Students Succeed in Elks Essay and Poster Contests

Students Succeed in Elks Essay and Poster Contests
Posted on 03/23/2022
The Duarte Elks Lodge #1427 recognized several Mountain View School District students as winners in their annual Lodge and San Gabriel Valley District Drug Awareness Essay, Poster and Video Contest and Americanism Essay Contest. The award- winning students, from Twin Lakes School, Maxson School, and Monte Vista School did an outstanding job creating their drug awareness essays, posters, and videos and writing their Americanism essays based on the theme, “What does it mean to love your country?” The contest divisions included elementary level and middle school level, as well as a girl’s and boy’s winner for each. 


Duarte Elks members, John and Donna McEntire visited each school to present the certificates and monetary awards to the students.


“We are so proud of Mountain View’s student winners who always work hard and take up the challenge for the contests,” said John McEntire, Drug Awareness Program/Youth Activities Chairman for the Duarte Elks Lodge. “We had a lot of entries this year and our judges had a difficult time selecting the winners. Congratulations to you all and thank you for your dedication and efforts.”


A few students earned recognition at both the lodge and district level including Thanh Nguyen from Maxson School whose drug awareness essay earned 1st place at the lodge level and 2nd place at the district level. Her outstanding writing also earned her 1st place in the Americanism essay contest at both levels. Emily Alcantar’s drug awareness essay earned 2nd place at the lodge level and 3rd place at the district level. The creative drug awareness poster by Eileen Chavez Hoyos from Twin Lakes School captured 1st place at the lodge and district levels and 3rd place in the California/ Hawaii state level. In the video category, Heidi Scanlan from Twin Lakes took top honors at the lodge and district level and Genesis Galaviz also from Twin Lakes earned 2nd place at both levels.

Additional lodge level drug awareness essay contest winners were Heather Huang and Daniel Chow from Twin Lakes who both earned 3rd place awards and Edward Situ from Monte Vista who earned 2nd place. Lodge level poster contest winners included Miley Quinones and Joseph Pineda from Twin Lakes who each earned 3rd place. The Americanism essays of Monte Vista students Pricila Perez and Nhu Huynh captured 2nd and 3rd place respectively in Division II.


“We appreciate our partnership with the Mountain View School District and are happy to provide these contest opportunities for students,” said Donna McEntire. “The students in Mountain View did an exceptional job and our lodge was pleased to award them with scholarships for their writing and artistic skills.”
  • Mountain View Preschool Programs
  • Magnolia Learning Center