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Lexington Third Grader Wins College Savings Account for Anti-Bullying Essay

Stu Johnson
/
WEKU News

A Lexington third grader now has a bit of a head start on building her college fund.  Anna Curry is one of six winners of the 'Dream Out Loud Challenge.'

Curry attends Sandersville Elementary.  She wrote an essay for the challenge about ways to change the world after college.  Curry suggested weekly 'kindness clubs' in schools.  "I hope it would work so nobody bullied anybody else and everybody would be nice to each other and kind to each other," said Curry.

Curry was one of six statewide winners, receiving a $1,500 college savings account through the Kentucky Education Savings Plan Trust.  Her mother, Kelly, says Anna and her sister, after a little convincing, wrote their essays on a snow day.  "When the reward came through and she won, I felt like that sent a really positive message to Anna and to our other daughter, that sometimes you do things that you don't always want to do or may not always be the most fun, but when you work hard, it pays off," said Kelly Curry.

Kelly, says her daughter's essay included ways bullies could participate in 'share' groups.  "Children who have been bullies being able to come to these meetings and apologize for their actions, I think is important,” said Curry.  “Children make mistakes.  We all make mistakes.  They need an opportunity to make up for that, try to change their actions and move forward.  So, I thought that was neat."

David Lawhorn with the Kentucky Higher Education Assistance Authority says the goal of the contest is to get families to start thinking about college earlier.?

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