Golden words! |18 October 2014

It's another proud moment for the International School Seychelles (ISS), as three of its students who took part in this year's Commonwealth Essay Competition won Gold and Silver.

Every year, the Royal Commonwealth Society (RCS) holds an essay competition open to all Commonwealth citizens below the age of 18, which motivates them to demonstrate their creative writing skills.

More than 9,500 entries were submitted under this year’s theme, ‘Team Commonwealth’, relating to the Glasgow Commonwealth Games and the bond that unites the Commonwealth countries and their people.

Participants were encouraged to reach into their creative minds to get the theme across in an amusing and clever way.

Among the winners from around the world were three ISS students – Maggie Moustache and Annie Alvis from Year 10 (standard form 4) and Dawn René from Year 9 (standard form 3).

Maggie, who received a Gold award for her essay, says she was motivated to take part in this year's competition after she received a Bronze award last year and felt that she could improve on her results this time around. In her spare time she enjoys baking, reading and playing netball.

After being encouraged by her English teachers to develop the potential they saw in her, Annie entered the competition and was awarded Silver for her essay. Her leisure activities include playing tennis and baking.

Dawn, who is also a talented tennis player as well as a good athlete, also won a Silver award for her essay. While it was her first attempt in the Commonwealth competition, her experience of working in a team on the sports field inspired her to base her essay on the teamwork in sports.

Amy Jean
Year 11B