31 May 2021 My Life, Powered by Conway Corp contest winners

Posted at 11:50 PMh in Business, Features by

By Beth Jimmerson

Every year, Conway Corp celebrates public power by encouraging local students to show their energy smarts and participate in a poster, essay, and video contest. Students in pre-K through fourth grade were asked to create a poster on the theme “My Life, Powered by Conway Corp” while students in fifth through seventh grades and eighth through 12th grades were asked to write an essay or create a video on the same theme. Prizes were awarded in each age category.

Ellen Smith Elementary second-grader Arushi Huq won first place in the poster contest. Arushi won a cash prize and a $100 donation for his school’s art program.

In the digital video category, Conway High School 11th-grade student Colby Thompson won first place. His winning video can be viewed at ConwayCorp.com/EnergySmartContest.

Arushi Huq won first place in the poster contest for the Pre K-4 grade division.

In the essay category, Payton Brannon won first place in the fifth- through eighth-grade category for her essay “My Life, Powered by Conway Corp.” Payton is a fifth-grade student at Courtway Middle School.

Luke Caldwell won first place in the ninth- through 12th-grade category for his essay “Conway Corp: Making Conway a Community.” Luke is a junior at Conway High School.

Students in the video and essay contest won cash prizes.

Below is an excerpt from Payton’s essay:

Where does all of this power come from? Well, my friend, it’s a place called: Conway Corp! Conway Corp is an amazing company! But…what does Conway Corp do other than provide us with electricity? How do they power our lives? Well, let’s look into that a bit deeper.

Think about when your mom makes you wash your hands before dinner; or there’s the million times a day that we have to wash our hands at school…AHEM, THANKS COVID! They provide our community with clean water! Because there’s warmer weather on the way, there’s going to be a ton of sprinkler and pool time for me and my brother. There’s also going to be a lot of coming inside wanting to cool off ASAP. Conway Corp supplies fresh water for me to brush my teeth every day. Don’t even get me started on my handy mechanical friend, the dishwasher! It requires water AND electricity! I DO NOT WANT TO HAND WASH ALL OF THOSE DISHES! If you have a younger brother like me that uses 15 different water glasses a day, you know what I’m talking about.

To read the rest of Payton’s excerpt, visit: 501lifemag.com/features

Below is an excerpt from Luke’s essay: 

What defines a community? Some people characterize a community as a group of people working together to accomplish a common goal. In an ecosystem, a community is multiple species sharing a common area for mutual benefit. In both these scenarios, there is a sense of harmony between different people or animals, but the question is: what powers this harmony? There is always a driving factor that compels this unanimity between species, and this is no different for us in Conway. The men and women who work every day for the better of our city power us not only with electricity but also with the helping hearts and positive attitudes that promote a healthy atmosphere. Conway heavily relies on Conway Corp, and with Conway Corp, we become not just a city, but an unstoppable community that will never fail.

With the COVID-19 virus this year, a lot of things have been up in the air. Events are canceled daily, and people have missed out on life moments because we haven’t been able to get together. With so much uncertainty, we don’t know what we can depend on. Even though so many things are being changed, the one thing we can always count on is Conway Corp.

In the essay category for 5-8 grade, fifth grader Payton Brannon won. Read an excerpt from her essay here:
“Where does all of this power come from? Well, my friend, it’s a place called: Conway Corp! Conway Corp is an amazing company! But…what does Conway Corp do other than provide us with electricity? How do they power our lives? Well, let’s look into that a bit deeper.

Think about when your mom makes you wash your hands before dinner; or there’s the million times a day that we have to wash our hands at school…*AHEM, THANKS COVID!* They provide our community with clean water! Because there’s warmer weather on the way, there’s going to be a ton of sprinkler and pool time for me and my brother. There’s also going to be a lot of coming inside wanting to cool off ASAP. Conway Corp supplies fresh water for me to brush my teeth every day. Don’t even get me started on my handy mechanical friend, the dishwasher! It requires water AND electricity! I DO NOT WANT TO HAND WASH ALL OF THOSE DISHES! If you have a younger brother like me that uses 15 different water glasses a day, you know what I’m talking about.

Speaking of electricity, Conway Corp literally powers my day. I wake up in the morning by my annoying alarm clock, shove a piece of bread in the toaster, then I’m out the door. Once I’m at school, I’m always using my Wi-Fi connected chromebook to type, read my online textbooks, and turn in assignments. When my brother & I get home, I get to enjoy a bit of ConwayCorpTV time. On weekends, thankfully our internet is dependable so we can freely play Minecraft, Mario Kart, and Super Smash Bros on the Nintendo Switch for hours. It’s been very helpful during COVID to keep in contact with my friends and family. We’ve had a few zoom calls with family members to talk for a while, and sometimes even on special occasions such as birthdays. My favorite part of the day is not long before bed when I get a chance to relax! Thanks to Conway Corp, I have light to read before bed. Then, I check tomorrow’s forecast on the Wi-Fi connected Alexa, and hop into bed. Conway Corp really does power all our lives when you think into it more!

From the time I hop out of bed, all through my day at school, and right up until it’s time for me to snuggle up and sleep, Conway Corp is powering my life in so many different ways! Every. Single. Day. I bet a million bucks that you use Conway Corp in more ways than you thought! Just imagine life without them…no power, no internet, just darkness…What would we do?!… Our lives here in Conway would be nowhere close to what we’re used to. We owe them a lot. They’re a big part of our lives. Conway Corp helps our community in many ways.”

In the essay category for 9-12 grade, junior Luke Caldwell won. Read an excerpt from his essay here:

“What defines a community? Some people characterize a community as a group of people working together to accomplish a common goal. In an ecosystem, a community is multiple species sharing a common area for mutual benefit. In both these scenarios, there is a sense of harmony between different people or animals, but the question is: what powers this harmony? There is always a driving factor that compels this unanimity between species, and this is no different for us in Conway. The men and women who work every day for the better of our city power us not only with electricity but also with the helping hearts and positive attitudes that promote a healthy atmosphere. Conway heavily relies on Conway Corp, and with Conway Corp, we become not just a city, but an unstoppable community that will never fail.

With the Covid-19 virus this year, a lot of things have been up in the air. Events are canceled daily, and people have missed out on life moments because we haven’t been able to get together. With so much uncertainty, we don’t know what we can depend on. Even though so many things are being changed, the one thing we can always count on is Conway Corp. This year Conway High School has given a virtual option for those who don’t feel comfortable going to school in person. In order for kids to be able to learn at home and for people to be able to pursue their careers, basic things like wifi and electricity have become essential. If there is ever a problem with your wifi or power, there is always a person a phone call away waiting to answer any questions you have to ensure that you can continue with your daily life. As a Conway High School student, I am grateful to be able to continue my education from home, and I can only do this because of Conway Corp. Conway Corp gives me a reliable internet connection for when I have an hour to finish a school assignment and can’t afford any buffering or disconnected wifi to finish my assignment on time.

Another characteristic of our 2021 year has been severe and dangerous weather. We received an unprecedented amount of snow that damaged a lot of property and cost a lot of money in damages. With the amount of snow that fell, pipes were threatening to freeze and people all across Conway were worrying about the possibility of power outages. When we faced this adversity, Conway Corp stepped up and enacted rolling blackouts to ensure that all citizens of Conway would have power. They sacrificed their time to make sure that every person in Conway would be able to keep their house warm and have hot water make it through the pipes. No one could have seen that weather coming, so the fact that Conway Corp had a ready plan to ensure every citizen was as comfortable as possible and was taken care of is unthinkable.

This year has been hard on everyone, and information has been more crucial than ever. Covid-19 has been crazy this year with information changing with the wind. This year the news has been a necessity to stay up with what is happening. Conway Corp cable has offered an easy and affordable way for anyone to keep up with the latest news that the governor releases and this level of convenience helps significantly when people need to be able to know what is going on. Another part of cable is just good television networks. With people having to stay home so much, cable offers great shows for people to enjoy from the safety of their homes. Conway Corp not only provides what you need, but they take it a step further and provide what you want as well.

Every day when I wake up in the morning, I start my day with a cup of coffee. This simple task of making a cup of coffee can often be overlooked due to its simplicity, but without electricity, this easy task would be virtually impossible. Coffee is not the only thing we need electricity for, but also charging our phones, waking up to alarm clocks, making toast in the morning, taking hot showers, washing clothes and dishes, heating and cooling our homes and having a smooth internet connection are just a few of the things that we take for granted every day that Conway Corp works hard for us to have. If this year has shown us anything it’s that we don’t need to take the simple things for granted, and Conway Corp is a big part of our lives even if we don’t know it.

Every day Conway Corp provides for our community and makes Conway a better place by volunteering their money, time and resources to benefit Conway. Everything they do is not for the benefit of the company, but for the benefit of the people. All of our lives are powered by Conway Corp, as we rely on them for schooling, work and pleasure. Conway Corp not only powers Conway, but helps make Conway the wonderful city that it is.”

Congratulations to all the winners of the 2021 Energy Smart Poster, Essay and Video Contest, and thank you to all students who submitted an entry. Conway Corp is proud of these students who continue to remind us how integral Conway Corp is to our daily lives. We’ve been helping power area education since our creation in 1929, and we’re looking forward to the start of another great school year in August.

Beth Jimmerson
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