Dion Dargin of Detroit, Angela Palaian of Farmington Hills and Angela Arnold of Waterford had the chance to get close up and personal, with the Detroit Pistons in their game against the Washington Wizards April 11.
Each was recognized during halftime as the grand prize winners of the "Education First Merit Scholarship Essay," sponsored by Eastern Michigan University, the Detroit Pistons, The Ann Arbor News and MLive.com. Each student will receive $7,500 in tuition credits to attend EMU. The essay topic was, "How have you made Education First in your life?"
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ESSAY WINNERS: (above, from left) Doug Potter,
associate director, transfer admissions, from EMU's
Admissions Office, poses with a Tayshaun Prince
jersey and winners of EMU's Education First
Merit Scholarship Essay contest. Winners are Dion
Dargin of Detroit; Angela Palaian of Farmington Hills
and Angela Arnold of Waterford. Each student will
receive $7,500 in tuition credits to attend EMU. The
essay topic was, "How have you made Education First
your life?" The students were honored during the
Detroit Pistons game April 11. |
Dargin's essay was named Best of Show. He was presented with a framed, autographed Pistons jersey and a tour of The Palace and Pistons' locker room. He is a senior at Cass Technical High School in Detroit.
Palaian is a transfer student from Adrian College, and Arnold is a junior at Waterford Mott High School.
The three winners were announced on emich.edu, pistons.com and at the April 11 Detroit Pistons home game. They also attended the game, when their names were flashed in lights on The Palace of Auburn Hills arena LED screen and scoreboard.
Fifteen other students won $1,000 housing grants. They are: Lauren Bondy of Plymouth; Amaris Evans of Belleville; Bethany Lobur of Ferndale; Samaria Lobur of Ferndale; Monica Wade of Beavercreek, Ohio; Nic Caven of Brighton; Stephen Cook of Novi; Kaitlyn Hill of Milan; Victoria Huss of Lenox Township; Maria Pittman of Newaygo; Joseph Biggerstaff of Grand Rapids; Nicole Goodling of Walled Lake; Brittney Nolan of Curtice, Ohio; James Taranta of Elyria, Ohio; and Nina Vekima of Belleville.
More than 190 high school juniors and seniors, and transfer students participated in the essay contest while attending EMU's Explore Eastern open house April 5.
