2020 Silver Pen Winners
On April 3rd, Cascades Verdae, a luxury senior living community in Greenville, announced the winners of the Silver Pen Scholarship Competition. The Silver Pen Competition has been hosted by Cascades Verdae parent company, The Maxwell Group, since 2012. The Maxwell Group has awarded over $275,000 to high school seniors to assist with their college costs. The goal of the competition is to bridge the communication gap between high school seniors and community Members.
The community Members at Cascades Verdae play an integral role as judges in the competition. “It’s a great scholarship opportunity, as local students write essays on a chosen topic and our Members get to read and judge the entries based on the set criteria” said Cory Hoots, Cascades Verdae’s executive director. “Our Members love participating and it’s a great way to connect with our local community”. This year, the essay topic chosen by Cascades Verdae was “Compare and contrast the influence of technology in your life versus the role of human interaction and mentoring in your life. Which had the biggest influence on your personal life goals? Please elaborate in your response”. All entries were required to be written between 600 – 1000 words.
This year $3,750 in scholarships were awarded for the top three entries. Congratulations to:
1st Place Winner – Chloe Wright, Eastside High School
2nd Place Winner – Grace Brackett, Wade Hampton High School
3rd Place Winner – Amy Zhang, Christ Church Episcopal School
The Silver Pen competition is open to high school seniors who live or attend school within 25 miles of Cascades Verdae, employees of Cascades Verdae and their families, and community residents’ immediate family. Members at Cascades Verdae play two integral roles in the competition. The panel chooses the essay topic for the competition and once the essays are submitted, the panel gathers to judge the entries and choose a winner. To keep the competition fair, all personal identifiers (name, school, contact information) are redacted when the essays are submitted to the Maxwell Group. Each essay is then given a unique number and distributed for judging. Judges assess the essays based on research, insight and perspective, theme development, inspirational quality, meaningful personal connect, creativity and clarity of ideas.
To learn more about the Silver Pen Competition, visit silverpen-slc.com. Cascades Verdae is an all-inclusive luxury retirement community with Independent Living, Assisted Living, Memory Care, Skilled Nursing and Rehab services. The community’s premier lifestyle helps Members live longer, healthier, happier lives. For more information about Cascades Verdae, visit Cascades-Verdae.com.