They might be young, but with a bit of research, students found connections to Kootenai County's past that inspired them to write winning essays. The Kootenai County Historic Preservation Commission on Tuesday night announced the six winners of the Sesquicentennial (150th anniversary) Essay Contest. The essay writers were required to address one of four broad categories of Kootenai County history: structures or sites, current or potential archaeological sites, a person or group, or an event or movement. Local historian Robert Singletary told the winners, who gathered at the county administrative building downtown, that history is what makes us who we are today/David Cole, Coeur d'Alene Press. More here. (Press photo: Erin Hauge, first place winner of the high school 2014 Kootenai County Historic Preservation Commission Essay Contest, receives her award)