[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 8 (Thursday, February 3, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S336-S337]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       WINNERS OF THE 1999-2000 EIGHTH GRADE YOUTH ESSAY CONTEST

 Mr. LUGAR. Mr. President, I rise today to congratulate a group 
of young Indiana students who have shown great educative achievement. I 
would like to bring to the attention of my colleagues the winners of 
the 1999-2000 Eighth Grade Youth Essay Contest which I sponsored in 
association with the Indiana Farm Bureau and Bank One of Indiana. These 
students have displayed strong writing abilities and have proven 
themselves to be outstanding young Hoosier scholars. I submit their 
names for the Congressional Record because they demonstrate the 
capabilities of today's students and are fine representatives of our 
Nation.

[[Page S337]]

  This year, Hoosier students wrote on the theme, ``International 
Market Baskets Begin on Hoosier Farms.'' Considering the importance of 
our expanding global economy, students were asked to imagine themselves 
shopping in an exotic marketplace, anywhere in the world, and then 
describe what Hoosier agricultural products they might find there. I 
would like to submit for the Record the winning essays of Clayton 
Owsley of Washington County and Emily Ripperger of Franklin County. As 
state winners of the Youth Essay Contest, these two outstanding 
students are being recognized on Friday, February 4, 2000 during a 
visit to our Nation's Capitol.
  The essays are as follows:

          International Market Baskets Begin on Hoosier Farms

                 (By Clayton Owsley, Washington County)

       Our ship arrived on the Island of Aruba early this morning. 
     Our family had been sailing on the Caribbean all night.
       Our first stop was to shop in the town of Oranjestad. As we 
     browsed in the marketplace, we saw Aruban art and merchants 
     selling fresh fish off their boats.
       While we were in the marketplace we picked up some items to 
     take back to the condominium. I forgot to pack my toothpaste, 
     so I purchased a tube of Crest (peppermint flavored). As I 
     was paying for it, I realized the peppermint used in it could 
     have originated in Indiana. Indiana is the 4th leading 
     peppermint exporter in the United States.
       My dad loves popcorn, so he bought some microwave popcorn 
     to fix in the room. I told dad this popcorn might have come 
     from Indiana, since Indiana is the number one popcorn 
     exporter in the United States.
       Before we left to go back to our room we ate lunch at a 
     restaurant by the marketplace. The special of the day was 
     roast duckling, which is another export of Indiana. We tried 
     to find many items on the menu that could have originated in 
     Indiana. The vegetable oil and dressings may have come from 
     Indiana soybeans. The soy sauce used to marinate the duckling 
     could also have come from Indiana soybeans.
       Dad reminded us that the ketchup on the table could also 
     have come from diced tomatoes grown in Indiana. He informed 
     us that 55% of Aruban imports come from the United States. 
     So it is possible these things could have originated in 
     Indiana.
       We realized that there is a little bit of Indiana all over 
     the world.
                                  ____


          International Market Baskets Begin on Hoosier Farms

                 (By Emily Ripperger, Franklin County)

       Have you ever wondered where Hoosier crops are sent after 
     they are harvested? When I took my first trip to Europe, I 
     found the answers to this question.
       It began a few years ago, when I visited London, England, 
     and was amazed at what I found. After visiting famous 
     landmarks, I arrived at Portobello Market, which is on the 
     west side of the city. When I got there, I was in awe at the 
     sights and the sounds of this new place. People were walking 
     down the crowded roads, talking in different languages, and 
     there were more booths than imaginable. As I pushed my way 
     through the crowds, I found myself gazing at crates filled 
     with almost every kind of foreign fruit or vegetable that you 
     could think of. Then, something caught my eye. There were 
     boxes of soybeans, corn, tomatoes and other familiar things. 
     Immediately, I recognized this as something from my home 
     state, Indiana. This really came to me as a shock, because 
     being in a foreign country, I had the impression that I would 
     only be seeing foreign objects. I spoke to the merchant, and 
     he told me that although some of these crops were grown 
     locally, most of them, even the peppermint and spearmint, 
     were grown on Indiana farms. This information sparked my 
     interest, so I did some extensive research. It turns out that 
     Native Americans who lived mostly around the Ohio Valley, and 
     the Great Lakes brought many of these crops grown in Indiana, 
     there. When I returned home, I thought about Hoosier farms 
     and the workers who help keep them running, in a new way.
       Going to Europe made me realize the importance of Indiana 
     farms and crops, and how they are useful, not only in the 
     United States, but all around the world.
                                  ____



                    1999-2000 District Essay Winners

     District 1: Wyatt Reidelbach (Pulaski County), Emily Ann 
         Lawrence (Starke County)
     District 2: Drew Englehart (Noble County), Alyxandra 
         Schlotter (Noble County)
     District 3: Kent Kohlhagen (Jasper County), Laura Lachmund 
         (White County)
     District 4: Brad Rogers (Howard County), Jenell Hierholzer 
         (Miami County)
     District 5: Matthew Fry (Putnam County), Tarrah Bernhardt 
         (Hendricks County)
     District 6: David Baird (Wayne County), Cassie Bird (Hamilton 
         County)
     District 7: Shawna Asher (Knox County)
     District 8: Jonathan Brookbank (Union County), Emily 
         Ripperger (Franklin County)
     District 9: Drew Baker (Posey County), Amy Moore (Posey 
         County)
     District 10: Clayton Owsley (Washington County), Paige 
         Roberts (Washington County)


                     1999-2000 County Essay Winners

     Cass: Jeff Plummer, Mollie Graybeal
     Delaware: Jason Perkins, Amanda Pollard
     Dubois: Dustin Schwartz
     Fayette: Ashley Steele
     Franklin: Zackary Reisert, Emily Ripperger
     Hamilton: Ryan Kunkel, Cassie Bird
     Hancock: Shelby Gues
     Hendricks: Nathan Bayliss, Tarrah Bernhardt
     Henry: Rebecca Robertson
     Howard: Brad Rodgers
     Jasper: Kent Kohlhagen, Cristen Liersch
     Jay: Danielle Look
     Knox: Shawna Asher
     Madison: Zamir Wolfe, Jessica Loveall
     Marion: Mike James, Jessica Davis
     Miami: Jenell Hierholzer
     Newton: Curt Schriner, Lacy Padgett
     Noble: Drew Englehart, Alyxandra Schlotter
     Orange: Ryan Barwe, Kimberly Kee
     Posey: Drew Baker, Amy Moore
     Pulaski: Wyatt Reidelbach
     Putnam: Matthew Fry
     St. Joseph: Colin Ethier, Julie Vander Weide
     Shelby: Amanda Denton
     Starke: David Jensen, Emily Ann Lawrence
     Union: Jonathan Brookbank
     Vermillion: William Ealy, Alyssa Burch
     Wabash: Greg Martin, Tiffany Livesay
     Warrick: A.J. Wilks, Alyssa Davis
     Washington: Clayton Owsley, Paige Roberts
     Wayne: David Baird, Katy Baumer
     White: Austin Waibel, Laura Lachmund

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