ENCINITAS — Aryana Mahasseni, a student at Carlsbad High School, has taken first place in the inaugural Teen Writing Contest, a regional competition that asked young authors to envision how they would spend $10 million to improve their communities.
The contest, presented by Ms. Oceanside Real Estate in partnership with The Coast News and Write Away Books, was open to all 11th- and 12th-grade students in North County San Diego.
Organizers said this year’s entries showcased an impressive blend of creativity, thoughtfulness and heart.
Second place went to Ava Baker of Canyon Crest Academy, and third place was awarded to Tanya Mandyam of Westview High School.
“We are blown away by the creativity and heart shown in this year’s entries,” The Coast News said in a statement. “Your visions for improving our communities were thoughtful, inspiring, and a true testament to the talent across North County.”
The top three submissions will be published online at thecoastnews.com. Winners will also receive awards and recognition from contest sponsors. Second place received $500 and third place received $100.
The contest prompt challenged students to answer the question: “How would you spend $10,000,000 to improve your community?” Entries were judged on creativity and originality, writing quality, clarity and structure, and relevance to the theme.
The contest received dozens of entries from students across North County, sharing a diverse mixture of voices and experiences.
“I wanted this contest to be more than words on a page,” said Chris Kydd, publisher of The Coast News. “At The Coast News, we’re here to lift up our community, and what better way than giving young writers a real chance to be heard and celebrated. Their big ideas inspire me, and I hope they inspire our local leaders, too.”
The panel of judges included Coast News Managing Editor Jordan Ingram; Rob Weinberg, chief strategist at Write Away Books; strategist and author Susan Grant Legacki; retired editor Steve Dreyer of Pomerado News; and Melissa Huk, author, broker and sponsor of the contest through Ms. Oceanside Real Estate.
The contest was open to students enrolled in public, private or homeschool programs throughout North County San Diego.
According to Kydd, The Coast News plans to continue the writing contest after the success of this year’s event.
Teen Writing Contest – 1st Place Essay
By Aryana Mahasseni
Having called Carlsbad home my entire life, and now proudly walking the halls of Carlsbad High School, I hold a deep connection to this city. While my hometown is dear to my heart, my love for North County San Diego transcends city boundaries.
From Encinitas to Oceanside, the community is a mosaic of strong neighborhoods, scenic views, diverse people, community spirit, and, of course, our coastal trademark.
Given the opportunity to invest $10 million in the place I love most, I would allocate it to five areas that reflect the values I see within our community: honoring local voices, compassion for those less fortunate, enhancing educational opportunities, protecting the environment, and empowering young people.
With these additions, I believe we can transform North County from a place we love to a future we build together.
Honoring Local Voices
Every city has history, but North County has stories, rich with surfers-turned-entrepreneurs, immigrant dreamers, and artists whose murals paint our towns. I would dedicate funds to a project called “North County Narratives,” employing local journalists and storytellers to collect oral histories and photographs from long-time inspirational residents.
These narratives would come alive through digital exhibitions, walking tour apps, and murals that tell our story block by block. Imagine a bus stop in Vista where you can scan a QR code and hear a grandmother recount the first taco shop on the street. Preserving these memories means our future rises on the shoulders of those who built our past.
Housing pathways
The lack of stable housing is an issue impacting all of North County, including Carlsbad, and needs a long-term, compassionate solution. I would invest in developing a tiny home village, small in scale but sustainable in character, for people experiencing homelessness.
The village would offer safe shelter and on-site services, including job training, mental health counseling, and career placement. This project allows people the power to restart their lives and gives them the dignity and stability they rightfully deserve.
Residents could even contribute to the village through art, gardening, or mentorship, creating a community of mutual uplift. Because in North County, we don’t just offer handouts — we offer hands held.
Investing in STEAM
What if every student in North County had access to a mini innovation lab right on their campus? Using the funds, I’d equip schools with 3D printers, virtual reality science simulations, drone kits, and art-tech fusion tools that merge creativity with computation.
Students wouldn’t just read about engineering—they’d build bridges from recycled ocean plastic. They wouldn’t just study biology — they’d program robots to mimic ecosystems.
By expanding access to high-quality STEAM programs and investing in passionate, industry-trained educators, we would prepare students not only for careers but for a future they’ll be leading.
Youth Empowerment
As a student balancing schoolwork, a part-time job, and after-school commitments, I understand the importance of having a space to just be. That’s why I would establish Youth Empowerment Hubs across North County — safe, vibrant centers open after school and on weekends. These spaces would offer music studios, mental health lounges, sports courts, tutoring pods, and leadership bootcamps.
Teens could pitch ideas for social impact and earn mini-grants to implement them. Instead of waiting to grow up to make a difference, young people would be given the tools to lead now.
Preservation
The soul of North County lives in our wild spaces — our cliffs, lagoons, and marine life. But these spaces need us now more than ever. I would use funds to launch a “Living Shorelines Initiative,” combining art, science, and community to combat erosion and restore marine biodiversity.
Students and volunteers could help plant native dune grasses, build oyster reefs, and install underwater kelp gardens. Interactive environmental art installations would remind beachgoers of what is at stake.
By merging conservation with creativity, we ensure that future generations can marvel at the same natural beauty we sometimes take for granted.
Our Future
North County isn’t just where I live, it’s who I am. From the laughter at beach bonfires to the voices raised in support of one another, this place radiates potential. With $10 million, I would plant seeds of memory, compassion, innovation, opportunity, and sustainability that bloom into a stronger, more unified North County.
And as someone who believes deeply in my generation, I know that if we’re given the tools, the trust, and the time, we will turn those seeds into something extraordinary.
Teen Writing Contest – 2nd Place Essay
By Ava Baker
A Vision for Scholarship, Leadership, and Service
If I were given $10,000,000 to spend to improve my community, I would approach it with responsibility and vision. Instead of simply spending it, I would invest the money into a sustainable endowment for the betterment of North County San Diego. My goal would be to make a long-term strategic investment in the community, rather than throwing money at its problems.
North County already has diverse groups, innovative businesses, and numerous charitable organizations, so the investment would aim to enhance existing resources to serve as a means for lasting improvement. The funds would be continually reinvested in our community through three spheres of advancement: scholarship, leadership, and service.
1. Scholarship: Supporting New Changemakers
The improvement of our community requires investment in the younger generation. To accomplish this, I would create a $3,000,000 educational endowment called the North County Changemakers Foundation. The Foundation would support worthy educational endeavors through grants such as after-school activities, tutoring, enrichment, literacy, career exploration, entrepreneurship training, and teacher innovation.
Each year, the Foundation also awards scholarships, highlighting students who display resilience, academic excellence, and a commitment to service in our community. This initiative would inspire civic pride, ignite leadership, and motivate the next generation of changemakers to commit to scholarship, leadership, and service for the betterment of our community. Change is gradual, and we must invest in the next generation to secure a better future.
2. Leadership: Supporting Unique Passion Projects
Improving our community also requires organizing leadership with diverse points of view. To achieve this, I would allocate $4,000,000 to fund the North County Leadership Endowment, a community-based program that would bring together select North County leaders with community residents to undertake diverse personal passion projects.
This program would provide crucial funding for unique civic engagement initiatives, such as environmental conservation, affordable housing, social justice, or other individual service projects in various parts of North County.
Leaders would recruit and train their volunteers to engage in hands-on personal projects involving local government, nonprofits, and businesses, gaining experience in decision-making and teamwork, preferably outside their own North County sub-communities. They would also give and receive mentorship from other community leaders while experiencing the brilliance and beauty of North County.
Special attention would be focused on including youth from the North County Changemakers Foundation to access leadership opportunities. While North County is large and diverse, this program would provide annual funding to bring us together to undertake unique service projects that improve our shared community.
3. Service: Funding the Underfunded
With the remaining $3,000,000 endowment, I would direct each year’s earnings towards supporting existing North County service projects. The money would be given in loans or grants to organizations that address broad social needs and who may be underfunded, such as the Community Resource Center (CRC), the Assistance League of North Coast, Brother Benno’s, and the San Diego Food Bank.
Each of these organizations provides health and housing services, as well as seniors, domestic, and mental health counseling, and food security for the most vulnerable in our community.
However, we would also assist other deserving organizations that serve different social and service needs, such as environmental cleanups, seniors, literacy programs, veterans, mentoring support, animal shelters, blood drives, and medical research. These decisions would be made through the North County Leadership Endowment to ensure we have a process committed to fairness, balance and fiscal responsibility.
A Vision Rooted in Local Strength
This $10,000,000 investment would not be a one-time act of generosity- it would be a catalyst for long-term community empowerment. By focusing on scholarship, we shape the minds of the future. Through leadership, we build skills to lead others. And through service, we ensure that our growth is grounded in teamwork, compassion, and collective responsibility.
North County San Diego has always been a place of promise. With this $10,000,000 endowment, we would build a model for community betterment based on scholarship, leadership and service. Funding, when utilized correctly in partnership with local vision and leadership, can spark meaningful long-term change in a community.
To borrow from an old proverb: instead of feeding a man for a day by giving him a fish, we must teach a man to fish to feed him for a lifetime. By trusting, teaching and investing in our community’s future, we will build a foundation for changemakers to create a better future for us all.
Teen Writing Contest – 3rd Place Essay
By Tanya Mandyam
My STEM journey hasn’t always been easy. Since middle school, I have known I wanted to get involved in scientific research, but I wasn’t sure how to start. I went into this process blind and somehow managed to find a mentor and work in a laboratory. I figured it out independently through long nights of research, but this made me wonder how other girls were finding their own STEM opportunities.
I also asked if there was a way to make this process easier for others, as it’s that much more challenging for kids growing up in unstable environments and attending schools that lack extensive STEM programs.
I have been participating in local science fairs since seventh grade and have noticed that projects focusing on engineering are fewer in number compared to those in medicine and health, and girls presenting engineering projects are even rarer.
Additionally, during my tenure as secretary of the Society of Women Engineers (SWENext) club at my school, I’ve visited local elementary schools to deliver science lessons and introduce young girls to various STEM fields. I’ve seen many girls with an interest in engineering, but they often lack the resources to pursue it in high school and beyond.
Furthermore, although women make up half of the US workforce, less than one-third hold a STEM job. With $10 million, this could all change; all it takes is just one community. I would invest $10 million in a youth center dedicated to promoting engineering and innovation, and guiding scientific research in these areas to empower girls seeking to pursue these fields.
This center would be unique among other youth centers in San Diego, as it would be dedicated to STEM enrichment and specifically targeted toward girls in middle and high school.
The youth center would preferably be located closer to the border to encourage girls of all demographic backgrounds to get interested in STEM. It will also be free and will provide education and training in engineering fields, as well as projects leading to science fairs during the school year. The staff would consist of high school volunteers, such as myself, as well as volunteers and paid staff from local tech companies and universities.
This opportunity would not only help high schoolers connect with and inspire the younger generation but also provide them with valuable experience as mentors, which they can utilize throughout their lives. It will also allow high school students like me to network with entrepreneurs in our community and explore unknown fields and aspects of engineering.
Five million dollars would be spent on infrastructure, as San Diego is a relatively expensive city. A portion of this would be used to create different divisions within the center, focusing on bioinformatics, mechanical engineering, aerospace engineering, and bioengineering, and ensuring each is equipped to initiate and complete a middle or high school-level project. The research division would include a laboratory for simple experiments, but we’ll also connect students to local companies and federally funded local research laboratories for more complex ones. There’ll also be a classroom where guest speakers will give lectures dedicated to specific career opportunities in various engineering fields.
Overall, the center will focus on guiding research ideas for science fair projects and hands-on experience to a project that is put together by the students.
The remaining $ 5 million would be allocated for project execution and community engagement. For example, over the summer, various specialized boot camps would be offered to the students free of charge. Boot camps will educate students in multiple aspects of engineering, including what a student project entails and the resources available for each type of project (e.g., building, programming).
Generally, every student in the youth center will be given all the necessary resources to build and test a product, create an application, or generate data for bioinformatics. These projects will be initiated during the summer and carried out throughout the school year, primarily on weekends and holidays.
The students will be guided to present their products or data at local science fairs to compete for awards and scholarships. In addition, the youth center will have annual fundraising drives highlighted by an event where potential sponsors can view the projects and provide feedback.
Overall, the goal for this youth center is to create a ‘domino effect’ in other communities so that eventually, others will be inspired to develop centers of their own. I hope that young girls across the country will have better opportunities and a renewed interest in pursuing engineering-related passions.
