Two elementary school students from the Archdiocese of Philadelphia will represent the City of Philadelphia as National Ambassadors in Washington, D.C. after recently winning the "Do the Write Thing, Stop the Violence" Essay Contest. The Honorable Paul P. Panepinto, is the Pennsylvania State Chair for the "Do the Write Thing, Stop the Violence Challenge." The essay winners are Sabratini Simeon, 8th grade student at St. Cecilia Parish Elementary School in Philadelphia and Vincent Harvey, 7th grade student from Our Lady of Hope Regional Catholic School, also in Philadelphia.

The students will travel to Washington, D.C. for "National Recognition Week" activities being held during the week of July 20th. An awards dinner was held locally for the students in Philadelphia on Monday, June 3, 2013 to honor their work.

Sabratini and Vincent's essays were chosen from entries submitted by Catholic, charter and public school students throughout the city. They were asked to compose an essay on the topic of violence and its impact on society. Sabratini wrote her essay on "youth violence" and bullying. Vincent chose to write about those who work to combat violence in their local communities. On the Archdiocesan level the essay contest was used as a cross curricular activity involving Religion, English Language Arts and Social Studies.

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Editor's Note: For more information on Catholic Schools in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia please visit http://www.catholicschools-phl.org/.

Contact
Bonnie Olinger
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215-587-3747