Good Grades Celebrated At Goin' Postal

WINTER HAVEN (Thursday, June 01, 2006) - Goin' Postal, a Winter Haven business, recently hosted its first Gifts for Grades Challenge Celebration, a scholastic competition that was open to all students who attend Winter Haven- area schools.

Students could enter to win by bringing in their report cards and filling out entry forms: two entry forms for each A, one entry form for each B, and four entries for perfect attendance. The winners proudly represented a variety of local schools.

The 10 semifinalists were: Josh Buterbaugh of Garden Grove Elementary, Cassandra Courville of Lake Shipp Elementary, Danielle Coquyt of St. Joseph Winter Haven, Caleb Cruz of Wahneta Elementary, April Hugi of Grace Lutheran School, Robbie A. James of Garden Grove Elementary, Zackiel Marsh of Snively Elementary, Keonia Parrish of Jewett Academy, Bradley Paxton of Chain of Lakes Elementary and Holly Summers of Jewett School of the Arts.

A random drawing from the . pool of 10 semifinalists narrowed the 10 finalists down to the final three.

"We created a unique way to allow the kids to pick their prizes they actually won," said Brandy Duncan, who hosted the event. "Our son Bryce wanted to draw the names for the winners. He enjoyed it so much and the look on his face drawing the names was priceless. Once we had the final three and their names were drawn, we had three balloons — a red, white, and blue balloon. The kids had to pick the color of the balloon they wanted. Each balloon held a slip of paper with the type of prize written on it, and even we didn't know which prize was in which balloon."

The first name drawn was Zackiel Marsh, from Snively Elementary, who won the Sony PSP. The second name chosen was that of Robbie James of Garden Grove Elementary. Robbie won the iPod nano. The third and final finalist was Danielle Coquyt, from St. Joseph Winter Haven. Danielle was the lucky winner of the $100 cash prize. It really does pay to make good grades!

Brandy and Shannon Duncan, owners of Goin' Postal Winter Haven and creators of the event said, ‘We were very proud of all of the kids and they had a wonderful time eating cotton candy, snow cones, playing in the moon walk, and the deejay kept them all very busy playing games. We gave away three $50 U.S. savings bonds to the kids that won games that the deejay played them. The seven finalists all received gift baskets for the movies.

Brandy added, "Shannon and I wanted them to have a nice evening at the movies on us for all of their hard work. McDonald's, Outback Steakhouse, Atlanta Bread Company, Firehouse Subs, and Wal-Mart were all gracious enough to donate gift cards to help make the gift baskets even better. Irene, from O'keefs Just for You gave her special touch on all of the baskets. I want to personally thank all of the businesses that made our first celebration wonderful for the kids. I know a lot of the kids had a sugar high from all the sweets!"

The Duncan Family would also like to remind students in the Winter Haven-area schools to register after each semester next year. The Duncans are already planning next year's event and are deciding on the extraordinary prizes that will be up for grabs for next year

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