GILBERT, Ariz. — A Gilbert teenager's essay about her grandmother's journey with dementia has recently won second place in a national writing contest.
Clarice Nguyen has recently won a $2,500 college scholarship after her essay was singled out from 1,500 submissions made to the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America's annual essay contest.
VERSIÓN EN ESPAÑOL: Adolescente de Gilbert gana beca al escribir ensayo sobre la demencia de su abuela
Nguyen, who recently started her freshman year at Arizona State University, wrote her essay about how a dementia-related illness has affected her grandmother, Phuong, and her grandmother's friend, Anh Hu.
Phuong and Anh Hu were childhood friends from the time they lived in Vietnam. They later reunited in the 1990s in America.
The teen's essay detailed her interactions with each woman and her efforts to bring joy to their lives as they both live with a serious illness.
“Every week I still ask her what my name is-sometimes she remembers, every now and then she forgets, but more often than not she’ll get a majority of it correct. And every time she can even muster just a few of the syllables, I am overjoyed,” Clarice wrote in her essay.
The AFA essay contest asks high school seniors from around the country to describe how Alzheimer’s disease has affected their lives. About $70,000 in scholarships were awarded by AFA to students this year.
“Clarice’s inspirational essay about her grandmother and her grandmother’s friend, and the impact that they had on her life is a prime example of how dementia-related illnesses affect people of all ages,” said AFA President and CEO Charles J. Fuschillo Jr.