For the first time, Mason County Intermediate School fifth grade students brought home first place in the state Student Technology Leadership program competition.

The competition was held at Rupp Arena in Lexington.

The students returned home from the competition Thursday with a police and fire truck escort that stopped at Cafe Cream in Washington, where parents could pick up their children.

Natalee Miller, Emerson Moore, Raegen Ross and Karleigh Thomas competed against 1,200 students and 850 projects on Thursday.

The project the students presented was called “Do not bully.”

Ross said the project came about because the kids thought there was too much bullying happening in schools.

“We wanted to do something related to bullying, because there is bullying going on in school and wanted people to think about it before they do it,” she said.

According to Ross, the students put together a YouTube channel of video interviews with the superintendent and staff and conducted surveys with students to bring about awareness of bullying.

Moore said there were several steps the students had to go through before making it to state.

“We had to present in Morehead,” she said. “We presented with schools just near us and then we went to present to all of Kentucky. We had to get a 90 or above to move on through the rounds.”

Thomas said the kids had to put together a service project to take to the competition.

“We competed against other schools around our district and in Kentucky,” she said. “We had to do a service project or something to help our school.”

Ross said she was excited about winning state, but had not expected it to happen.

“We messed up a couple of times in our first round, but when they called our name and said we would advance, we were screaming,” she said. “We were so excited.”

Miller said she was also excited about going to state and knowing the team would move on.

“We were all pretty excited,” she said. “This was a project we had last year, so we were really glad about going to state. We’re the only people in our school that has ever gotten up on the stage and gotten a trophy.”

The next step for the team is to go to the national competition in Philadelphia, Pa.

Miller said the most difficult part was to remember lines.

“The most difficult part was to remember our lines in front of people we didn’t know,” she said.

Mason County Schools Superintendent Rick Ross said the district is happy for the students.

“This will be the first group ever to win a state level competition,” he said. “There were hundreds of projects and they came out on top. Margie Henderson has worked with them last year and this year. We’re on to Philadelphia and I couldn’t be more proud of them.”

MCIS students brought home first place at the Kentucky STLP competition on Thursday. This was the first time MCIS students won first place in the contest. Pictured is Reagan Ross, Karleigh Thomas, Natalee Miller and Emerson Moore.
https://maysville-online.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/web1_IMG_3765-1.jpgMCIS students brought home first place at the Kentucky STLP competition on Thursday. This was the first time MCIS students won first place in the contest. Pictured is Reagan Ross, Karleigh Thomas, Natalee Miller and Emerson Moore.

Christy Howell-Hoots

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