As part of our Education Program, we asked Bay Area 4th and 5th graders to write essays about the Tuolumne River and water conservation. We were thrilled at the results, as we received over 125 essays! All of the essays were excellent, and it was a very hard decision.

Our grand prize winner was Karen Yen of Fremont. Karen's essay "Protect the Tuolumne River, Save Water" can be found here. Because of wonderful essay and commitment to protecting the Tuolumne, Karen won a canoe trip for four on the Tuolumne River this summer. Congratulations, Karen!

Our second prize winner won a sleeping bag, and our third place winner won a kid's backpack, both courtesy of REI.

To read other prizewinning essays, click on the student's name below:
Second Prize: Matthew Virzi, San Francisco
Third Prize: Andrew Lin, Los Altos Hills
Runner Up: Abbey Chinn, San Francisco
Runner Up: Julian Arrayga, Hayward
Runner Up: Paige Luong, Millbrae
Runner Up: Amanda Lam, San Francisco
Runner Up: Crystal Xu, San Francisco
Runner Up: Ben Liao, Foster City
Runner Up: Alexis Chu, Burlingame

The Tuolumne River Trust wants to thank each and every student who entered, for your passion for the River. We know that the River will be in good hands in the future, with folks like you around to protect it!