10th Annual Do The Write Thing Recognition and Awards Ceremony

On May 7th, Communities In Schools of Laredo, Inc. proudly hosted its 10th Annual Do The Write Thing Recognition and Awards Ceremony!

Do The Write Thing is a powerful writing program for middle school students, offering them a platform to speak out about how violence affects their lives and to share their ideas for creating safer communities.

This year, 13 CIS-served middle schools participated, submitting a total of 1,357 heartfelt essays. From these, 26 finalists were selected—two from each school—and one student was named the 2025 Laredo Ambassador (pictured first). She will represent Laredo in Washington, D.C. this July, where her essay will be included in a national compilation placed in the Library of Congress.

We extend our deepest thanks to the dedicated judges from the Laredo Area Retired School Employees Association, who generously volunteered their time to read and evaluate every essay.

We were honored to welcome Isidro "Chilo" Alaniz from the Webb & Zapata DA's Office as this year’s Guest Speaker. His powerful words, drawn from personal experience, highlighted the life-changing value of writing programs like Do The Write Thing.

We are also grateful to the office of U.S. Congressman Henry Cuellar for attending and recognizing each finalist with a certificate of achievement!

A heartfelt thank you goes out to our CIS Board Members for their continued support, and to Falcon International Bank for graciously hosting us and providing a space worthy of this meaningful celebration.

Finally, we thank the families, site coordinators, school administrators, and faculty who make events like this possible and who continue to show up for our students. Together, we remain proudly #AllInForKids