Santa Fe students attend U.S. Open after winning essay contest

Santa Fe will be represented by a couple of students at the U.S. Open tennis tournament this weekend.

Amanda Trujillo, a sophomore at Mandela International Magnet School, and Quinn Larok Morris, an eighth grader at Milagro Middle School, will be among 10 students in New York City this weekend as winners of the Arthur Ashe essay contest. The U.S. Tennis Association’s National Junior Tennis and Learning section sponsored the contest, which asked students the impact they hope their local tennis chapters made in their community that you would want remembered 50 years from now in commemoration of the section’s 50th anniversary.

Trujillo and Morris competed in the contest because of their involvement in First Serve-New Mexico, a nonprofit organization that provides students in grades 3-12 in Santa Fe and Pojoaque with an after-school program that focuses on tutoring, life skills and tennis instruction from coaches.

Trujillo’s essay talked about her relationship with a girl of Mexican heritage as they spoke about each other’s culture, which in turn helped her change her interaction with others in her community. Morris focused on how First Serve-New Mexico gave him and opportunity to achieve academic excellence while also learning to play a sport that he normally wouldn’t have had an opportunity to play.

Morris and Trujillo, along with a parent or guardian, arrived Thursday in New York City and will stay until Sunday. The premier event is the Arthur Ashe Kid’s Day on Saturday at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. Contest winners will have access to the president’s suite for the event, receive tickets to a Broadway show and have a luncheon with an event sponsor at 30 Rockefeller Plaza.