OJR senior wins essay contest: describes Pottstown life, The Very Best
Shandy Hill Essay Contest/Scholarship Award given for ‘embodiment of generations of Pottstown’
POTTSTOWN » The Greater Pottstown Foundation recently presented the $30,000 Shandy Hill Essay Contest/Scholarship Award to the graduating high school senior with the best essay pertaining to life in Pottstown.
The 2018 winning essay was by Lucas Gray, a graduating senior from Owen J. Roberts High School.
The essay subject must “focus on some aspect of life in the Greater Pottstown Area,” the press release states. “The Foundation seeks the writer’s original and personal interpretation of how any aspect of life … is effected by living in this area as opposed to somewhere else.”
Gray wrote about his childhood memories at “The Very Best” hot dog restaurant, which was opened for 95 years on High Street.
“Growing up, I’ve always known my roots are deep in this small town,” Gray wrote. “...It was not until ‘The Very Best’ closed that I recognized how attached I had become to the unique culture of the area. I was genuinely upset when I heard the news, for it was more than a restaurant to me.”
The Greater Pottstown Foundation chose Gray’s essay for his description of “the embodiment of generations of Pottstown residents,
as well as the unique culture of the town itself,” according to the press release.
Gray was the 2018 Owen J. Roberts High School student body president. He also took part in the school’s concert band, jazz band, show choir and chorus, according to the press release.
Gray will be attending Cornell University’s School of Hotel and Hospitality Administration in Ithaca, N.Y. He plans to specialize in restaurant eering and the culinary arts.
“I had no idea what I was saying, it just flowed out of my mouth, so it came as a surprise to both of us when I said, ‘One day, I’m going to own that place,’” Gray wrote. “At first it seemed like a miniscule comment, but the more I’ve thought about it, the more motivated I feel … I would love to bring that culinary staple back to the town that has been silently begging for it since the restaurant’s closing.”
The Shandy Hill Essay Contest is for seniors at The Hill School, Owen J. Roberts, Pottsgrove, and Pottstown high schools, according to the press release.
“This year, the Foundation was pleased to receive essays from 50 applicants, which was the highest number received in recent years,” the release states. “Again, however, most essays were received from The Hill School and Owen J. Roberts, causing the board to hope that Pottstown and Pottsgrove school districts will take a greater interest in future years.”
The contest honors Shandy Hill, the Greater Pottstown Foundation’s founder and the original editor of The Mercury from 1931 to 1976.
“Hill was an ardent believer in supporting education opportunities for students within the Pottstown community,” the release states. “The Greater Pottstown Foundation strives to continue that worthy objective through various education related grants and student scholarship awards.”