2008-2009 Winners - West North Central Region
The winners of the Being an American Essay Contest have been announced! The top three winners in each region were announced at the Awards Gala on March 31, 2009.
West North Central Region
 | First Place - Jackson Sittenauer Hayden High School, Grade 11 “The idea that justice involves both equality and fairness is demonstrated on a daily basis in my life. These concepts should be practiced everywhere in America in order to better ourselves socially and morally.” |
 | Second Place - Laura Nelson St. Thomas More High School, Grade 12 “That the Constitution reflects perseverance underscores the importance of this value. The determination of the Founding Fathers to create an effective structure for government is evident in this document.” |
 | Third Place - Rachel Geinert Edgeley High School “There are several civic values that many people believe are the most important to being an American, but without the vision that gives those values purpose, you have nothing.” |
Honorable Mention - Christopher Jansen Jansen Homeschool "Self-sacrificial participation at all levels was what Ben Franklin meant as the determining factor when he said, "We have given you a republic, if you can keep it." He realized that this country could not stay great by itself. It takes each and every one of its citizens working to maintain the greatness we have, and continuing to improve it." |
Honorable Mention - Caleb Melchior Melchior Homeschool “In an age when the world is at our fingertips, with all its resources for good and evil, virtue will determine our destiny both as individuals and as a nation. The multiplicity of opportunities is more than startling. John Adams chose virtue. America\'s greatness depends on it. Will you embrace the legacy?” |
Honorable Mention - Tess Murray Lawrence Free State High School “I encourage all Americans to do what they can, be it maintaining respectful discussions or staging their own protests and acts of civil disobedience. Only then will they find what it truly means to be an American, and only then can we be assured of moving in the right direction.” |
Honorable Mention - Peter Smith Wichita Collegiate School “An essential value to being an American, tolerance serves initially to promote equal opportunity for men and women of all creeds and colors. Yet the grand scope of tolerance reaches much further. We Americans are at the forefront of social progress, and serve as a role model for the rest of the world when it comes to toleration.” |
Honorable Mention - Jacqueline Albin Trego Community High School “I believe perseverance is the most important civic duty we shoulder as citizens of the United States. In my words, perseverance is the drive to keep going even though all odds may be against me. I believe this motivation to press on can only flourish from within oneself. If not for the perseverance of our forefathers, our great country would not have made such significant strides towards freedom and equality.” |
Honorable Mention - Erin Dye Cor Jesu Academy "In order to peacefully coexist in this melting pot of society we must respect the ideas of others. Disorder, violence, and destruction ensue when others fail to respect and acknowledge the ideas of others. America allows many individual freedoms such as speaking, voting, and religion, and carrying out those practices with respect those who possess different views is essential." | |
Honorable Mention - Matthew Stoffel Martin County West “Initiative was in the hearts of our forefathers when they threw off the oppression of tyranny. Initiative was in the spirit of the pioneers who rode to the West to follow their manifest destiny. It was in the minds of the Framers who wrote our Constitution, and in the soul of the men and women who over the years have spoken out against what they knew to be wrong. Initiative is the driving force that gets someone to start a revolution for a better tomorrow. Without initiative, our country might not have been born, and would certainly not have become the great nation it is today.” |
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