saipan Leadership Memorial Kiosko in Susupe.

Other winners were Melvin John D. Kapileo of Saipan Southern High School for second place and Mohammad Fatin Khan, also of MHS, for third place.

Present during the awards ceremony were council secretary Reina Camacho, vice chair Alexis Igitol, Veterans Affairs Office’s Bernie Dela Cruz, Women’s Affairs Office special assistant Doris Drew, and council adviser William Torres.

When asked about what inspired her writing, Reyes said, “I get my inspiration from my great grandmother who was recently deceased. She actually has a picture of herself in the American Memorial [Visitors Center] and it inspired me because she used to talk to me about the tragedies during the war. So I based my information on that, because our past is important and it affects our future as well.”

Reyes also shared how excited she is to present her piece and represent her ancestors on Friday. It was Reyes’ first time competing in an essay contest.

Khan was also asked about his thoughts on receiving his award. “I’m really honored to be receiving third place. It’s a really good competition, and I personally found it to be pretty difficult.”

Currently a freshman at MHS, Khan was asked how he developed the content in his story considering he is not originally from the CNMI. He said, “I’ve been living here for four years now. Plus my teacher helped me a lot with my essay, Mr. John Darag.”

Saipan Southern High School principal Martha Kintol gave her remarks on one of her student’s winning second place.

“I’m excited! When our students take an interest in projects like this, that’s about the community, I really do get animated. I would just like the students to know that I support them, that the school is backing them up with decisions like this, and that they are certainly doing more of what is expected of them in the classroom and that is amazing.”

According to her, she came over to the awards site to check up on her student.

The “In Memoriam” event was held to honor and memorialize civilian casualties and victims of World War II on Saipan and the Northern Islands.