About Dawson County news. (Dawsonville, Georgia) 2015-current | View Entire Issue (May 2, 2018)
Wednesday, May 2,2018 dawsonnews.com I DAWSON COUNTY NEWS I 5B Rotary Club essay winners share life lessons Allie Dean Dawson County News Pictured from left, back row: Rotary Club member Carla Boutin, sophomore essay winner Hailey Barnes, Rotary Club President Pepper Pettit. Pictured from left, front row: Ninth grade essay winner Bridgette Nichols, senior essay winner Nataleigh Pasha, junior essay winner Jadin Cronan, Dawson County High School teacher and Contest Co-Chair Lindsey Luchansky and Dawson County Junior High School teacher and Contest Co-Chair Aimee Park. By Allie Dean adean@dawsonnews.com “It seems to me that my father is always the bearer of bad news. He told me the other night to distance myself, to start saying my goodbyes, ‘There may not be anything that we can do,’ he says. If that is true, then I will have lost both my mother and my brother before I have the chance to turn 16,” Dawson County High School junior Jadin Cronan read as she stood in front of a crowd of Rotary Club members, peers and teachers on April 19. She was reading from her award-winning essay titled “An Open Letter to Stroke Personified,” which details how her 21-year- old brother has been vic tim of a series of strokes, and how she would gladly take on his suffering if it could spare him. “Mark Twain once said, ‘Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the ves sel it is stored in than to anything it is poured on.’ So I don’t want to be angry anymore. This letter is me refusing to let my anger and hatred of you blind me any longer than it already has,” Cronan continued. The crowd grew increasingly still as Cronan reached the end of her essay. “He is just a boy, let him live, please,” she read. “And if you cannot leave without another life on your hands, a bit more blood under your nails; take me. I don’t know what life is like without him, nor do I want to, so please spare him and take me.” Cronan was among four Dawson County students recognized for sharing the challenges they have faced in their young lives during this year’s Laws of Life essay contest. “[Laws of Life are] a quotation or saying that summarizes an ideal, a character value or a princi pal about life,” said Rotary Club member Carla Boutin. “If followed by everyone, the law of life would make the world a better place. This is what they’re looking to do when they write their essays.” The contest was spon sored at the local level by the Rotary Club of Dawson County and is put on statewide each year by the Georgia Rotary Districts Character Education Program, a 501(c) (3) nonprofit orga nization whose mission is to transform lives by pro moting positive values and by building ethical literacy in students. “[The contest] encour ages young people to dis cover for themselves the core values, principles and ideals that are important to their lives,” Boutin said. “It also gives our Rotary Club the opportunity to express our gratitude and say thank you to our stu dents, teachers and par ents.” Winners were ninth grader Bridgette Nichols, sophomore Hailey Barnes, Cronan and senior Nataleigh Pasha. Cronan was also named the school winner for her essay and placed fifth in the state out of 46,269 essays submitted. Her essay will be published in a catalog along with the rest of the statewide win ners at http://georgialaw- soflife.org/. Sixty high schools across Georgia participat ed in the 2017-2018 con test, and the contest awarded $19,000 both in student and teacher award money to over 167 student winners and 48 teachers in the state. Each grade level winner received $50 and the school winner was award ed an additional $50. Each school-wide winner was placed in a pool of entries from which the state win ners were decided. First through fifth place as well as a Character in Action Award are given. Teachers received a $100 teacher award if they had 25 percent or more student involvement in the contest. The contest co-chairs were Dawson County High School teacher Lindsey Luchansky and Dawson County Junior High School teacher Aimee Park. According to Luchansky, Dawson County High School was recognized as one of dis tinction for participating in the contest. DCHS students awarded Sawnee EMC scholarships For the Dawson County News The Sawnee Electric Membership Foundation recent ly awarded 26 local high school seniors each with a $4,500 scholarship in support of its mis sion to support educational endeavors in the areas served by Sawnee EMC. Scholarship recipients for Dawson County High School for 2018 are Cullen Reed and Alexis Matheson.The funding for the scholarship pro gram is derived from Sawnee EMC's abandoned patronage capital funds. These funds are separate and apart from the funds that Sawnee members voluntarily donate to the foun dation for distribution to local charitable organizations. In the past 13 years, the foundation has awarded $628,000 in schol arships to 167 exceptional high schools seniors within Sawnee EMC's seven-county service area. For the Dawson County News Dawson County High School eighth-graders show off anti-vaping posters they recently created in media and technology class in partnership with Dawson County Family Connection. Students make anti-tobacco posters for Family Connection From staff reports Students with Dawson County Junior High School teacher Kim Dutton’s eighth-grade media and technology class recently partnered with Dawson County Family Connection to cre ate posters with positive youth prevention messag es. As students mature into their teen years, they are often easily influenced by their peers, according to Nancy Chambers, Family Connection’s Underage Drinking Prevention Coordinator. She partnered with Dutton to help spread the message about the harmful effects of using nicotine and tobacco products by hav ing students create posters with a computer. “It’s amazing to see what creative ways stu dents come up with when given the opportunity to develop and deliver important messages,” Chambers said. “These messages will have a higher likelihood of get ting through — and changing attitudes and behaviors — when they are coming from their peers. It is truly impact ful. We’d like to thank Mrs. Kim Dutton and her class for partnering with us and adding a new twist to our media campaign.” Dutton’s students designed posters with game themes to draw other students’ attention to their message. “Marketing firms and advertisers are increasing ly targeting teens and tweens with colorful ads, games and context that negatively influence stu dents,” Dutton said. “We wanted to do something to counteract the commercial culture and get students’ attention. Currently, vap- ing and smoking are hot topics for this age group, so it was easy for our stu dents to use marketing strategies to reach their peers. They did a great job.” The posters are on dis play throughout the junior high and are a daily reminder for students to avoid nicotine and vaping. Rotary Club honors April Students of the Month —m For the Dawson County News Kilough Elementary School's Rotary Student of the month for April is Jaycee Poole, top. "She is a student leader in our building and lends a helping hand to any student in need," said Kilough Elementary Principal Teresa Conowal. Robinson Elementary School's Student of the month for April is Anna Martin, above. "Anna has only been attending Robinson Elementary School for two months," said Robinson Elementary Principal Page Arnette. "Since her first day at RES, she has shone very brightly in and out of the class room. She is always willing to help out a classmate or help with classroom chores." The Rotary Club of Dawson County believes the future of our community lies with the elementary students of Dawson County. They have developed the student of the month program to encourage and promote outstanding fifth grade students in each elementary school. The Rotary Club presents two movie tickets to each student chosen.
