Polk County Public Schools
Winners of the 8th Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Essay Contest sponsored by the Community Relations Advisory Council of the Board of County Commissioners and the Polk Public Schools were announced at the annual MLK Breakfast held at the Bartow Civic Center.
The essay contest theme was “Getting Closer to the Dream….. Make it a Day On, Not a Day Off!” First-place winners earned a $1,000 savings bond while second and third place winners earned savings bonds of $500 and $250 respectively. More than 1,400 students submitted essays. Judges from Polk Community College evaluated essays based on content, organization, subject development, word choice, sentence structure, grammar, creativity, originality and other criteria.
Elementary Schools
First Place, Gemini Jenkins, Padgett Elementary (Lakeland)
Second Place, Vashti Armogum, Lincoln Avenue Academy (Lakeland)
Third Place, Breanna Suit, Brigham Academy (Winter Haven)
Middle Schools
First Place, Rachel Davis, home school (Lakeland)
Second Place, Chanelle Castrine, Blake Academy (Lakeland)
Third Place, Michael Monte, Lakeland Highlands Middle
High Schools
First Place, Brandi White, Frostproof Senior
Second Place, Brant Snell, George Jenkins High (Lakeland)
Third Place, Jesse Welch, Life Skills Center (Lakeland)
Emalee Wolfe, a Lakeland resident and sophomore in the orchestra program at Harrison School for the Arts was awarded first place in the Voice of Democracy Patriotic Audio Essay Competition sponsored by the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Zephyrhills Post 8154 in Pasco County. She received $500 and qualified to advance to the state level in the competition. This is the second consecutive year Emalee won first place in the event and qualified to compete at the state level.
The Voice of Democracy program is national audio-essay competition created to promote patriotism among high school students. More than $3 million in scholarships are awarded annually, including $30,000 to the national winner. In addition to a written essay, students make an audio recording. Entries are judged on originality, content and presentation. The theme for Emalee’s presentation was “Service And Sacrifices By American Veterans Benefit Today’s Youth.”
