Essay winners honored

Two young students from Queens were congratulated as first place winners at the Teach Children to Save essay contest reception held Wednesday, July 11.
The contest, sponsored by Astoria Federal Savings, took place at every neighborhood bank branch throughout Brooklyn, Queens, Nassau, Suffolk, and Westchester, and was open to children ages 5-12.
The question posed to contestants to answer in essay form was, &#8220Are you a saver or spender, and why?” Based upon their response, Astoria Federal local managers selected one winner from each branch.
&#8220The quality of these essays was amazing,” said Brian Edwards, Senior Vice President and Director of Marketing for Astoria Federal Savings.
From those winners, the top seven children were chosen to be first and second place finalists.
Two of the first place finalists included Kalliopi Xarras, 9, from Flushing and Ayman Zafar, 11, from Jamaica.
Both contestants received a $500 Savings Bond, along with a Teach Children to Save Celebration Award Certificate, and an Education First medal at the finalist's reception held at the bank's Lake Success Headquarters.
The program is now in its second year, and ran in conjunction with Financial Literacy Month (April) as a fun yet educational way to teach kids about the values of saving.
&#8220We were especially impressed with what our younger contestants had to say, and how involved they already are in planning their financial futures,” Edwards continued.