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Home > Archive > Jul 19, 2007

Sons of Utah Pioneers Award Essay Winners
By Dixie Weekly News
Twenty-one fifth-grade students from four elementary schools won essay awards of 20 gold dollars from the Cotton Mission Chapter of the Sons of Utah Pioneers. 
The essay project was created by the Sons of Utah Pioneers to foster an awareness and appreciation in the fifth-grade students of their ancestors and of the spiritual values that motivated and guided them. This year, the contest was expanded from one school to four. The largest number of entries (15) came from Little Valley Elementary School. 
The winners, by school, were Shelby Esplin, Jordan Olson, Cole Spencer, and Sadie Stoker from Riverside Elementary School; Rachael Bartholomew, Haley Bodnar, Victoria Green, Amanda K. Jones, Lauren Kamalu, and Karlee Myers from Bloomington Hills Elementary School; Miranda Adamson, Kori Belliston, Jancyn Mitchell, Matt Plumb, Raivyn Skougaard, and Mike Verley from Bloomington Elementary; and Jacob Clark, Lindsey Jo McArthur, Sophia Szu, and Kaitlan Terry from Little Valley Elementary School.
The subject of the essay needed to be an ancestor that was two or more generations removed from the student. There were no restrictions concerning gender, ethnic or religious membership, or the ancestor’s place of residence. The essays were to be at least 300 words long. The information for the essays could come from manuscripts, old letters, histories, or interviews with family members. The four judges were instructed that the essays needed to convey a real sense of personal acquaintance with the subjects. They were to feel from reading the essays that the students really knew the ancestors.  The 21 winners were selected from 31essays submitted for the contest by the fifth-grade students.

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