SAVANNAH — Richmond Hill Middle School eighth-grader Avery Waters recently won third place in an area essay-writing contest on the theme of leadership skills required to succeed in school.
Waters will receive $25 for her essay that identifies good leadership characteristics as organization, determination, perseverance, honesty, being goal-centered and playing an active role in school and the community.  
The May competition was open to seventh- and eighth-grade students in the Coastal Empire area of Georgia and the Low Country of South Carolina.  Ten students representing three counties entered the contest sponsored by the Coastal Empire Leadership Development Association (CELDA). CELDA is a leadership and professional development organization within the National Management Association.
The contest is meant to stimulate the creative minds of middle school students by getting them to think about the future.  Each student was challenged to write a 500-word essay based on the theme: “What Leadership Skills Are Required to Successfully Progress Through High School and Graduate from College?”   
Emma Carbo, a seventh-grader from Savannah attending Saint Peter The Apostle School won $100 for her first-place finish. Carbo’s essay focused on how organization, honesty, courage and creativity are characteristics of good leaders in school and college.  
The second-place finisher was Taylor Cocke, a Rincon eighth-grader at Ebenezer Middle School. Cocke won $50 for her essay about how organization, confidence and integrity are leadership skills needed to succeed in school and life.