The members of the Rotary Club of Edmeston, New York are pleased to announce that Harit Phanphat (nicknamed “Army”), our current inbound foreign exchange student from Thailand, has won first prize in a recent essay contest. The contest, sponsored by the Valley of Utica, Yahnundahsis Bodies, Scottish Rite Masons, in conjunction with its annual Frank S. Rice Memorial Family Life Program Essay Contest, sought submissions of essays from public and private school students in grades 7 through 12, in honor of the 250th anniversary of our country’s independence, on the topic of “what the freedoms that I have mean to me.”
Army’s essay earned first place in the grade 11-12 category. He, along with all of the other contest winners, have been invited to an upcoming complementary banquet at which they will be recognized and given their awards. He has also been asked to read his essay aloud at the dinner. Army’s essay was prepared and submitted under the guidance of Mr. Vince Slesinsky, his high school English teacher at Edmeston Central School.