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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.