Three students won prizes in the 8th annual Philip Carret Endowment Thomas Jefferson Essay Contest. Winners were announced at a April 19 banquet. First place went to sophomore Neal Dugre. Details...
Ten students entered this year’s competition, writing on the following topic: “Historian Joseph Ellis has written that ‘for Jefferson, more than any other major figure in the revolutionary generation, the West was America’s future.’ Jefferson himself spoke of the West as the ’empire of liberty.’ Why did Jefferson and his generation attach such enormous importance to the West, and what complications did they encounter?”
Winner of the first place prize was sophomore history major Neal Dugre, whose essay was titled “Brokering a Republican Dream: Thomas Jefferson and the American West.” He received a $1,000 prize and will be invited to tour Thomas Jefferson’s home at Monticello and stay overnight at The International Center for Jefferson Studies, courtesy of Dr. Daniel P. Jordan, President of The Thomas Jefferson Foundation. Dugre is from Longmeadow, Mass., and is the son of Marc and Nancy Dugre.
The second place prize, which includes a $600 cash award, went to senior Carey Bostian, whose essay was titled “Survival of the Republican State through Westward Expansion.” Bostian is a business administration major from Newton, N.C., and is the daughter of David and Carol Ann Bostian.
The third place prize, which includes a $400 cash award, went to freshman Hayley Schools, a communications major from Worthington, Ohio. Her essay was titled “Empire of Liberty: Jefferson’s Adamant and Difficult Conquest for the West.” Schools is the daughter of Ronald and Nancy Schools.
Other students who participated in this year’s competition included Katelin Carnahan, David Kendall, Sean LeDonne, Stewart Mitchell, Lauren Newton, Amanda Phillips and Jamie Lee Wheeler
The essays were judged by faculty members Clyde Ellis, Michael Carignan, David Copeland and Charles Irons.