Arthur Ashe Essay Contest Winner Destiny’s Time to Shine

For the past  15 years, NTJL youth around the country have submitted applications to the Arthur Ashe Essay Contest. This year 11 year old Destiny Steward-Bowden, of Mount Vernon, NY and a participant at Harlem Junior Tennis and Education Program, was one of the winners. That got her a ticket to Arthur Ashe Kids’ Day, where she saw acts including Ariana Grande, Justin Mahoney and Coco Jones perform live, in addition to seeing tennis pros Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams hit on center court. Perhaps even more special, while she watched she got to sit next to First Lady Michelle Obama. Additionally, on the following Monday she was a featured speaker at the USTA Serves Gala.

You can read her winning essay here: 10sBalls

AALC Founder & Chairman Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe and the First Lady next to Steward-Bowden (far right), August 24th, 2013.