Since 1995, Duffy’s Funeral Home in Park Slope has sponsored an essay contest as part of its commitment to the young people of their community. The essay contest serves to help them reflect on the “precious gift of life.”
The motivation for the essay contest, held at St. Saviour High School, 588 Sixth Street in Park Slope, comes in the form of a video shown to students. Each student is then encouraged to write an essay of at least 150 words. This year’s video was entitled: “Loaded Gun.” It tells the story of a fatal intersection of two teenagers. The ‘loaded gun’ is one of the teenagers who drives drunk.
After viewing the video and reflecting on the story the students wrote their essays using this quote from the book of Deuteronomy, “Today, I am giving you a choice between good and evil, between life and death. Choose life,” as the title for their work.
Reflecting often on their own personal experiences and the tragic consequences of drinking and driving, each student submitted their essay to their religion teachers. After thoughtful consideration and evaluation, two essays were selected for awards by the Duffy Funeral Home.
The winners were Alexis Liz, a sophomore and winner in the freshmen-sophomore category and Caitlin Byrnes, a member of the class of 2008, who won on the junior-senior level.
Liz and Byrnes were awarded certificates of honor and checks for $100 and $250 respectively, by Duffy Funeral Home, 255 Ninth Street.
