• IDRA Newsletter • June – July 2013 •
Pre-kinder kids calling me ‘Ms. María’ isn’t something I thought I would ever hear. I felt important, wanted and needed by someone in a positive way.” – María Armendariz
Six students received prizes in a national competition among participants in the Coca-Cola Valued Youth Program, a nationally-recognized cross-age tutoring program of the Intercultural Development Research Association. Coca-Cola Valued Youth Program tutors wrote about how the program helped them do better in school and how they had helped their tutees to do better.
- First Place High School Winner – Yesenia Villarreal, 12th Grade, South San Antonio High School
- Second Place High School Winner – Angelica Cavazos, 11th Grade, Odessa High School
- Third Place High School Winner – Heather Perez, 11th Grade, South San Antonio High School
- First Place Middle School Winner – Luis P. Acosta, 8th Grade, Dr. Javier Saenz Middle School, La Joya, Texas
- Second Place Middle School Winner – María Del Rosario Zuñiga, 8th Grade, Dr. Javier Saenz Middle School, La Joya, Texas
- Third Place Middle School Winner – Pedro Ramirez, 8th Grade, Dr. Javier Saenz Middle School, La Joya, Texas
There were competitions at both the middle school and high school levels in the United States. Winners from each competition are being awarded $200 for first place, $150 for second place and $100 for third place. The full text of all of the winning essays is available online.
Honorable mentions were awarded to students in schools that submitted multiple student essays; these students had the highest score at their campus.
High School Honorable Mentions
- Steven Andre Mares – 12th Grade, South San Antonio High School , San Antonio
- Elaine Ovalle – 11th grade, Odessa >High School, Odessa,
Middle School Honorable Mentions
- José Luis Arrellano – 7th Grade, Ann Richards Middle School, La Joya, Texas
- Stephanie Cantu – 7th Grade, Irene M. García Middle School, La Joya, Texas
- Alicia Gonzalez – 7th Grade, J.D. Salinas Middle School, La Joya, Texas
- Krystal Johnson – 7th Grade, >Abraham Kazen Middle School, San Antonio
- Elizabeth Miranda – 8th Grade, Dr. Javier Saenz Middle School, La Joya, Texas
- Robert Morales – 7th Grade, Robert C. Zamora Middle School, San Antonio
- Heriberto Quintero – 8th Grade, Dwight Middle School, San Antonio
- Danielle Ramirez – 8th Grade, César E. Chávez Middle School, La Joya, Texas
- Cristina Valdez – 8th Grade, Memorial Middle School, La Joya, Texas
The Coca-Cola Valued Youth Program, created by IDRA, is an internationally-recognized cross-age tutoring program. Since its inception in 1984, the program has kept more than 33,000 students in school, young people who were previously at risk of dropping out. According to the Valued Youth creed, all students are valuable, none is expendable. The lives of more than 787,000 children, families and educators have been positively impacted by the program.
[©2013, IDRA. This article originally appeared in the June – July 2013 IDRA Newsletter by the Intercultural Development Research Association. Permission to reproduce this article is granted provided the article is reprinted in its entirety and proper credit is given to IDRA and the author.]