3 H. S. Seniors Net $15,750 in Essay Contest
Dover, Del.–April 5, 2006Earlier today, Representative Wayne A. Smith (R–Brandywine Hundred-North),Deputy Secretary of Education Nancy J. Wilson, Ph.D., and Maureen Laffey,Director for the Delaware Higher Education Commission (DHEC) joined legislators,education officials and DHEC representatives in congratulating the effortsof three outstanding high school seniors who have been selected as Delaware’s top winners in the seventh annual Legislative Essay Scholarship Contest.
Marianne Nagengast, a high school senior at Brandywine High School in Wilmington,captured first place and a $7,500 scholarship for her essay on this year’s theme:“Benjamin Franklin: A Significant Leader in Founding Our Country.”Second place went to Katherine Stewart, currently attending Caravel Academy in Bear.For her runner-up effort, Katherine received a $3,750 scholarship,while Britney Lewis from Caesar Rodney High School in Dover,came in third place and received a $2,250 scholarship.The three seniors also received an additional $750 scholarship from their respective legislative districts.
“Each year, we continue to see the best of our talented high school seniors entering this very competitive process,”said Deputy Secretary Wilson. “This year, 142 essays were submitted by public,non-public and homeschool seniors across the state.” Added Wilson,“I congratulate Marianne, Katherine, and Britney as this year’s Legislative Essay Scholarship recipients.I wish each of them success as they continue their academic journey.”
The contest, open only to high school seniors, began in 1999 and was originallycalled the George Washington Memorial Scholarship to help commemorate the200th anniversary of George Washington’s death. The scholarship was authorizedfor only one year and students had to write a 500-2,000 word essay on“Why George Washington Should Be Revered in America.”
In 2000, the General Assembly passed HB 545 as the Legislative Essay Scholarship.Sponsored jointly by Representative Wayne Smith and Senator David P. Sokola (D–8th Senatorial District),the bill authorized the essay contest on an annual basis.Each year a new topic is selected and focuses on events or people in American history from 1770 to 1860.Previous topics have included Frederick Douglass, James Madison, Abigail Adams,and the Lewis and Clark Expedition (The Corps of Discovery), and Alexander Hamilton.
House Majority Leader Representative Wayne A. Smith (R–Brandywine Hundred-North),who created the Legislative Essay Scholarship Contest, said,“Ben Franklin has been rightly called ‘The First American,’ because of his nationwide outlook and appeal.He was one of the first colonists to think of himself as a continental instead of merely a Pennsylvanian.”Added Representative Smith, “He may also be rightly referred to as the archetypical American.He did it all, as we often want to think ourselves capable of doing.Businessman, philosopher, scientist, politician, diplomat, founder, inventor, writer, lover of lifeand its possibilities, Franklin embodied all that we as Americans ever dream of being able to accomplishhad we infinite lifetimes. He did it in one.”
A committee comprised of representatives from the Delaware Sons of the American Revolution,the Delaware Society Daughters of the American Revolution and DHEC choose each year’s topic.
There are 62 district scholarships authorized; one for each of the 21 Senate districtsand 41 state representative districts. Once submitted, the district winner’s essay is forwardedto a statewide judging committee for selection of the top three essays.
Excerpts from each essay are as follows:
From Marianne:“Benjamin Franklin was never president of the United States. He was not elected to Congressor appointed to the Supreme Court. Other great colonial leaders—Washington, Jefferson and Hamilton,for example—might have held positions with greater authority.But Benjamin Franklin has rightly been called ‘the first great American’ for his work as a civic leader,first in Philadelphia, then within the colonies, and later on the international stage.His work helped to shape the institutions that are fundamental to our society and to establish the principleson which our government is based.”
From Katherine:“Franklin assisted in the writing of the Declaration of Independence and was one of the 56who signed the document in 1776. ‘We must be unanimous; there must be no pulling different ways;we must all hang together,’ warned John Hancock. Franklin, the jocular man he was,agreed and responded with, ‘Yes. We must indeed all hang together, or assuredly,we shall all hang separately.’”
From Britney:“Benjamin Franklin once said, ‘If you would not be forgotten as soon as you are dead or rotten,either write things worth reading , or do things worth the writing.’Franklin indeed heeded his own advice and has not been forgotten. With Poor Richard’s Almanack,the Silence DoGood letters and The Autobiography, Franklin wrote things that are still worth readingnearly three hundred years after his birth.”
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