CCBDD announces student contest winners
The winners of the CCBDD essay/coloring contest are Zoey Sheaffer, Bridget Kobel, Kamri Bordenkircher, Natasha Huffman, Josie Boatman, Wylan Wright, Elyza Patterson, Bri Fink, Kenzie Roach, Scarlett Sturgeon and Griffyn Rowls. Not all winners were present to receive their awards on April 15 at Hopewell School. (Jen Jones)
Coshocton County Board of Developmental Disabilities held coloring and essay contests for students to help celebrate Developmental Disabilities Month in March.
“Each year, we like to do the coloring and essay contests for all of the students in in kindergarten through sixth grade. I feel that this is a good way to promote an understanding of disability awareness in individual students throughout our county,” said Shannon Shontz, principal of Hopewell School.
“When we send out the coloring/essay contest, we also provide the teachers with some educational information that they can incorporate into a lesson if they choose to do so. The hope is to promote awareness in a fun way. Children love contests and the potential of winning a prize and in the process, we can educate. This year’s essay contest question was ‘If you found out that a friend was having a birthday party and invited everyone in your class except a new student with a disability, how would you handle it?’”
Shontz said the winners were chosen by the staff of the Coshocton County Board of DD.
Steve Oster, superintendent of CCBDD, said, “The coloring contest allows teachers to have a conversation with their students about disabilities and to also celebrate all abilities. The children in the younger grades can have fun coloring and be creative but also get to write a one or two sentence answer to a question about disabilities.”
“For the kids in third through sixth, they have an essay to answer. What I love about their answer is that they are genuine and at their age, they truly know the right way to treat other children with disabilities, according to the essays. I would love to give the students back their essays when they get to high school to see if they still believe what they wrote and see if they are implementing what they answered in grade school. The hope is, if they are friends with someone with a disability in grade school, they continue to be friends with them throughout their school tenure,” Oster said.
The essay contest winners are, in no particular order were Natasha Huffman – Sacred Heart; Bridget Kobel – Sacred Heart; Wylan Wright – Coshocton Elementary; and Bri Fink – Coshocton Elementary.
The coloring contest winners were: Kindergarten – Griffyn Rowles – Ridgewood, Aubree Giesey – Conesville, and Kamri Bordenkircher – Warsaw. The first grade winners were: Maliyah Stocker – Sacred Heart, Elyza Patterson – Ridgewood, Holly McFadden – Coshocton. Second grade winners were: Zoey Sheaffer – Ridgewood, Ivy Moore – Sacred Heart and Scarlett Sturgeon – Keene. Winners from the third grade were: Kenzie Roach – Conesville, Josie Boatman – Warsaw and Lily Sibert – Warsaw.
The students were awarded their prizes at Hopewell School on April 15.
Category: Education
