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Somerset County honors winners of Commission on the Status of Women essay contest
Summary
The Somerset County Board of County Commissioners presented awards to student winners in grades 6–11 in its fourth annual essay contest, recognizing essays on historical women and STEM themes and thanking partner organizations for helping to select and judge entries.
The Somerset County Board of County Commissioners presented awards to winners of the Commission on the Status of Women essay contest during its regular meeting.
"This evolved 4 years ago, our essay contest," the Status of Women Committee president said, describing the program’s growth and noting that the contest invited students in grades 6 through 12 from across Somerset County. Board members presented citations and certificates to winners and took photos with the students.
The board read citations and announced winners across middle and high school grades. The sixth-grade winner, Josephine Ralph, received a citation praising her essay on a New Jersey suffragette. Seventh-grade winner Anishka Suhas was recognized for an essay about Katherine Johnson; Darcy Canberg was named as the eighth-grade winner (not present). Ninth-grade winner Horiah Batool, tenth-grade winner Rohan Gandhi and eleventh-grade winner Ambi Sharma were also named; Angelina Rosati was recognized for a separate essay.
The Status of Women Committee thanked county staff and partners for assistance. "You guys have always supported us and the staff of the county has supported us," the committee president said, and invited partner readers and volunteers forward to be acknowledged. The president named Amy Lam, identified in the meeting as the executive director of the Somerset County Literacy Volunteers, and Alyssa from the Somerset County Division of Operations and Planning, Division of Human Resources, as partners who helped select winners.
The board also accepted small gifts from the committee and noted upcoming programming tied to women’s history month and a STEM program scheduled for October 2026. The awards portion concluded with congratulations and a request that the committee remain for a brief moment to present gifts to commissioners.
The presentation provided a public recognition of student writing and county partnership efforts; no public policy action was taken on the item.
