Teens asked to weigh in on issues for essay contest
By Phyllis Moore
Published in News on April 13, 2016 1:46 PM
Area teens are encouraged to weigh in on county health issues, with scholarship money as an incentive.
This is the first year for the Charles T. Gibson Teen Public Health Leadership Essay, but the contest has been around for over a decade.
When first introduced by the Board of Health in 2003, it was tapped as an abstinence essay contest, in an effort to promote abstinence in preventing teen pregnancies. Prizes at the time included gift cards.
That first year it drew 60 entries.
The following year, the Wayne County Council on Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention joined the effort as a co-sponsor.
In 2005, board members voted to donate their monthly stipends to create a scholarship fund for the contest's winning entries.
In 2014, the topic was broadened and the contest renamed the Teen Public Health Perspective Essay Contest, allowing high schoolers to cover a wider range of topics. Students were allowed to pick a topic based on the priority areas represented in the community health assessment and create a Power Point presentation about it.
Earlier this year, the name was again changed in honor of a longtime board member.
At its January meeting, the board voted to commemorate the service of Gibson, stepping down after 11 years of service.
High school students in grades 9-12, enrolled in public and private schools, as well as home schools, are eligible to participate in the spring contest.
Ta-Kisha Darden, health education specialist, said this week that applications have been distributed to area high schools and can also be obtained at the library and the Health Department as well as online at www.wayneteens.com.
Essays must focus on a public health issue in the county and be supported by a proposed solution to resolve it.
More than $2,000 worth of scholarships and awards are up for grabs by the top three winners. A $1,000 scholarship will be awarded for first place, with $500 given for second place and $300 for third place, as well as additional gift cards for each of them.
Topics this year include abstinence, chronic disease, mental health, health care costs and environmental health. In addition to the written essay, finalists must develop a presentation that will be made at a public ceremony in late June.
Deadline for submissions is May 11. Essays can be submitted to the Health Department or postmarked by that date.
For more information, call 919-731-1290 or 919-731-1291.