Secretary of State Awards Clinton Fifth Grader for Presentation

A press release issued by the office of Secretary of State Denise Merrill  

Clinton’s Andrew Daly, a fifth grader at the Abraham Pierson School won third place for his presentation submitted to a statewide essay contest about historical events and inventions in Connecticut. The essay and presentation contest is sponsored by Secretary of the State’s office and this year, students were asked to discuss an important event or invention from Connecticut that has significantly affected the history of our state and had to answer the question “How is the impact of this event or invention still felt today?”  

This was the first year the contest allowed PowerPoint presentations on the same topic as the essay.    The contest winners were honored at a ceremony in the Old Judiciary Room of the State Capitol Friday May 17th.  More than 400 fifth graders from 38 different schools across Connecticut submitted essays and PowerPoint presentations this year.   

“Connecticut is a small state, yet we have had an extraordinary number of innovations in science and industry, not to mention the dozens of historically impactful events that have happened here,” said Secretary Merrill, Connecticut’s chief elections official. “I am very impressed with these students and the grasp they have on Connecticut’s history.  They also seem to understand that they too can one day play an important part in history, or create some fantastic invention that can save or improve lives all over the world.  There is no telling what kind of inspiring ideas may flow from this writing exercise that may one day themselves make a huge difference in the lifetime of these young writers.  We added the PowerPoint category this year because being able to communicate your ideas with writing and graphics is an increasingly important professional skill to possess.”  

A set of five winning essays and PowerPoint presentations was selected from each of Connecticut’s five congressional districts. Each set consisted of a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winner, along with two students who received honorable mention. Every student honored in the contest received a gift certificate from Barnes & Noble bookstore.