McKinzie Stewart, 16, a rising junior at George West ISD High School is this year’s winner of the senior essay competition sponsored by the Live Oak Soil and Water Conservation District No. 323.
She was honored for her achievement at the Area III Conservation Awards Banquet held May 4 at the Refugio County Expo Center in Refugio, according to Sherry Kosarek, district clerk.
Her essay, “Healthy Soil: Healthy Life,” represents her strong interests in writing and science, said her mother, Kristin Stewart, a high school teacher of U.S. history and government for 18 years at George West ISD.
After graduation, Stewart is considering attending Texas A&M University in College Station with an intention to pursue a career in pharmacy.
Here is an excerpt from her essay:
“‘A nation that destroys its soil destroys itself,’” Franklin Delano Roosevelt. President Roosevelt was a very wise man realizing that healthy soils are the root for healthy lives. The soil is the starting point for everything we eat, wear, and use and without healthy soil we wouldn’t have anything. Healthy soil is literally what keeps us alive and healthy.”
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