National Essay Contest Winner to be Recognized at Fifth Third Ballpark Tuesday Night by Sharon Robinson

COMSTOCK PARK MI, - Sixty-nine years after Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball, his daughter, Sharon Robinson, is carrying on his legacy through the "Breaking Barriers: In Sports, In Life" program, a baseball-themed character education program developed by Major League Baseball and Scholastic Inc.  

Sharon Robinson will appear at Fifth Third Ballpark on Tuesday, April 19, prior to the 6:35 p.m. Whitecaps game to present a West Michigan fifth grade student with a national award.

Using America's sport, baseball, as the metaphor for life, the curriculum is based on the values demonstrated by barrier breaker Jackie Robinson: Citizenship, Commitment, Courage, Determination, Excellence, Integrity, Justice, Persistence, and Teamwork.

Sharon Robinson, Consultant, Community Affairs and Educational Programming for Major League Baseball, developed and consults on the program, now in its 20th year. The program has reached more than 27 million youths and 3.6 million educators in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. 

A major component of the program is the Breaking Barriers Essay Contest, which encourages children to write about barriers or obstacles they have faced or are still facing in their lives and how they used the values exemplified by Jackie Robinson to deal with those barriers or obstacles. To celebrate the program's 20th anniversary, the program is recognizing 20 winners in 2016, including two Grand Prize winners, two MVP winners and 16 All-Star Prize winners split between two separate grade groups (Grades 4-6 & Grades 7-9). All 20 prize winners will receive a laptop computer and Breaking Barriers t-shirts and books written by Sharon Robinson for their class.

One of the two Grand Prize winners from this year's contest is Kendal Young, a fifth grade student from Walden Green Montessori in Spring Lake, MI. Kendal will be a guest of the West Michigan Whitecaps, where she will be recognized along with Sharon Robinson in a pre-game ceremony Tuesday.

Kendal's essay highlighted courage, one of Jackie Robinson's core values, and was chosen as the Grand Prize winner from over 17,000 essays nationwide. Kendal will also be a guest at the 2016 MLB All-Star Game in San Diego.

Tickets for Tuesday's game are available and can be purchased at the Fifth Third Ballpark Box Office, calling 616.784.4131 or at whitecapsbaseball.com.

Media availability for Sharon Robinson will begin promptly at 5 p.m. at Fifth Third Ballpark. For media members interested, Sharon Robinson, along with current Whitecaps players Rashad Brown and Derek Hill, will be part of an assembly at Walden Green Montessori starting at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday.

Any media wishing to attend the assembly should RSPV to mgraham@whitecapsbaseball by 8 p.m. Monday evening.

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