Twelve Michigan students have been selected from nearly 700 entries as winners of the State Bar of Michigan's Law Day 2000 Essay Contest. The theme for this year's contest was "Speak Up for Democracy and Diversity." Essays were submitted to local bar associations from schools around the state. Each local bar chose winners for their local contest and submitted their winning essays to the state contest for judging.

The winners in the sixth-grade division are: First-place winner, Katherine Khorey of East Grand Rapids Middle School followed by Jay Khoshoo of Jefferson Middle School (Midland), Vanessa Millisor of Island City Academy (Eaton Rapids) and Mary Rose Gray of Beagle Middle School (Grand Ledge) who came in fourth.

Frankenmuth's St. Lorenz school took the first- and second-place awards for the seventh-grade division with winning essays by Cameron E. Sanborn and Brian Bekemeier respectively. The third-place essay was written by Casady Wyckoff of Lansing's Dwight Rich Middle School, and Daniel Szatkowski of Jefferson Middle School in Midland took fourth. Eighth-grade winners are: Joseph Cialdella of The Gagie School (Kalamazoo), followed by Oliver Edmond III from Colin Powell Academy in Detroit. The third-place winner is Jacob Branch from Paw Paw Middle School in Paw Paw, and Escanaba's Holy Name Central Grade School student Andy Harris came in fourth.

These students will be honored at a luncheon on Monday, May 1, 2000 at the Lansing Center in Downtown Lansing where University of Michigan Law School Professor John Reed will serve as keynote speaker. The luncheon is sponsored by the State Bar of Michigan and the Michigan Lawyers' Auxiliary.

For more information about Law Day 2000 or the awards luncheon, contact Sue Oudsema at the State Bar of Michigan, 800-968-1442, ext. 6423 or soudsema@mail.michbar.org.