Hazlet Girl, 9, Wins Statewide Essay Contest, Gets Balloon Ride

HAZLET, NJ — No, you weren't seeing things: There really was a 75-foot-tall hot air balloon floating outside Raritan Valley School in Hazlet on Monday.

That's because Sara Topolewski, a third-grade student at the school, was named the state's grand prize winner for the annual PNC Bank “American Patriot Essay Contest." This is an annual statewide essay competition sponsored by the QuickChek New Jersey Festival of Ballooning in association with PNC Bank; school children in grades 2 through 12 across New Jersey were asked to answer the question: “What the American Flag Means to Me.”

The 9-year-old girl's essay was selected by a panel of judges from PNC Bank and Balloon Festival staff and educators. Sara's essay was chosen out of thousands of submissions from across the state of New Jersey. Not only that, this was the second student for Raritan Valley third-grade teacher Ann Manning to win the statewide contest. In 2016, her student Michael Miano also won.

“The only direction I give my students before they write their essays is to make it personal, to write about a part of their life,” said Manning.

Sara wrote that when she sees the American flag, she thinks of the military. More specifically, she thinks of her family:

Between both sides of Sara's family, eight people have served in America’s armed forces in the Army, Navy and Marines for a combined 61 years, including World War II and Vietnam, with two killed in the line of duty and a third receiving a Purple Heart for wounds sustained during gun fire. Sara said her grandfather Gerald (“Pop-Pop”), a Navy veteran, was the inspiration for her essay, which included him giving her a military pin for her sixth birthday.

Because Sara was chosen as the grand prize winner, QuickChek and PNC Bank brought a 75-foot-tall hot air balloon to her school this Monday, where she took a tethered ride in the balloon in front of her family, hundreds of classmates, teaches and Hazlet board of education officials.

Her reward hardly stops there: Sara also gets to go up, up and away in a free ride in one of the 100 hot air balloons at the upcoming QuickChek New Jersey Festival of Ballooning, held July 26-27-28, in Readington. Fittingly, it will be in the 5-story tall “PNC Salutes America” special shaped American Flag hot air balloon. She and her family will also enjoy a VIP experience package and tickets to the hot air balloon festival, still going strong for its 37th year.

The QuickChek New Jersey Festival of Ballooning is largest summertime hot air balloon and music festival in North America.

Not only that, but each of Sara's 16 classmates, her teacher, and her school principal also received free tickets to the event.

“We’re very proud to play a role in children being interested in our flag and in our country,” said Linda Bowden, PNC New Jersey Regional President, who went up in the balloon with Sara on Monday outside the Hazlet elementary school. “It’s very easy to take patriotism for granted, so we created this essay contest to get our children involved. Sara did a beautiful job displaying her love of our country and how much her family and their service mean to her.”

“It was extremely heartfelt to see the very personal meaning the flag has to Sara and to read how important her grandfather’s and her family’s military service is to her,” said Festival Executive Producer Howard Freeman. “Her essay best captured the spirit of both the essay contest and of the American flag. QuickChek, PNC and the festival are proud to present her with this award.”

Ivy Chen, an eighth grade student at St. Joseph the Carpenter School in Roselle, took second place. Maria George, a seventh grade student at John Adams Middle School in Edison, was third. They each receive complimentary admission into the Festival, as do all teachers in the state who submitted 15 or more essays on behalf of their students.