Adrian Wright, 17, will be attending Yale in the fall. Not Yale in St. Clair County, but in New Haven, Conn., the institute of choice for aspiring U.S. presidents and Nobel laureates.

Emily and Adrian illustrate the broad range of backgrounds represented among the eight winners in the Pistons’ Read to Achieve online essay contest. Emily, Adrian and six others were recognized at halftime of the Pistons-Nets game on April 10 and will receive a $2,500 college scholarship from the Detroit Free Press Gift of Reading program.

Such accolades were far from the mind of fifth-grade teacher Natalie Jagels when she heard about the contest from the mother of one of her students at Leonard Elementary in Troy.

“You don’t just want to teach your kids to write, but you want to teach them that they’re writing for a purpose,” said Jagels, who turned the essay contest into a class assignment - and produced two scholarship winners, Emily and Kyle Anderson.

“Emily writes best through a computer,” said Jagels, who noted that the fine motor skills involved in writing by hand are difficult for Emily, as they are for many others with Down Syndrome. “Emily loves to write and loves to sing and she has a little bit of a speech impediment, so when she writes, so much comes out. It’s really amazing.”

Emily enjoyed writing her story so much, she didn’t quite understand the contest aspect to it - or the fact she won. “She was like, Yeah, my story’s good,” Jagels said, smiling.

Adrian, on the other hand, was well aware of the $2,500 prize. Yale is as expensive as it is old - and it’s the nation’s third-oldest university behind Harvard and The College of William and Mary. And it doesn’t offer financial aid, which has sent the Detroit Country Day senior on a frenzied search for scholarships big and small.

“This one by far has the best perks,” Adrian said. “I get to take a picture with Rip Hamilton and enjoy the game. I love The Palace, I love the Pistons. It’s a great environment so it was awesome.”

Adrian, who will play soccer at Yale, wrote about the experience of Country Day’s defeat to Goodrich in the state semifinals this past fall, after the Yellow Jackets were heavily favored to win the title. “It taught me a lot about what means to win and lose right the way,” he said. “You learn a lot when you lose a hard game.”

Adrian was triumphant Friday, along with Emily, Kyle and the other scholarship winners: Ajani Murphy and Khayal Randolph, fourth graders from Aisha Shule/DuBois Prep Academy, Southfield Christian seventh grader Chelsea Martin, Grand Rapids Union senior Joslyn Colvin and Port Huron Northern senior Andrew Seppo.

“It’s been great. All of the hard work that he’s put in, this is an opportunity for us to come on out and celebrate it,” said Mark Wright, Adrian’s father, who brought some of Adrian’s friends to the game. “He’s got about seven friends way up at the top all enjoying it. It’s just a proud moment for us.”