Bill of Rights Institute Announces We the Students Essay Contest Winners
ARLINGTON, Va., June 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The Bill of Rights Institute is proud to announce the winners of its 2019-2020 We the Students Essay Contest. The $7,500 Grand Prize goes to Derek Jiang, a rising senior at Stephen F. Austin High School in Sugar Land, Texas. The essay prompt this year was, "What does civil discourse mean to you?"
In his essay, Derek used the unlikely friendship between Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and her late colleague, Justice Antonin Scalia, as an example of what civil discourse can look like. He also drew upon his own experiences arguing over the issue of student loan debt with a friend to show how individuals from different ideological perspectives can disagree strongly on an important issue, yet remain friends.
"There were no insults or shouting matches to be traded," Derek recalled of the interaction, "Only insightful discussion. After three hours, while I still did not agree with my friend's position, I understood and respected it, and the empathy and friendship between us grew stronger."
Coincidentally, the announcement of the essay winners comes in the wake of widespread protests over racial injustice and police brutality in America, making Derek's call in his essay for "listening, respecting, and caring for our fellow citizens" all the more timely.
Runner-up winners, each receiving $1,500 are: Traci Kaninberg, Assumption High School, Louisville, Kentucky; Maria Cheriyan, Detroit Country Day School, Beverly Hills, Michigan; Mika Poelma, Kadena High School, Kadena Air Base, Okinawa City, Japan; Danielle Zhang, Ladue Horton Watkins High School, St. Louis, Missouri; Marisa Gibbons, Science Hill High School, Johnson City, Tennessee
Honorable Mention scholarship prizes of $500 each go to: Ria Jain, International Leadership of Texas, Keller-Saginaw High School, Fort Worth, Texas; Keshav Patel, Canton Preparatory High School, Canton, Michigan; Grace Rose, Brunswick High School, Brunswick Maryland; Martina Shelor, Bethlehem Catholic High School, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania; Christina Homer, Arcadia High School, Arcadia, California; Rose Weathers, Harriton High School, Rosemont, Pennsylvania; Iycis Smith, The Meadows School, Las Vegas, Nevada; Natalie Krahulik, Penn Manor High School, Millersville, Pennsylvania
To learn more about the Bill of Rights Institute and the We the Students Essay Contest, please contact Chris Janson at [email protected] or 703.662.9871.
SOURCE Bill of Rights Institute
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