The Sertoma Club of Broad Ripple has sponsored the National Heritage Essay Contest for more than
30 years, and recently announced the winners of their 2015 contest. The contest was open to sixth grade students in public, private and parochial schools in the greater Indianapolis area.

The topic students were asked to address in their essays was “What Freedom Means to Me.” Sertoma believes that participation in the National Heritage Essay Contest encourages students to better understand the founding principles of our country and to consider how those principles affect their lives today.

This year, 16 schools totaling 57 classrooms submitted more than 1,100 essays from Marion and Hamilton County. Classroom winners were chosen from among each of the top three classroom essays submitted by their teachers. A total of 25 finalist essays were identified for consideration as one of three grand prize winners.

The grand prize winners are:

Third place – ($200) Channing Christian from Park Tudor Preparatory School; teacher- Jennifer Palmer.

Channing resides in Zionsville with her parents , Justin and Darrianne Christian.

Second place-($250) Chelsea Lo from The Orchard School; teacher- Ms. Karen Dean.

Chelsea resides in Carmel with her parents Dr. Carlo and Joyce Lo.

First place-($375) Reagan Frank from Riverside Intermediate School; teacher- Mr. Anthony Ioannacci.

Reagan lives in Fishers with her parents Tony and Heather Frank.

There was also one student whose essay was deemed honorable mention, Daniel Melbert who attends St. Richards Episcopal School.