Student Wins Essay Contest, Donates Prize Money to Flatwood Tornado Relief
A Montgomery area third-grade student won an essay contest writing about leadership, then showed his own leadership by donating his prize money to tornado victims.
Terecko Moore is a student at Carver Elementary and Arts Magnet School. He won the Montgomery Rotary Club’s “Service Above Self” essay contest, writing an essay called “Growing Into Leadership.”
He decided to donate his $50 prize money to tornado relief efforts in Montgomery County’s Flatwood community, where two people were killed in an EF-2 tornado on Nov. 30. One of those who died was a second grade student at Terecko’s school.
“I wanted to donate this money to the Flatwood community because my grandparents live in Flatwood and all the houses were destroyed,” Terecko said.
His example prompted the Montgomery Rotary Club to donate the $1,500 it had raised in a recent Boston butt fundraiser to tornado relief.
Montgomery County Commissioner Isaiah Sankey was at the Rotary Club meeting to accept both donations.
Terecko’s class, led by teacher Jenean Spencer at Carver will get a $250 donation from the Rotary Club as well as a pizza party.
The essay contest is part of the Rotary Club’s annual dictionary project, which gives each third grade student in Montgomery Public Schools a dictionary.
“Every year, the Rotary Club comes and gives third graders dictionaries, and they allow them to participate in the essay-writing contests about service. I actually did not know that Terecko had submitted an essay, but when we found out that he was the winner, we were all shocked and very excited for him,” Spencer said.
