Students Honored for Genealogy Essays

Members of the Leisure Village West Genealogy Club presented three Manchester students with top honors for the essays they crafted exploring their family histories. 

Open to all district sixth graders the contest is held each October, which is National History Month, said Supervisor of Instruction Barbara Smith during a presentation at the February regular meeting. 

"The most significant personal aspect of history is one's personal history or one's family as expressed by traditions, which is a very age appropriate way of exploring that in the sixth grade," Smith said. 

In third place was Amanda Ramirez of Brian Keating's class. Second place went to Milan Kleva, also a student of Keating. Awarded the first place prize was Anya Kane of Michael Balog's class. 

Eight other students received honorable mention for their essays. All participants will be given a certificate for participating in the contest.

The submissions were sent to the genealogy club, which was then responsible for selecting the winners and honorable mentions. 

"We've had some very, very good essays presented to us," said Joan Reed, the club's treasurer. "We form a committee and review every essay that is submitted. It was a very, very hard choice."

The students were given materials to encourage their research into their family history, "if they'd like to find out about their ancestors," Reed said. 

Superintendent of Schools David Trethaway congratulated the students and said that it was "very special" for the genealogy club members to participate in the education of students. 

"We think we have some outstanding students. We really do appreciate you coming here and volunteering your time and doing that," Trethaway said.