Cupertino 2010 Silicon Valley Reads Essay Contest

Cupertino adults and students in Grades 9 – 12 were invited to participate in the Essay Contest that led into the Cupertino Silicon Valley Reads March 20, 2010 event.

The essay topic of the 2010 Silicon Valley Reads book selection was In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto by Michael Pollan.

According to author Michael Pollan, “the rise of ‘nutritionism’ has vastly complicated the lives of American eaters without doing anything for our health, except possibly to make it worse…Pollan outlines the challenge and offers a straightforward manifesto – ‘Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.’”

Congratulations to Our Essay Contest Winners

(Click on the winner’s name to read their entry)

Adult Winners:

• First Prize ($500): Geneva Ebisu
• Second Prize ($300): Chitra Sriram

Teen Winners:

• First Prize ($500): Chandrika Kumar
• Second Prize ($300): Hyunmin Kim

Thank you to our sponsors:

Platinum

Armstrong Retirement Planning, LLC – Bob Adams, CFP

Gold

Hewlett-Packard
Eno Schmidt, President of Cupertino Library Foundation Board
Steve Ting

Silver

Cecelia Babkirk
Rich Gamboa, CRPS Senior VP UBS Financial Services, Inc.
Northwest YMCA
Recology Cupertino
Hung Wei, FUHSD Board member
Cupertino Vice-Mayor Gilbert Wong
Chi Yeh, Member of Cupertino Library Foundation Board

Bronze

Elaine Glissmeyer
County Supervisor Liz Kniss, 5th District
Cupertino Councilman Orrin Mahoney
Beverly Lenihan, Member Cupertino Library Foundation Board
Barbara Nunes, Vice-President of FUHSD Board
Janet Riddell, Past member of Cupertino Library Commission

 

A special thanks to our community judges:

First-pass judging was done by Bob Adams (Cupertino Library Foundation), Gayathri Kanth (Cupertino Library Adult and Teen Services Supervising Librarian) , Judy Dana (Cupertino Library Adult Services Librarian) and Pooja Kundargi, high school senior and past member of the Cupertino Teen Commission.

Final Judging was done by Dolly Sandoval (High-school teacher and former Cupertino Mayor), Liz Gallegos (President, Cupertino Rotary and Associate Director of Planned Giving at Santa Clara University) and Dorothy Terrill (Registered Dietitian, RN, consultant, columnist and radio personality).