Thank you to everyone who participated in the second of the three scholarship contests for the year 2022. We are grateful to everyone that took the time to write, research, and share intimate stories relating to the importance of driver education. Some of the essays dealt with being involved in a motor vehicle accident and dealing with the tragic aftermath. Some of the stories, sadly, even deal with the loss of life due to a motor vehicle crash. Sharing your story could potentially save a life by introducing how grave the consequences of driver distraction can be, and we applaud you for taking the issue seriously enough to educate others about it.
The quality of the submissions this year was great as ever. Which makes our task of selecting a winner so much more difficult. We truly wish we could award every participant for their efforts. There were so many well-written and researched papers dealing with the importance of driver education.
We truly enjoyed reading the submissions and will continue to share your stories, thoughts, and advice on what we can do to save lives and ensure the safety of all those that share our roadways.
And now to announce the winners for this round.
For the most shared essay, with a whopping 2117 votes, Madison Godwin, “Driving Miss Daisy” Madison’s essay provided very useful and practical advice, which if implemented could definitely save lives.
Selecting the winner for staff favorite was difficult, to say the least. Each staff member selected their favorite, and the winning essay was randomly selected from the staff favorites. It was the only way to select our favorite, as there were so many great submissions. For staff favorites, the winner is Alexis Rene McCowin, “Speeds Thrills, But Kills” Alex’s essay dealt with the dangers of distracted driving. Her essay very insightfully pointed out that driver distraction also entails the actual state of mind a person is in. So if a person is feeling angry, or any other emotion, this also adds to their distraction while driving. This is because they are not in the present moment and focused on the task of driving. They are preoccupied with what they are dealing with emotionally, which most certainly leads to accidents and fatalities on the road.
Thank you both for all your efforts in promoting the importance of driver education and for sharing your personal stories. Great job and congratulations!
We say this every year, but it bears repeating. Ideally, there would be no need for scholarship contests, and each 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 their God-given potential because of a lack of resources is truly unjust when we have the means to provide otherwise. So, this 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.
