Ten North Carolina families who shared stories of how education has made a difference in their lives have been named winners of the N.C. Proud Moments contest by the N.C. Education Lottery.
The Education Lottery conducted the contest to celebrate its 10th year raising money to support education programs in North Carolina and to showcase the spirit of its mission.
“State lotteries exist in the United States to support good causes,” said Alice Garland, executive director of the N.C. Education Lottery. “Our lottery was created to support education in North Carolina and the Proud Moments contest captures that spirit. The $4.6 billion raised so far have helped to create proud moments in education all across our state.”
In the contest, the Education Lottery asked North Carolinians to share their proudest moments in education and how they would use $20,000 to create more proud moments. The lottery received hundreds of moving responses. A panel of judges chose 10 winners from the 100 entries that got the most votes from those who viewed the entries on the N.C. Proud Moments website.
The winners are listed below:
• Stephanie Ambrose of Elizabeth City: Proud Moment - nine-year-old son spearheads fund-raising efforts to improve school playground.
• Rick Benton of Statesville: Proud Moment - son with disabilities goes to kindergarten for the first time, starting his education career.
• Beth James of Kernersville: Proud Moment – daughter’s success dealing with school and family responsibilities during senior year in high school.
• Kim Hetzler of Hendersonville: Proud Moment – Overcoming homelessness as child to earn GED.
• Lucy Plyler of Kings Mountain: Proud Moment - daughter receives acceptance letter to ClemsonLIFE to further her education.
• Jeffrey O’Neil of Tarboro: Proud Moment – grandson, who is a paraplegic, crosses the stage for elementary school graduation.
• Angelo Smith of Lincolnton: Proud Moment - student with spina bifida undergoes 20 surgeries and still graduates high school on time.
• Marvin Squires of Wilson: Proud Moment - daughter started school club, Project Unify, dedicated to integrating special needs and traditional students.
• Patrick Vincent of Stem: Proud Moment - nine-year-old stepson chooses to donate books to school library instead of getting birthday presents.
• Jennifer Watkins of Durham: Proud Moment - daughter with spina bifida graduates from high school, pursues teaching degree.
In announcing the winners, the Education Lottery is also sharing a video that tells many of their stories. The video is posted on the N.C. Proud Moments website, located at http://www.ncproudmoments.com/.