TOPEKA — The winners of the “It Can Wait” essay contest co-sponsored by AT&T, the Kansas Department of Transportation and the Kansas Press Association include a Hutchinson eighth grader and a sophomore at Holton High School.
Winners of $500 cash awards are Elisabeth Workman, a Prairie Hills Middle School student, and Samantha Wilson, a sophomore from Holton.
The contest challenged students at middle schools and high schools in Kansas to write about the dangers of texting while driving.
In her essay, Elisabeth described how peer pressure can help curb the use of cell phones while driving: “When the younger generation makes the active decision to call texting and driving ‘uncool’ or a stupid decision, they won’t do it. When your peers tell you something is bad, you are inclined to believe that it is and you won’t do it.”
Samantha wrote about how her firefighter father has lectured her through the years: “Don’t ever make me be the one to cut you out of a smashed car.”
“As a firefighter’s daughter, this is a conversation I have with my dad not just once a year, but multiple times a year. … “Texting is an addiction; people are on their phones constantly regardless of where they are. Phones have the power to ruin relationships and destroy time with family and friends.”
This was the second year for the essay contest.
