BURLINGTON, Vt., Jan. 15 – U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) today announced the winners of his annual State of the Union essay contest for Vermont high school students. Nearly 800 students, a record number, from 39 high schools participated in the contest this year.
A panel of five Vermont teachers served as volunteer judges and selected Meredith Holbrook, a senior at Milton High School, as the winner of the contest. In her essay, Holbrook focused on the need to address domestic economic issues, such as hunger, homelessness and strengthening Social Security in the United States.
“We have many issues we must address, domestic and foreign. We cannot expect to properly address issues overseas, until we fix the home we live in. We must fix America from within,” Holbrook wrote in her winning essay. “Once we do this, we will truly be able to call ourselves the greatest nation in the world.”
Vivian Huang, a senior at South Burlington High School, is the second place winner. She wrote about the challenges of combating terrorism and providing healthcare for Americans. Ryan Racicot, a senior at Milton High School, is the third place winner. He wrote about the “pressing and immediate danger” of global climate change.
The top three essays were picked by the judges from a group of 20 finalists, which were selected by the judges earlier this week.
“As is always the case, I am so impressed by the wide range of issues students wrote about this year, and by the quality of the essays,” said Sanders, who serves on the Senate education committee. “While there is no shortage of obstacles facing the United States, it is heartening to see so many young Vermonters thinking about the direction we need to go as a nation.”
To honor their accomplishments, the essays of the winners and the finalists will be entered into the Congressional Record, the official archive of the United States Senate and House of Representatives.
Sanders’ annual essay contest is an opportunity for Vermont students to articulate which issues they would prioritize if they were president of the United States. This year, 799 students from 39 Vermont high schools wrote essays of 250 words to 500 words detailing their own view of the “state of the union.” That marks a substantial increase from last year when 454 students from 27 schools wrote essays for the senator’s State of the Union essay contest.
“This is one of the most authentic assessments a teacher can give her students,” said Terri Vest, who teaches at Plainfield’s Twinfield Union School and has served as a judge since the contest began. “Senator Sanders has given them a real-life question and they have wrestled with real-life problems and solutions.”
Increasingly, schools throughout Vermont are finding creative ways to incorporate Sanders’ essay contest into their curriculum. For example, Rutland High School had 10 classes of 9th grade students write essays for the State of the Union essay contest. Colchester High School students detailed their thoughts about the issues facing the United States as a journal writing project. Three young Vermonters at the Woodside Juvenile Rehab Center in Colchester also submitted essays this year.
During the six years Sanders has held his essay contest, roughly 2,400 students from schools throughout Vermont have written essays on a wide range of important issues. Winning essays in prior years were written by students from the Vermont Commons School, Winooski High School, Champlain Valley Union High School, Mount Anthony Union High School and Mount Mansfield Union High School.
To read this year’s winning essays and finalists, click here
