South Windsor Students Take 3rd Place in State Essay, PowerPoint Contest

After combing through entries from more than 400 fifth graders from 38 schools across Connecticut, Secretary of the State Denise Merrill announced the winners of the office’s 18th Annual Essay - and newly added PowerPoint - Contest.

Sara Wills, a student at Philip R. Smith Elementary School in South Windsor, took third place in Congressional District 1 for her essay on "an important event or invention from Connecticut that has significantly affected the history of our state."

Alan Cavagnaro, a student at Philip R. Smith Elementary School in South Windsor, placed third in Congressional District 1 for his PowerPoint presentation on the same topic.

“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 in a prepared statement.

“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," she said.