Four move up after elimination drawing

Before December, Sheila Stewart knew little about the Make Kids Count contest, but when she saw the entry form for the 9-to 12-year-olds category in The Augusta Chronicle , she decided to enter her daughter Samantha.

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"One day I picked up the newspaper, and when I saw the contest and the form, I thought that she was going to have to write an essay," the Evans woman said. "Then I saw that all we had to do was send in the form, so I thought, 'Why not?' "

Her 11-year-old daughter is among four children who advanced during the contest's elimination drawing Feb. 14 at The Chronicle's offices.

Jesstin Chandler and Chandler Cooper, both of Evans, and Lydia Hicks, of Beech Island are also one step closer to winning a $10,000 scholarship bond. Each has won at least a $1,000 scholarship bond.

Though her family was excited for Samantha, they have also been thinking of the other children who were entered in the contest, Stewart said.

"We've been praying that God provide the financial means for all the kids to go to college," she said. "Whether it's through this contest or by some other means, we want all the kids to be able to go to college."

In the past five years, The Chronicle and its sponsors have distributed more than $340,000 in scholarship bonds.

Sponsors are Ashley Furniture Home Store, Champion Windows, Knology, Partners in Achievement and Platt's Funeral Home.

For more information on the contest, visit www.makekidscountcsra.com.