Rotary essay winner takes second in district
Incoming Cape Coral High School student Ethan Lapoin finished second in the district recently at the Rotary’s Four-Way Test Essay contest.
The competition was held during the Rotary’s District 696 conference and Lapoin, who attended Oasis Middle School, represented the Gold Coast Rotary.
The Four-Way test asks four questions. Is it the truth? Is it fair to all concerned? Will it build goodwill and better friendships? Will it be beneficial to all concerned? The kids had to wrote an essay about a dilemma personal to themselves.
Lapoint, who finished second in the Gold Coast Rotary essay contest this past spring, received a $250 check for his runner-up efforts during the Rotary’s meeting on July 22 at Gulf Coast Village.
Lapoint, who did his essay on social media, said he was excited and grateful and had a lot to say about the topic as he read his essay to the Rotarians at the monthly meeting.
“When you’re online, the choices you make have real-world consequences. It’s important to apply the principles of the four-way test. What you say might be rude to others or might hurt other people’s feelings,” Lapoint said. “It’s also important to mange your time and not spread wrong information about people.”
“I’m very proud of Ethan. He’s a hard-working student and really enjoys writing,” Ethan’s mother, Yuri, said.
Lapoint said he is leaning toward dentistry as a career, but won’t rule out writing.
Lisa Musial, the new Rotary president who took over July 1, said she read through all the essays at the local level and Ethan’s stood out over many of the rest.
“We are so proud of Ethan. He was one of many applicants. We had over 70 applicants take part and Ethan’s essay just blew us away,” Musial said.
Rotarian Dale Arvay said they worked with Oasis Middle School, whose students produced many of the essays and whose administration was all onboard with the contest because it was something brand new.
“To get to where Ethan ended up was quite an accomplishment. It was timely, coming out of COVID and the issues we had when we didn’t have these competitions for a couple years,” Arvay said. “The kids did the essay and other projects right around Christmas. We were happy to get that level of participation.”
To reach CHUCK BALLARO, please email news@breezenewspapers.com