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Adams wins Fire Safety Essay Contest
She is the fourth-straight Southeast Bulloch Middle Schooler to take the state title
W Starla Adams Fire Safety Essay Winner
Starla Adams, an eighth-grader at Southeast Bulloch Middle School, won the Statewide Fire Safety Essay Contest. - photo by Special to the Herald

    For the fourth-straight year a Southeast Bulloch Middle School student has won the Statewide Fire Safety Essay Contest sponsored by the Georgia Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner’s Office.  Eighth-Grader Starla Adams claimed this year’s title. 
    “I like to write, and I thought I could do it,” said Adams.
    “The contest is an opportunity for Georgia students in grades six through 12 to express their views on fire safety,” said Wanda Butler, a representative with the Commissioner’s Office, who coordinates the competition. 
    Adams and her parents  joined other grade-level winners and their families at an awards banquet at the Georgia Public Safety Training Center in Forsyth, Tuesday, Oct. 11.  The winning essays will be displayed at the luncheon, and Adams will receive a $100.00 U.S. Savings Bond and other prizes. 
    Her winning essay was one of more than 200 eighth-grade category applicants from across the state.
    “We required students to write a 200 to 700-word essay related to the 2011 National Fire Protection Association’s theme, ‘Protect your family from fire,' ” said Butler. “Our committee actually reads each entry from every category to determine winners.”
    The contest committee awards a first, second, and third-place winner in each grade-level category.
    Terry Rushing, an eighth-grade language arts teacher at SEBMS, is Adams’ teacher.  Each year she encourages her students to submit essays to the contest for extra credit in her class.
    “Three participated this year, but this is the fourth year that one of my students has won,” said Rushing.

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