FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Contact: Heidi Scheid
Nevena Orbach
Scheid Vineyards Inc. The Orbach Company, Inc.
831-455-9990 or 818-904-0500
SCHEID
VINEYARDS AWARDS $13,000 TO
28
WINNERS IN 16TH ANNUAL WRITING COMPETITION
Greenfield,
CA, May 25, 2004 - A total of twenty-eight students from Greenfield and King City High
Schools were prize winners in the 16th annual Scheid Writing Contest
in which $13,000 of scholarship money was awarded.
Scott
Scheid, President and CEO of Salinas-based Scheid Vineyards Inc., honored the
winners recently at Scholarship Banquets held at the Salinas Valley Fairgrounds
(for King City High School) and Greenfield High School.
Scheid
Vineyards sponsors and administers the Scheid Writing Contest to challenge area
students to think about a broad range of topics and to encourage students to
pursue higher education. Winners are chosen based on their ability to research
and write an essay on a given topic.
With this year’s awards, Scheid Vineyards will have given $171,000 in
scholarship money.
According
to Heidi M. Scheid, Senior Vice President of Scheid Vineyards, 68 students from
both schools, freshmen through seniors, competed for $13,000 in total
scholarship money. The first place
award at the senior level at each school was $2,500. Awards of over $300 are paid directly to the institution the
student attends after high school.
This
year’s challenging topic was immigration reform. Participants wrote a maximum five-page essay on the immigration
proposal presented by President Bush to grant legal status to millions of
undocumented workers in the United States.
Students were asked to examine the President’s proposal from both sides
of the issue and discuss the effects they believed immigration reform would
have on California. Past topics have
included the USA Patriot Act and its affect on an individual’s right to
privacy, the use of military tribunals in terrorist cases, the pros and cons of
the Electoral College, and the history of and justifications for the U.S. trade
embargo on Cuba.
Ms.
Scheid, a member of the annual judging team, commented, “My father, Al Scheid,
began the Scheid Writing Contest as a way of giving back to our communities of
King City and Greenfield. He wanted a
scholarship program that rewarded students who were willing to put forth the
extra effort of researching a provocative topic from both sides of the argument
and forming an opinion based on that research.
These are skills that are paramount in today’s complicated world.”
Ms.
Scheid said that although the supervision of the contest and the judging of the
essays is a time consuming process, “everybody at Scheid Vineyards believes in
this program. It’s a way of showing the
kids in our area that there are people who care about their futures. Reading the essays every year and seeing the
different ways that students tackle difficult topics is something we look
forward to. We are extremely fortunate
to have the unwavering support of the administration and teachers at both King
City and Greenfield High Schools since they are the ones who administer the
contest each year and get the students excited to participate.”
While
Scheid Vineyards sponsors this annual writing contest in King City and
Greenfield, Al Scheid has personally sponsored a similar contest, as well as a
reading incentive program, in his hometown of Bridgeport, Ohio for the past 19
years.
Scheid Vineyards Inc. ( is a leading independent producer of premium wine
grapes and operates approximately 5,600 acres of vineyards, primarily in
Monterey County, California. The Company
sells most of its grape production under short and long-term grape and bulk
wine contracts to wineries producing high quality table wines, and the Company
also produces a small amount of ultra- premium wine under its own label.
LEADING WINNERS OF THE 16TH ANNUAL SCHEID
VINEYARDS WRITING CONTEST ARE AS FOLLOWS:
Greenfield High School:
First Place Winner:
Pedro Gutierrez
Second Place Winner:
Alicia Contreras
Third Place Winner:
Abbie Arbrun
King City High School:
First Place Winner: Brandon Jernigan
Second Place Winner:
Jessica Shaheen
Third Place Winner:
Jose Camacho