Chandler Kalitsi drew from her experience growing up in Pottstown when she penned “a heart-rending, if not eye-opening, essay about what it means to be an African-American in a predominantly white school.”

The insight won her a $30,000 scholarship toward a higher education in chemistry at Temple University, according to a Digital Notebook post by Evan Brandt.

The recent Owen J. Roberts High School graduate was one of 34 young people whose lives have been shaped by the unique influences of Pottstown, and the award was provided by the ongoing generosity of the founder of The Pottstown Mercury through his Shandy Hill Essay Contest, administered by the Greater Pottstown Foundation.

Kalitsi expressed a perspective that was more analytical than critical or cynical, the article noted, and a conclusion that asserted “a justification for a more racially tolerant society.”

Following an undergraduate degree at Temple, Kalitsi plans to pursue medical school.

Click here to read more about the Shandy Hill Essay Contest in the Digital Notebook.