This year, ‘Advance Newspapers’ held their 18th annual essay contest, which was entered by 224 students from throughout Western Michigan. Shakaria Turner, a seventh-grader at West Michigan Academy of Environmental Science (WMAES) was recognized as second runner-up in her age group. Alexis Rainwater, another WMAES student, was recognized with an honorable mention.

The theme for this years contest was “What Needs to be Done to Make the World a Better Place to Live?” As second runner-up, Shakaria received a $20 gift card to Celebration Cinemas. To read her essay, click here.

Shakaria Turner Alexis Rainwater
Central Michigan University is the authorizer for WMAES. When they heard about the excellent job Miss Turner and Miss Rainwater did in the essay contest, they wrote about it in their CSO newsletter. Click here to see the article.