Community Involvement

2013 Clean White Lake Contest Winners Announced

Over 90 Montague and Whitehall high school and middle school students participated in the White Lake Public Advisory Council’s Clean White Lake Contest sponsored by Alcoa Howmet in the spring of 2013. The students submitted their original poems, artwork, photo collages, videos, and essays demonstrating how a clean and safe White Lake affects their lives and how White Lake area citizens can protect water quality (at home, school or in the community). According to Amy Heisser, director of human resources at Alcoa Howmet, "We are pleased with the great interest in the contest by area students! It is clear by viewing the entries that students learned more about White Lake and why it is important to protect it. Our hope is that they take this learning with them into adulthood wherever they may end up living."

Eighteen entries, including one grand prize winner, were chosen to receive cash prizes by the contest judges: Chris Rohrer and Dan Gezon of Alcoa Howmet; Amy VanLoon, White Lake Area Chamber of Commerce; Joe Hill, Muskegon Conservation District; and Ken Mahoney, White Lake Public Advisory Council. Local Whitehall resident, Jerry Grady, assisted with the contest judging process.

Grand Prize Winner

Follow the links to view an image of the winning entry

Hope Orent, an eighth grader at Whitehall Middle School won a grand prize award of $500 for her poem entitled A Lesson Learned. Hope felt a poem would best capture the story of White Lake. "I knew a little about White Lake," she said, "but I don't think I would have been able to write the poem I did without doing a little more research. I learned about White Lake in my science class, so I think it influenced me. I hope when people read the poem, that they realize how good White Lake was, how we polluted it, and also how we got it back to recovery."

Ken Mahoney, vice chair of the PAC and a contest judge was impressed with the number of entries. "It shows that young people may take care of White Lake better than we did," he says.
"We are passing the torch on to a generation that seems to be very interested in preserving White Lake. I am also very impressed with the grand prize winner entry. Hope's poem reflects a wise understanding of what happened and where we are at right now. It also does so in a way that is entertaining and literary. It is definitely worthy of our grand prize award."

High School Winners

Follow the links to view images of the winning entries

High school award winners include: Michael Meekhof, Montague High School tenth grade, first place ($100) for his poem, A Vision of Beauty; Brittany McGee, Montague High School tenth grade, second place ($75) for her poem, How We Wish We Could Swim Down by the Lake; Aleia Thies, Montague High School tenth grade, second place ($75) for her poem, The Lake of Dreams; Hailey Cockerill, Montague High School eleventh grade, second place ($75) for her painting of White Lake.

Middle School Winners

Follow the links to view images of the winning entries

Middle school winners include: Josie Dorman, Whitehall Middle School eighth grade, first place ($75) for her essay; Katie Lemmen, NBC Middle School seventh grade, first place ($75) for her essay Cleaning up White Lake; Grace Meachum, NBC Middle School seventh grade, second place, ($50) for her essay, Things Do Change; Randall Robert Corder, Whitehall Middle School eighth grade, second place ($50) for his essay, White Lake Water Quality; Lauren Baustert, Whitehall Middle School eighth grade, second place ($50) for her photo collage; Sidney Miller, NBC Middle School seventh grade, second place ($50) for her poem, Helping White Lake; Taylor Snackelford, Whitehall Middle School eighth grade, second place ($50) for her mixed media artwork Keeping White Lake Beautiful; Danielle Jurcich, Whitehall Middle School eighth grade, second place ($50) for her pastel drawing of the former Hooker Chemical Company smokestack; Jack Zwemer, Whitehall Middle School eighth grade, second place ($50) for his photo collage; Hailey Lemmen, NBC Middle School seventh grade, second place ($50) for her poem, The Ones With 2 Feet; Sky Harsch, Whitehall Middle School eighth grade, first place ($75) for her poem, Blue Gold; Andrew Esh, Whitehall Middle School eighth grade, first place ($75) for his photo collage, Protecting White Lake; and Kainan Grant and Kadie Walker, Whitehall Middle School eighth grade, second place ($50) for their video, Cleaning Up White Lake.

Contributors

Contributors to the contest included Alcoa Howmet as the sponsor, and the Muskegon Conservation District, MasterTag, Ray Jensen, Jan Deur, and Greg Mund. Promotional partners were the White Lake Area Chamber of Commerce and the Montague-Whitehall Rotary Club.

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