North Ga. Christian School student's water essay a winner

FLOWERY BRANCH - Seth Carey, an 8th grade student at North Georgia Christian School, won the Metropolitan North Georgia Water Planning District's annual water essay contest. Seth's essay, "Stormwater Pollution," was named the District-wide winner and detailed his research into the dangers that urban runoff pollutants pose to the environment and human life.

Carey was "ecstatic" when he learned about the award in this week's chapel service.

"It was a subject I didn't really know much about, so I had to do a lot of research to develop and form my own opinion about the subject," he said. "I was surprised that I won because although I worked really hard and did the best I could, I thought someone would do a better job than me."

Contest participants included students in 6th, 7th, and 8th grades from 15 counties: Bartow, Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb, Coweta, DeKalb, Douglas, Fayette, Fulton, Forsyth, Gwinnett, Hall, Henry, Paulding, and Rockdale. More than 60 schools entered the contest, which awarded prizes to one City of Atlanta and fifteen county winners. Seth's was selected as the most outstanding of the top essays.

While Carey was surprised at his essay's success, his teacher, Rebecca Purcell, was not.

"Seth is an excellent writer with an advanced vocabulary and understanding of sentence structure," she explained. "I look forward to following his continued academic development at NGCS and beyond."

Tom Oliver, Hall County Commission Chairman, and Kostoula Vallianos, Senior Education Program Specialist with the Clean Water Campaign, will visit North Georgia Christian School later this month to recognize Carey and present him with his award, which includes a $200 cash prize.

http://accesswdun.com/article/2012/11/254781