Jose Alberto Jarquin, a Belmont High School senior, was recently named the winner in a Spanish-language essay contest about immigrants' contributions to California.

Jarquin's winning essay also tells of immigrants' desire to educate their children in this country.

Jarquin, a Mexican immigrant, received $250 during a recent ceremony at the Mexican Cultural Institute in Olvera Street Plaza. Jonathan Maack, a North Hollywood High School junior, won first place in the contest's English category.

The contest is also sponsored by the Los Angeles Unified School District's Mexican American Education Commission, La Opinion, the Mexican Cultural Institute, and USC's Center for Multiethnic and Transnational Studies.