Southington Student A Winner In CCM Government Contest

SOUTHINGTON, CT — A Southington High School student was one of two Connecticut public school students awarded $1,000 "#LoCoolGov scholarships" from the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities.

The scholarships are sponsored by Post University.

The topic was "What is cool about local government?"

Students were allowed to submit an essay, poem, photo, painting, video, multimedia project or any other medium, as long as it fit the main theme of local government. The entries were judged on closeness to theme, originality, and creativity, and both of this year’s winners had a unique vision of local government.

Victoria Dabrowski, a ninth grader at Southington High School, won for her submission, "The Spirit of Southington," which is a dress she had made. It featured symbols of local government with emergency services represented by fire trucks and ambulances, police cars, garbage trucks, as well as desks and pencils for school, and pipes for water and waste. This original piece is the first piece of clothing submitted to #LoCoolGov, but it certainly set a high mark!

Katherine Pano Lalvay, an eighth grader from the Broadview Middle School in Danbury, won for her slideshow submission, "Danbury is My Home."

Joe DeLong, Executive Director and CEO of CCM, said, "This is one of my favorite parts of the CCM convention. Handing out these scholarships to these students and future leaders, and seeing all the unique ways they express what is cool about their local communities.”

In accepting the award, Dabrowski said that while designing the dress was a fun hobby, she'd like one day to be a politician, to which DeLong replied, perhaps a future CCM member.