Muskingum County Prosecutor’s Office Awards Winners of Essay Contest

ZANESVILLE, Oh – The Muskingum County Prosecutor’s Office named three local students as their essay award winners.

Haylie Stemm, of Philo High School, Baylee Hendrickson of John Glenn High School, and Kylah Miller of Tri-Valley High School were each awarded certificates and checks this morning.

The money awarded will go directly to the students’ schools to fund drug education awareness and prevention programming among those most vulnerable in the community.

This programming includes Stemm’s proposed addition of the Drug-Free Clubs of America to her own school to help ensure students stay away from addictive substances and promote healthy lifestyles.

“It rewards students for not turning to drugs. You would do a drug test about once a month, randomly. And for your participation, you would have monthly rewards, and that could be a pizza party or a hot cocoa bar. Anything of that sort.

It means a lot that I got the opportunity to impact my community and my school. I think it’s such a big issue today that is targeting people my age,” Stemm explained.

Muskingum County Prosecutor Ron Welch says all money given to the students today came directly from those putting drugs on the streets, through everything from assets and money to cars and other property that have been seized during busts.

Welch says this is a way to use what would otherwise have been used to put more drugs on the streets, for good, and educate those the growing drug epidemic impacts most.

“One of the ideas that we came up with, as far as getting out the educational component of why drugs are a problem, why they’re dangerous and their impacts was going to the sources that are most impacted which are our children. And we thought it would be helpful to have their input.

The kids that are most impacted are living through it. they see it everyday.

We’re taking what they have worked to get and turning it around on them and we’re using it to educate people to not make their livelihood possible,” Welch told us.

Out of a total of $4,500 awarded, Stemm received $2,500, Hendrickson received $1,500 and Miller received $500.

The Prosecutor’s Office hopes to continue the essay contest in the future.