2020 Silver Pen Winners

On April 3rd, The Charlotte, a luxury senior living community in Charlotte, announced the winners of the Silver Pen Scholarship Competition. The Silver Pen Competition has been hosted by The Charlotte’s 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 The Charlotte 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 Leslie Harris, The Charlotte’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 The Charlotte was “Our members at our community have built and continue to build their legacies. They are all inspirational in their own way. Right now, you are nearing your high school graduation and preparing for your future. What do you want your legacy to be? What do you want to have accomplished? What are your goals in life? What is your definition of living a good life?” . 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 – Katherine Neil, Covenant Day School

2nd Place Winner – Christion Zappley, North Mecklenburg High School

3rd Place Winner – Laila Robinson, Charlotte Christian School

The Silver Pen Competition is open to high school seniors who live or attend school within 25 miles of The Charlotte, employees of The Charlotte and their families, and community residents’ immediate family. Members at The Charlotte 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. The Charlotte is an all-inclusive luxury retirement community with Assisted Living and Memory Care services. The community’s premier lifestyle helps Members live longer, healthier, happier lives. For more information about The Charlotte, visit Charlotte-Living.com.