Winners of American Dream essay contest announced

Coldwell Banker Heritage Realtors announced this year’s winners of their “My Home: The American Dream” essay contest. The contest is open to any student grades 2-8 across the Dayton region. Students were asked to write about what makes their house a home and the essays revealed students’ creativity, originality and emotions, all of which captured the essence of home, and the hearts of the judges.

This is the 8th annual American Dream Essay Contest that Coldwell Banker Heritage Realtors has hosted and the prizes consist of 3 grand prizes of $500 each and 9 runner-up prizes of $100 each. All essays submitted were read by multiple judges and narrowed down to finalists in three age groups.

Representatives from Coldwell Banker Heritage Realtors traveled to each school to present the winners of the contest. The grand prize winners were also recognized at a Dayton Dragons baseball game at Fifth Third Field. The grand prize winners include Anna Marie Pickens, a 4th grader at Xenia Christian; Riley Connors, a 6th grader at Bethlehem Lutheran; and Aiesha Hamilton, an 8th grader at Warner Middle School.

The runner-up winners include Andrew Riddle (4th), Daniel Short (6th) and Jackson Ewing (6th) from Xenia Christian; Anastasia Bishop (8th) and Sean Pluger (7th) from Bethlehem Lutheran Middle School; Jaden Bowen (7th) from Warner Middle School; Rebecca Brown (4th) from Dennis Elementary; Kelsey Towle (3rd) from Dayton Christian; and Jorryn Gauthier (6th) from Miamisburg Middle School.

The next American Dream Essay Contest will kick off this fall. For more information, visit www.AmericanDream Contest.com. FROM LEFT: Riley Connors, American Dream essay contest grand-prize winner; Rick Heben, Coldwell Banker general manager; Ron Sweeney, Coldwell Banker partner; Laura Quinn, Coldwell Banker director of marketing; and Anna Marie Pickens, American Dream contest grand prize winner, stand with the checks.