Forty students from 32 different high schools in San Diego County Thursday were awarded laptops by the Metropolitan Transit System.
MTS and Coco-Cola hosted an essay contest asking students to ride a bus or trolley and detail their experience. The top students were awarded HP-ENVY 15.6” touch screen laptop computers.
“Each year, the quality of the essays get better and better. These students are very creative and we had participation from all over the county, from Escondido to San Ysidro. Many of these students are also passengers so they understand the benefits to taking transit,” said MTS Board Chairman Harry Mathis. “We appreciate the partnership with Coca-Cola to help make this a great learning experience for the students.”
To be eligible to win, students had to be San Diego County residents, enrolled in a San Diego County high school and slated to graduate in spring 2016. Judging criteria for the student essays were based on creativity, grammar, research and critical thinking.
Winners of the 2016 MTS & Coca-Cola Laptop Scholarship Essay Contest are:
- Oscar Acosta, e3 Civic High School
- Noorhan Albayati, Crawford High School
- Shahad Atto, Granite Hills High School
- Kellie Brock, West Hills High School
- Arianna Camino, Escondido High School
- Humberto Castorena, Olympian High School
- Christian Contreres, Fallbrook High School
- Helen Do, Herbert Hoover High School
- Amy Eppert, Hilltop High School
- Sahara Estrada Hernandez, Kearny High School
- Daniel Riley Hart, Foothills Christian High School
- Brianne Herbilla, Mira Mesa High School
- Hilda Hernandez, Montgomery High School
- Nicholas Hoo, Westview High School
- Preauna Hunter, La Jolla High School
- Victoria Kempf, Mission Hills High School
- Tanner Leslie, The Rock Academy
- Sandy Liang, Granite Hills High School
- Jorge Adrian Lopez, Sweetwater Union High School
- Xena Martinez, San Pasqual High School
- Amanda Matheson, Canyon Crest Academy
- Charlene Miciano, Montgomery High School
- Bilal Mohamed, University City High School
- Kara Nepomuceno, Canyon Crest Academy
- Leslie Olvera, Mar Vista High School
- Jessica Ong, Herbert Hoover High School
- Sedona Patterson Smith, San Diego High School
- Iain Paul, Granite Hills High School
- Katrina Ponce Dick, Grossmont High School
- Irene Ramirez, Morse High School
- Sarah Sanchez, Academy of Our Lady of Peace
- Mabele Sapiki, Crawford High School
- Carlos Torres, San Ysidro High School
- Michelle Tran, Mount Miguel High School
- Ronald Trinh, Mount Miguel High School
- Teresa Valle, Garfield High School
- Daniel Valoria, Grossmont High School
- Luz Villasenor, Grossmont Middle College
- Sadie Wager, John Muir High School
- Michael Zuazo, Rancho Buena Vista High School
MTS operates 95 bus routes and three Trolley lines on 53 miles of double-tracked railway. Every weekday more than 300,000 passenger trips are taken on MTS bus and Trolley services. MTS set a new record in FY 2015 with 96.7 million riders. For more
