Cypress Landing Yacht Club recently awarded scholarships to essay contest winners Joana Harris and Hunter Leary at Chocowinity Middle School’s Award Ceremony on June 8. The scholarships entitled each child to participate in a one-week sailing course this summer at the Little Washington Sailing School.

CLYC Community Outreach Chairperson Andrea Smith organized the essay contest and worked with the middle school staff in encouraging the students to write their essays and enter the contest. The principal of the middle school, Ms. Kimberly Gibbs, was especially helpful and enthusiastic about the endeavor. To participate in the contest, the students were required to submit essays on “Why I Want to Sail.” A committee of four members of the CLYC Bridge reviewed a total of nine essay submissions and determined the winners on the basis of the students’ realistic desire to learn to sail. Being able to swim is a requirement to participate in the sailing school.

Cypress Landing’s Yacht Club is located in Cypress Landing on Chocowinity Bay. It is a social and recreational club of 233 Cypress Landing residents and/or slip holders. The middle-school essay contest is one of the ways in which the Yacht Club fulfills its social and educational goals of promoting safety in boating and encouraging proficiency in all aspects of seamanship.