MINERD Rewards High School Students’ Creative Thinking

MINERD Rewards High School Students’ Creative Thinking
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, June 20, 2012

The Ministry of Education of the Dominican Republic (MINERD), through the Vice-Ministry of Culture and Religious Affairs, presented awards to 10 high school students who were the winners of the national short stories competition ¡Qué Viva mi Patria! (Long Live My Country!). Hundreds of young school students from the 18 regional districts participated in the competition.

The students who won the first three places in the national short stories competition, ¡Qué Viva mi Patria!, received cash prizes and a laptop.

An 18 year-old tenth grade student, Anggie Alfonsina Collado Herrera, was the winner of the first place with her short story, La marca de un nuevo comienzo (The sign of a new beginning), which used adults as its inspiration. Anggie is a student at the Instituto de Estudios Avanzados (IEA, Institute of Advanced Studies) in Santiago.

The second place went to Dorian Rodríguez, a seventh grade student at the Cristo Rey school, in San Pedro de Macorís, for his work Mi otro yo (My other self), and the third place was awarded to Elvin Enmanuel Espinal Tejada for his story Tras aquel risueño antifaz (Behind that smiling mask). Elvin is a ninth grade student at the Industrial Polytechnic Institute in Santiago (IPISA).

The students who won the first three places in the national short stories competition, ¡Qué Viva mi Patria!, received cash prizes and a laptop.

María Gabriela Caram González, Gilberto Genao Lombert, María Laura Subero Almonte, Escania Duvergé Jiménez, Jilsil Altagracia Sánchez, Bonnie Pacheco Peguero, and Edna Amparo Pepén won honorable mentions. They all received a laptop and a certificate of recognition.

The Vice-minister of Education, Luis de León, indicated that MINERD believes that the large number of students who took part in the competition reflects just how talented young Dominicans are.

“This competition, which is celebrated as part of the activities commemorating the bicentennial of the birth of Founding Father Juan Pablo Duarte, as well as the Teacher’s Appreciation Month, is an effort to create awareness in the Dominican youths of the need for them to assist in the country’s educational and cultural development, and to help strengthen its national identity,” added the Vice-minister.

Meanwhile, the Director of High School Education, Esperanza Ayala, stated: “One of the big challenges we face in the process of building a new citizenship and to create opportunities for young people, is to promote their creativity, as this process provides hints about their thoughts, and on how they develop ideas that could help generate the changes we need to promote in our society.”

As she thanked the Ministry of Education for her prize, the first-place winner, Anggie Alfonsina Collado, encouraged other young people to keep participating in the Olympics and in other competitions with the following message: “We are the future; we do not build a weak foundation, we build a strong foundation.”

Tomás Castro, who along with Víctor Bidó and Luis Martín Gómez, served as judges for the competition, highlighted the creative freedom that was expressed through each of the stories.

Shortly, the literary works that participated in the national competition ¡Qué Viva mi Patria! will be edited and then published in the form of a book.

Vice-minister of Education, Luis de León, and the Director of High School Education, Esperanza Ayala, with the judges and the winning students at the National Short Stories Competition, ¡Qué Viva mi Patria!.