Students rewarded with sweet treats

Alma Elementary School art students participated in a Fair Housing poster contest this month. The students were treated to an ice cream party sponsored by the Appalachian Council of Governments (ACOG) as recognition for their work. Pictured are (back row, left to right) Dan Wagner, ACOG project manager; Scott Yanno, Alma art teacher; David Roark, assistant principal; and Mike Vassey, Cherokee County treasurer. Front row (left to right) are: Grade 3 - 5 first place winner Tavia Gatewood; grade 3 - 5 honorable mention Dirk Logan; and grade K - 2 honorable mention Alyssa McGinis. Not pictured is the K - 2 first place winner Magdalena Alcantara. Alma Elementary School art students got a sweet reward for some community projects Tuesday as the Appalachian Council of Governments (ACOG) gave them ice cream treats after their Fair Housing poster contest.

"I want to thank all of the students and especially the Alma art teacher, Scott Yanno, for their hard work on this project," said Dan Wagner, project manager for ACOG. "I'm very impressed by all of your artwork and would like to congratulate the winners once again. We hope that you've learned a lot about what fair housing is and what it means for boys and girls like you."

The contest recognized two winners and two honorable mentions from the school. The winners each received a $25 Wal-Mart gift certificate while the honorable mentions received $15 gift certificates.

"Cherokee County currently has three Community Development Block Grant projects open," Wagner said in a statement. "Two grants are for providing public water to areas of the county that are experiencing contaminated wells or wells running dry. The third is a planning grant for the East Gaffney neighborhood. This grant is designed to allow the community a chance to create an improvement plan for the area and the planning process is heavily community-driven. Because the funds are from the U.S. Housing and Urban Development, there is an emphasis on fair housing practices. The poster contest was envisioned as a way to help students better understand what fair housing means to them."

Students drew posters that included images of handicapped tenants and tenants of various ethnicities sharing homes and neighborhoods.

The first place winner for grades 3 - 5 was Tavia Gatewood, a fourth grader in Mrs. Dunlap's class. The 3 - 5 honorable mention was Dirk Logan, a fifth grader in Ms. Rice's class.

The first place winner for kindergarten through second grade was Magdalena Alcantara, a second grader in Mrs. Farr's class and the honorable mention was Alyssa McGinis, also a second grader in Mrs. Farr's class.