Thank you to everyone who participated in the last of the three scholarship contests for the year 2024. We are grateful to everyone who took the time to write, research, and share intimate stories about the importance of driver education. Some essay submissions dealt with being involved in a motor vehicle accident and the tragic aftermath. Others, sadly, even deal with the loss of life due to a motor vehicle crash. Sharing your story could save a life by introducing how grave the consequences of driver distraction can be. We applaud you for taking the issue seriously enough to educate others about it.
The quality of the submissions this year was as excellent as ever. This year, we received more submissions than any other year, over 1,500 essays for this round, many with the assistance of AI technology, making our task of selecting a winner much more difficult. We truly wish we could award every participant for their efforts. So many well-written and researched papers dealt with the importance of driver education. We truly enjoyed reading the submissions and will continue to share your stories, thoughts, and suggestions on what we can do to save lives and ensure the safety of all those who share our roadways. Now, let’s announce the winners of this round.
The most shared essay, with 675 votes, is “I Love the Grass” by Jasmine Pham. Jasmine had some great tips and thoughts on preventing being involved in an accident and how we, in general, can become better drivers by being proactive in our education and driving habits.
Selecting the winner for staff favorite was difficult, as it always is. Each staff member selected their favorite, and the winning essay was randomly chosen from the staff favorites. It was the only way to pick our favorite, as there were many great submissions. For staff favorites, we chose five winners. In no particular order, the winners are,
“Breaking My Senior Superlative” by Jade Barrick,
“Grief Behind The Wheel; A Call for Comprehensive Drivers Education” by Makayla Milord,
“Choices” by Emily Wham,
“Six Degrees” by Isabella Joliocoeur
“Eyes on the Road” in the drivers seat: a journey toward safer roads” by Kamryn McCorkle
Great job everyone! We wish we could award every participant, as reading your essays was a true pleasure.
We say this every year, but it bears repeating. Ideally, there would be no need for scholarship contests, and every citizen would be assured a free college education. As you know, a high school degree does not go too far these days, and to limit one’s access to a good education and God-given potential because of a lack of resources is truly unjust when we have the means to provide otherwise. So, it is also up to you to declare that you wish for a college education to be granted as a right for all and not just an option for some. You all will soon be or are now of voting age, and your views can be put into law to bring about a better future for your generation and generations to come. I do hope you will get involved in bringing about this change. Bless you all. Thanks again to all participants.
