Bar association sponsors Law Day
The annual Law Day Celebration will be held at 6 p.m. Tuesday in Courtroom 1 of the Washington County Courthouse. The event will include the presentation of awards to Law Day contest winners, naturalization ceremony, local court admission ceremony and dessert reception.
A special immigration and naturalization educational seminar will be held from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. in Courtroom 2. Both the celebration and the seminar are free and open to the public, and online registration is requested by visiting www.washcobar.org.
This year’s annual Law Day contests resulted in 325 bookmarks, 77 editorial essays, 13 “Peeps” dioramas and 27 creative arts entries from students from a dozen school districts and parochial schools, as well as students who entered independently and those who are homeschooled. Winning entries and a few select others will be displayed at the courthouse on Tuesday.
Receiving this year’s Liberty Bell Award is Sergeant David Richards, North Strabane Police Department. The award is presented annually by the Washington County Bar Association to a non-lawyer for outstanding service in promoting a better understanding of our form of government, encouraging respect for law and the courts, stimulating individual responsibilities, contributing to the effective functioning of government and developing an appreciation of the rule of law.
The 2018 Law Day Citizenship Project Award will be presented to the Trinity Leadership Team for their year-long “Our School, Our Community, Our Home” project. Trinity High School students who comprise the core of the Leadership Team are Margaret McIvaine, Allyson Popeck, Alayna Cappelli, Emily Beitler, Julia Faust, Ethan Newman, Ann Kozek, Bayli Miles and Joie Engel. The students will donate $100 of their prize money to Domestic Violence Services of SWPA to support its teen dating violence prevention programs, and use the remaining $150 for seed money for next year’s team’s charitable projects.
In the Law Day Essay Contest for grades 6-12, the first-place winner is Emma Malinak, grade 9, Trinity; second place is Derek Steele, grade 7, Trinity; and third place, Caitlin Adler, grade 7, Trinity.
In the Law Day Creative Arts Contest for grades 6-12, the first-place winner is Robert McElheny, grade 8, JFK; second place is Anessa Preteroti and Kelcie Herrmann, grade 8, JFK; third place is Emma Ostrom, grade 11, Peters; and fourth place, Rowan Curry, grade 7, JFK.
The Law Day Peeps Diorama Contest for grades 6-12 first place winners are Cameron Minnick and Ben Ondrejko, grade 6, JFK; second place is Quinn Kumpfmiller and Sydney McWreath, grade 6, JFK; and third place is Emma Ostrom, grade 11, Peters.
Marsha Mosca, sixth-grade teacher from Washington Park, won the adult division of the Peeps Diorama Contest and will donate her $200 prize to the Sister to Sister Summit, a project of the Washington branch of the American Association of University Women.
In the Law Day Bookmark Contest for grades 2-5, the first place winner is Caden Miller, grade 4, Trinity South; second place is Emma Ledger, grade 5, Trinity South; third place is Bayleigh Lowe, grade 4, Trinity South; fourth place is Abby Higgins, grade 5, JFK; fifth place is Diana Mudrick, grade 5, Burgettstown; and sixth place is Ayla Altman, grade 5, JFK.
A list of awardees, can be found at www.washcobar.org. For more information about educational programs offered by Washington County Bar Association, call 724-225-6710 or email wcba@washcobar.org.