Essay winners honored by Dawson Rotary Club

The Rotary Club of Dawson County recently recognized several high school students who took part in the 2011 Laws of Life Essay Contest. From left are, Keith Porter, superintendent, Abbigale Brown, Tori Bottoms, Jessica Smith, Tayler Hasbrouck, DCHS teacher Diana Turner, Larry Florentino, Miranda Abe, Jade Perry and Rotary president Kathy Fuller. Not pictured is Abigaile Faille. - photo by For the Dawson Community News

Laws of Life pic — The Rotary Club of Dawson County recently recognized several high school students who took part in the 2011 Laws of Life Essay Contest. From left are, Keith Porter, superintendent, Abbigale Brown, Tori Bottoms, Jessica Smith, Tayler Hasbrouck, DCHS teacher Diana Turner, Larry Florentino, Miranda Abe, Jade Perry and Rotary president Kathy Fuller. Not pictured is Abigaile Faille. - photo by For the Dawson Community News

The Rotary Club of Dawson County recently recognized the 2011 Laws of Life Essay Contest winners during a special awards program.

The Laws of Life program is an essay contest promoting literacy and character building, focused on high school students.

The program challenges students to write an essay about their own Law of Life. The contest encourages the students to reflect on traits such as honesty, perseverance, generosity and compassion. It promotes literacy by encouraging those students to develop essential writing and analytical skills, while assisting them in making articulate arguments in support of their own ethical beliefs.

The program is a fully endorsed Rotary Character Education Program. This year there were more than 40,600 essays submitted by Georgia high school students. The program is sponsored by Rotary International, The Dawson County Rotary, The John Templeton Foundation, The Devereaux F and Martha McClatchey Foundation, Outlaw Consulting and dozens of other individual and corporate sponsors who believe in character and integrity.

The outstanding Dawson County High School students honored were:

• Miranda Abe, Dawson County High School winner and ninth grade winner

• Abbigale Brown and Tori Bottoms, ninth grade honorable mention

• Abigaile Faille, 10th grade winner

• Jade Perry and Larry Florentine, 10th grade honorable mention

• Jessica Smith and Tayler Hasbrouck, 11th grade honorable mention

Dawson County Rotary also recognized Diana Turner, educator, ESOL and English teacher at Dawson County High School. Turner has been the driving force behind the program in Dawson County for the past six years.