City of Albuquerque Initiates 40th Annual Intergenerational Essay Contest
The City of Albuquerque Department of Senior Affairs is sponsoring the 40th Annual “A Senior I Know” intergenerational essay contest for first through fifth grade students. The contest encourages students to choose a significant older senior and write an essay about the positive impact they have gained from them. The contest submission deadline is Feb. 2, 2022 and the winning essays from each grade level will be recognized in May 2022, which is also Older Americans Month. Each contest winner will receive fun prizes provided by various community sponsors.
“So many older adults pass on values and wisdom to young children in our community and might not even realize it,” Said Anna Sanchez, Director of Senior Affairs. “This contest has helped build these relationships for the past 40 years and is enlightening on how important it is to continue these opportunities that bring generations together.”
With Department of Senior Affairs focus of creating an Age-Friendly community, the essay contest helps promote positive intergenerational relationships between elementary school students and older adults. Winning essays are chosen by the “A Senior I Know” committee that consists of retired educators.
“I launched this project in 1982, and enthusiastically look forward to reading the amazing essays written by the students every year,” said Ginger Grossetete, founder of the contest. “Over the past 40 years, thousands of students have participated and many teachers continuously thank us for providing this wonderful opportunity to their students.”
This contest is open to all students within the APS school district boundaries and essays must be submitted through the child’s school, including APS elementary schools, parochial, private, charter, or home schools. It is designed to support Language Arts standards in Strand III for grades 1-5 in Writing Strategies, Conventions and Applications. Essays must be submitted to one of the designated locations by 5 p.m. on Feb. 2, 2022 and cannot be submitted online.
The essay contest rules, drop off locations, key dates and judging criteria can be found at cabq.gov/seniors under the Youth Program quick link.