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A team of three Ohio high school students took first place in the 2019 Ohio Youth Capital Challenge finals for their policy proposal about biosecurity at Ohio fairs.

Sponsored by Ohio Farm Bureau, Ohio 4-H and Ohio FFA, the challenge brings together youths ages 14 to 18 from around the state to discuss community concerns and then work together to propose policies and programs to solve the issues.

The 2019 winning team members are Caleb Durheim and Dustin Hill of Delaware County and Samantha Hinton of Seneca County. The team members share a $1500 prize for finishing first in the competition.

The challenge started in the spring when groups met to learn about public policy issues and began planning their proposals. A preliminary contest narrowed the field down to four teams, which competed in the finals during the Ohio State Fair.

The teams were judged on their public policy proposals dealing with a specific issue or problem. In the final competition, the teams described the steps necessary to have their public policy proposal adopted by the appropriate government authorities.

Other finalists who received a $250 scholarship for their proposals:

Rylee Craig, Sophia Tent and Zach Zwiebel, all from Allen County. They proposed starting Career and Technical Education (CTE) Programs in schools.

Savannah Henderson and Mason Snyder from Clinton County and Dawson Osbourn from Highland County. Swine flu vaccines for exhibition was their chosen topic.

Joshua Black from Columbiana County and Callia Barwick from Mahoning County discussed  E-cigarettes education.

A total of $3,500 was awarded to this year’s team finalists.

This is a news release for use by journalists. Questions should be directed to Ty Higgins, 614-246-8231.

Editors: A high resolution photo is available to accompany this story.