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Two high school seniors from North Central Kansas have been named winners of the 2024-2025 Rural Voices Youth Contest, which has been sponsored by the North Central Regional Planning Commission (NCRPC) of Beloit since 2006.
Alliana Thomasson, a senior at Ellsworth Junior/Senior High School, and Nicholas Niewald, a senior at St. John's Catholic High School, submitted the winning entries for this year’s contest. Each recipient will receive a $1,000 scholarship and the honorary John R. Cyr Rural Voices Award, named after Cyr, who served as the NCRPC Executive Director for 22 years.
The NCRPC invited high school seniors from the 12 counties in its service area to submit an original essay or video expressing their perspectives on the contest theme for 2024-2025, “Rural Kansas…My Hometown.” The eligible counties included Clay, Cloud, Dickinson, Ellsworth, Jewell, Lincoln, Marshall, Mitchell, Ottawa, Republic, Saline, and Washington. Since the contest began, more than $33,000 has been awarded to high school seniors from the region.
“This contest provides an annual opportunity for us to hear perspectives from the youth in our region. We learn about their hopes for the future of their hometown and what they value about rural Kansas,” said Deb Ohlde, the Interim Executive Director of NCRPC. “We appreciate the effort from all our entrants and wish them the best in their next educational endeavors.”To view the winning entries or learn more about the contest, visit www.ncrpc.org/ruralvoices.