Veronica Zieba, a student at Copiague Middle School, was the Grand Prize Winner in the Kids in Action Youth Conference essay contest. To enter this contest, students chose from a variety of themes based on overcoming odds, Veronica’s essay was chosen out of thousands of entries and she was honored at the Conference, where she received $250.
The Keynote Speaker at this year’s conference was Sarah Reinertsen, who was born with proximal femoral focal deficiency, a bone growth disorder that ultimately required the amputation of her leg above the knee when she was a young child. At age 30, despite her unique circumstances, Sarah became the first female runner with a prosthetic leg to complete the Hawaii Ironman triathlon. The Ironman triathlon consists of a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bike ride, and a 26-mile marathon run, raced in that order and without a break.
In her essay, Veronica stated, “I have always thought that I wouldn’t be good at anything because of my hearing loss and that I wouldn’t be able to reach my goals. This message ‘You can overcome just about anything if you just have determination’ has definitely given me full confidence in myself. It has also impacted me; it gives me the potential to go after my dreams…Because of Sarah Reinertsen I now have full confidence in myself and I now know that I am more than just a girl with hearing aids.”
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