SAN ANTONIO – The “Do the Write Thing” challenge is giving middle school students across the country the chance to write about how violence has impacted them and what solutions they believe can better help their peers.
57th Civil District Judge Antonia Arteaga helped bring the contest to Bexar County about six years ago and since then more than a thousand essays have been submitted.
“We’ve been able to give children a path, an avenue to express any violence that they want to talk about anything that they feel like they have a solution for because kids come up with some of the best things, " Arteaga said.
Every year six finalists are announced and the top two become ambassadors.
Those two ambassadors get a trip to Washington D.C. in the summer and their essay is published in the national book with all the other top essays from across the nation.
That national book is walked into the Library of Congress when we go in the summer to Washington, D.C.,” Arteaga said. “They will forever be published authors and the pride that comes with that to see it beaming.”
This year’s winners will be announced on May 25 during a virtual ceremony.
For more information about the challenge and how your school can participate, you can reach out to your school administrators or visit the challenge website.