"This contest generated a tremendous amount of participation from school districts statewide," said Wolff. "Eating Pennsylvania's fresh agricultural products is a great way to ensure a healthy diet. I sincerely hope that students learned more about the importance of fresh produce through this exercise."
Designed to encourage healthy eating habits, more than 14,250 students from 67 different school districts participated in the poster and essay contest. Schools were responsible for choosing the top entries for each grade-level category. Finalists were then judged at the state level.
"By entering this contest, students were able to have fun and learn about the importance of a healthy diet at the same time," said Barnes. "The more we teach our children about proper nutrition, the more likely they are to follow a healthy lifestyle for the rest of their lives."
The top 50 schools with the greatest percentage of students participating were able to select $500 in materials from a physical education/nutrition catalog. First place students in each category received a $500 savings bond. Second and third place entries received $200 and $100 bonds, respectively.
The winners for both contests, their grade category and school district are as follows:
Essay Contest Winners:
-- K-3 grades - Daisy Killian, Ephrata Area School District - 1st; Joy Shon, Philadelphia School District - 2nd; Rosalind Cowan, Bald Eagle Area School District - 3rd
-- 4-6 grades - Caroline Barth, Somerset Area School District - 1st; Chris Rosmini, Philadelphia School District - 2nd; Ann Durica, Conemaugh Valley School District - 3rd
-- 7-9 grades - Laura Doemland, West Shore School District - 1st; Sean Katz, Philadelphia School District - 2nd; Kelly Sherry, Northern Cambria School District - 3rd
-- 10-12 grades - Clara Finley, Pittsburgh Public Schools - 1st; Angela Hancharik, Northern Cambria - 2nd; Justin Calvitto, Pennsbury School District - 3rd
Poster Contest Winners:
-- K-3 grades - Aisvarya Addanski, Great Valley School District - 1st; Jade Song, North Allegheny School District - 2nd; Zachary Shoemaker, East Penn School District - 3rd
-- 4-6 grades - Kim Neubauer, Philadelphia School District - 1st; Jalina Sabatose, Brockway Area School District - 2nd; Hailey Temple, Lower Moreland Township School District - 3rd; Justin Schmidt, Philadelphia School District - Honorable Mention
-- 7-9 grades - Molly Cruz, West Shore School District - 1st; Alyssa Hall, Moon Area School District - 2nd; Tanya Weir, School District of Lancaster - 3rd
-- 10-12 grades - Olivia Stofko, West Shore School District - 1st; Michelle Brown, Northern Cambria School District - 2nd; Cristian Gonzalez, Lehigh School District - 3rd
Winners of another competition to design and implement environmental strategies to improve students' food choices were announced May 3. For more information on the Simply Delicious program, go to www.agriculture.state.pa.us/.