Lily Stephenson-Ellis, a fifth grader at Coral Reef Elementary School, has been named the winner of the American Immigration Council (AIC) Creative Writing Contest for Fifth Graders. This is the first year that Miami-Dade County Public Schools participated in AIC’s annual contest.
The winner was announced during a recent luncheon at Jungle Island. One hundred thirty entries were submitted for this year’s contest, which had the theme, “Why I Am Glad America Is a Nation of Immigrants.”
Lily and her teacher, Yolaluis Perez-Padgett, were awarded a plaque and a cash prize.
Lily read from her winning essay, which spoke of how she spent the first three months of her life in an orphanage in Puebla, Mexico, and explains that one of her mothers is Jill Ellis, the head coach of the U.S. women’s national soccer team.
