Mary Helen Straker Writing Competition Award Ceremony

MUSKINGUM COUNTY, Ohio- The Straker Charitable Foundation held the Mary Helen Straker writing competition inside the Zane State College Campus Center. 

The Mary Helen Straker writing competition asked juniors to envision what life might be like in Muskingum County and what they would like to see happen after completing their post secondary education.

President and Executive Director of the Straker Charitable Foundation, Susan Holdren, said 148 essays were submitted.

“Today we had a wonderful ceremony at Zane State College. Dr. Jim Burson was our keynote speaker, Dr. Chad Brown welcomed us, he’s the president of Zane State and I think the ceremony went really well. We had representatives from every high school in the county, teachers, parents, grandparents and the students of course so we’re very pleased with how the morning went,” Holdren stated.

There were up to three $500 winners per school throughout the county making it a total of 21 winners. 

Garrett Buchanan, junior at John Glenn High School, was the grand prize winner of $2,000. He explained what he wrote about for his essay and why it’s important to him.

“In my essay I talked about incorporating green energy in Muskingum County and that can range from solar farms and bringing back other workers to help with future employment,” Buchanan said. “I’ve always believed in doing more stuff renewable to help the environment and just look for greener alternatives to current solutions.”

Garrett said he is very enthusiastic to be selected and congratulated the other winners of the competition. 

He also thanked the Straker Charitable for the opportunity.