Ten-year-old Sydney Fialkow is the winner of the National Uncle Ben's Beginner's contest! The fifth grader at the Epstein School in Atlanta won $20,000 and a $50,000 cafeteria makeover for her school. She was named the grand prize winner of the cooking and nutrition contest after more than 700 videos submissions and 45,000 votes. On Wednesday, Sydney's school had a viewing party on a big screen TV in the gym and watched "The Rachael Ray Show," where she was announced as the contest winner.
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Sahr Singh, a seventh grader at Cobb's Dodgen Middle School, won the state's National Geographic geography bee. Sahr competed with 100 other fourth through 8th graders. She and her teacher, Deborah Reese, received an all expenses paid trip to Washington to take part in the national championship rounds May 22-24. The first-place national winner will receive a $25,000 college scholarship, a lifetime membership in the Society and a trip to the Galapagos Islands, courtesy of Lindblad Expeditions and National Geographic. The PlumTree lumber company is flying Sahr's parents to Washington to attend the bee. Sahr appeared on "The Late Show with David Letterman" as a 4-year-old for her geography knowledge.
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Three seniors were awarded $1,250 scholarships by the North Futon Council of PTAs. Winners are: Justin Eisenberg, a senior at North Springs High School, who plans to attend Georgia Tech; Urvashi Pandya, a senior at Northview High School, who will attend the University of Georgia; and Jennifer Shults, a senior at Roswell High School who plans to attend Harvard. Urvashi was also named a North Fulton Hero for her community service.
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In honor of Earth Week, the Porsche Corporation recently partnered with Mount Vernon Presbyterian School's fifth graders. Students in Ronn Colanino's class competed in the company's "green" themed essay contest. Students were asked to think about their local environment and pen an essay about practical conservation methods. William Mitcham won first place for investigating the negative impacts of disposable, plastic water bottles. Matthew Turnbull's essay on the benefits of trees earned second place, and Aria Morrill earned third place for her essay about the Atlanta Beltline and its anticipated impact on traffic congestion and green space development.
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