Students whose essays were judged the top three of 15 entries for seventh- and eighth-grade students in the Falls Church Rotary Club’s Essay Contest were invited to the April 3 meeting of the club to receive prizes. For their essays on the Rotary Four-Way Test, Cooper Middle School students Maggie Bellaschi (second from right) and Kaitlyn O’Conor (center) were awarded first- and second-place prizes of $50 and $35, respectively, and Annie Wood (second from left), a student at Trinity School at Meadowview received $25 for third place. Bellaschi read her essay to the dinner gathering and her winning essay was forwarded to Northern Virginia Rotary District 7610 for judging in the District Finals, where it will compete with essays from other District 7610 Rotary Clubs for first-, second-, and third-place awards of $1,000, $500, and $250, respectively. Essay contest winners are shown flanked by Falls Church Rotary Club President Diane Hill (far left) and Contest Chair Joe Scheibeler (far right). (Photo: Courtesy John Karickhoff)
