Ryan Taggard, a student at Brattleboro Union High School, placed second in the State of the Union essay contest for Vermont high school students. The contest is an opportunity for Vermont students to articulate what issues they would prioritize if they were president of the United States. “This contest is designed to engage Vermont’s high school students on the major issues facing the country,” stated Sen. Bernie Sanders in a press release. “Once again, our students did an outstanding job. Our students are the future of our country and they must be involved in the discussion about where our country needs to go.” First place went to Leo Lehrer-Small, a sophomore at Mount Mansfield Union High School. Friedemann Schmidt, another student at BUHS, placed in the top 20. The essays were judged by a panel of four Vermont teachers. This year, 454 students from 27 schools wrote essays of 250 to 500 words detailing their own view of the state of the union. To honor their accomplishments, each of the finalists’ essays will be entered into the Congressional Record. Sanders will meet with the 20 finalists during a roundtable discussion to discuss the issues they wrote about in their essays. The roundtable has been scheduled for 10 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 31, in the Statehouse in Montpelier. The senator will also hold a town meeting at the school of the winning essay writer. During the five years Sanders has held his State of the Union essay contest, more than 1,600 students from schools throughout Vermont have written essays on such important issues as the declining middle class, climate change, gun control, the national debt, the need to raise the minimum wage, health care reform, and the rising cost of a college education.
Posted on: Mon, 19 Jan 2015 19:25:56 +0000
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