RALEIGH – Several local students took home honors in this year’s district N.C. Association of Soil and Water Conservation poster and essay contest.

Students who won their categories earlier this year at the county level competed for the District VIII prize earlier this month. District VIII is comprised of Mecklenburg, Cabarrus, Iredell, Davie, Cleveland, Davidson, Gaston, Lincoln, Rowan, Stanly, Union and Anson counties. Students created posters and wrote essays around the theme “Wetlands are Wonderful!”

Gavin Rickard, a Harris Road Middle School student from Huntersville, won first-place in the sixth-grade division of the poster contest. Kendal DiOrio, a Pine Lake Prep student from Huntersville, took second place in the poster contest’s third-grade division, while Gabe Szylagi, a Cannon School student from Davidson, placed second in the poster contest’s fifth-grade division.

Each division winner will go on to compete at the state level later in the year.