Winners Pictured left to right. Front row: Cozette Murphy, Harper Spalding, Jeffry Swift, Eve Mclean, Sam Boren, Eva Crabtree. Second Row: Dave Martin, Dale Satterthwaite, David Knowles (click to enlarge)

Valley Elementary Students Named as SUP Essay Winners
27 June 2026

​Valley Elementary’s fourth grade students welcomed the Sons of the Utah Pioneers on Friday, May 22, for a special awards assembly celebrating history, heritage, and student achievement.
 
Each year, the heritage-centered organization sponsors an essay contest encouraging fourth grade students to explore the people and events that helped shape Utah’s rich history and lasting legacy. Through their writing, students reflect on the courage, perseverance, and contributions of those who helped build our great state.
 
Representatives Dale Satterthwaite, Dave Martin, and David Knowles visited Valley Elementary to recognize this year’s talented young writers and award generous cash prizes to contest winners.
 
In return, students expressed their appreciation with a surprise performance of “Iron Wheels A Rollin’,” one of the featured musical numbers from their recent Utah history program. The performance was a heartfelt tribute to the railroad workers that helped shaped our early transportation.
 
Valley Elementary is grateful for another inspiring collaboration with these dedicated community members and extends sincere thanks to the Sons of the Utah Pioneers for helping keep Utah’s history alive for future generations.
 
 
Winners:
1st - Cozette Murphy’s
2nd - Jeffry Swift
3rd - Harper Spalding
Honorable Mentions:
Sam Boren
Eva Crabtree
Eve Mclean 
 
Below is a copy of the first place winning essay.

The Utah History
By Cozette Murphy
 
This is how the railroad workers impacted my life. First, they worked day and night to help us travel from the Union Pacific from the east and the Central from the west. That taught me to never give up on my dreams. It also taught me to work hard, and you might impact someone else’s life. Even if it’s hard, you can get back up and never give up.
 
Now for what they did. They made the transcontinental railroad that made a path for people to get around, but it wasn’t easy. They went through blazing hot sun, blizzards, and buffaloes everywhere, but they got paid for every track they laid so it became a race to prove who was best.
 
Finally, when they came together and connected the Union Pacific from the east and the Central from the west, it wasn’t done yet. They had one more track to lay on the transcontinental railroad, but the person who tried to hammer the final golden spike missed, so they had to get someone who helped lay the transcontinental railroad. They had to hammer it in. Once it was in, everyone cheered. It was so loud.
 
Now the transcontinental railroad from the east and west is one. Now everyone can get from place to place now that the transcontinental railroad was built. We can travel in car, plane, train, and boat, and I’m so lucky they did all of that and I’m so grateful for what they did for us.