Twelve winners have been chosen out of a record 1,051 entries in the 2011 College Savings Program essay contest sponsored by the Nebraska State Treasurer’s Office and the Omaha Storm Chasers baseball team.

Seventh and eighth grade students from Nebraska and across the United States were invited to submit essays addressing the theme, “Why I Want to Go to College.” The essays were judged by faculty and students in the College of Education at the University of Nebraska at Omaha with final selections made by State Treasurer Don Stenberg.

Treasurer Stenberg congratulated the winners and thanked all the students who participated, saying he hopes many of this year’s seventh graders will enter the contest again next year and will encourage their friends, classmates, and younger siblings to do the same.

“The students’ reasons for going to college ranged from their desire to earn comfortable incomes in professions they would enjoy to their need to become independent and self-sufficient and find their place in the world,” Stenberg said. “The essays expressed the students’ hopes and dreams for lives of professional success and community service. Some talked about specific career plans, while others expressed their belief that college was a time to explore many career fields and find what best suits their interests and their strengths,” he said.

Here’s what first-place winners said about why they want to go to college:

• “The most important reason I want to go to college is because I want to find out who I really am,” wrote Lauren Foss of Gretna. “I want to work to discover what I should be doing with my life. I want to be doing something that I love and with people I love. I hope college will help me find out what that is. Would I make a good doctor, or maybe a teacher? What about a business woman? The future has so many things to choose from and a college education is going to help me make the right choice.”
• Emmy Niroula of Omaha said she wants to go to college to make her family proud and to serve as a role model for others. “When my sister becomes of age…I want her to be able to follow my footsteps and be proud of it.”
• “Even though I am only in the eighth grade, I still realize the importance of college and how it is the next step towards my career goals,” wrote Erin Bown of Sidney. “Since I am a daddy’s girl, I plan to follow in his footsteps and attend his alma mater (Iowa State)…Having the opportunity to attend college and achieve a degree in teaching would allow me to do what I love, which is working with kids.”
• Elisabeth Werries of Chapin, IL, wrote that she draws her motivation for college from the sky. “I want to float in the sky like a cloud and see what else is out there in the world... I want to see all that the sky gets to look down on every day because I know there is more out there than my small town and I can’t wait to experience it all… college will be the best way to explore what the world has to offer.”

Essay contest organizers were thrilled with this year’s response to the contest, which typically draws 400 to 700 entries. They attribute the record number of entries to the availability of promotional materials in branches of First National Bank of Omaha and its affiliates, the College Savings Program manager, and enhanced promotional efforts on social media outlets including Facebook.

Winners were selected from each of Nebraska’s three U.S. Congressional Districts and from entries received from outside Nebraska. First-place winners receive $1,000 each toward a Nebraska College Savings plan and a night’s stay in an Omaha area hotel; second-place winners receive $500 each toward a College Savings plan; and third-place winners receive $300 each toward a College Savings plan. All Nebraska winners also receive tickets to the May 22 Storm Chasers Minor League baseball game at the new Werner Park in Papillion as guests of State Treasurer Stenberg.

The winners are as follows:

First Place
1st District	Lauren Foss	Gretna Middle School	Gretna
2nd District	Emmy Niroula	Morton Magnet School	Omaha
3rd District	Erin Bown	Sidney Middle School	Sidney
Out of State	Elisabeth Werries	Triopia Junior High School	Chapin, IL
Second Place
1st District	Devon Torskey	Platteview Central Junior High	Springfield
2nd District	Nicholas Swoboda	St. Philip Neri School	Omaha
3rd District	Katie Ruth	Adams Central Junior High	Hastings
Out of State	Neha Haque	Pleasant Valley Junior High	LeClaire, IA
Third Place
1st District	Abbey Patera	Platteview Central Junior High	Springfield
2nd District	Carson Guy	Alice Buffett Magnet School	Omaha
3rd District	Emma Cox	St. Patrick’s Junior High	North Platte
Out of State	Luke Eckstein	St. Aloysius School	Vicksburg, MS

The Nebraska College Savings Program provides four qualified tuition plans under Section 529 of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code. The four plans in the Nebraska Educational Savings Plan Trust are the NEST Direct College Savings Plan, the NEST Advisor College Savings Plan, the TD Ameritrade 529 College Savings Plan, and the State Farm College Savings Plan. The Nebraska State Treasurer is the Program Trustee, and First National Bank of Omaha is the Program Manager. Investments are approved by the Nebraska Investment Council.

“Families can easily save for their children’s college educations through the Nebraska program,” Stenberg said. Plans allow for tax-free investments, and qualified withdrawals are federal and state income tax free. Account owners qualify for up to $5,000 a year in state income tax deductions.*