Thomas Jefferson Essay Contest winners named

Six students entered this year’s competition, writing on the following topic: “Britain and France, for Thomas Jefferson at least, posed philosophical as well as political challenges. In his ongoing attempts to define what it meant to be ‘American’ after he had helped the thirteen colonies to declare independence, Jefferson often looked back across the Atlantic at European ideas and ideals about national identity. How did his intellectual and personal encounters with European societies shape Jefferson’s conceptions of American identity and the development of new national ideas and institutions?”

Winner of the first place prize was senior history major Neal Dugre, whose essay was titled “An Identity of Contrast: Defining America in the Age of Jefferson.” He received a $1,000 prize and will be invited to tour Thomas Jefferson’s home at Monticello and stay overnight at the Robert H. Smith 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 Ian Henderson, whose essay was titled “Jefferson’s Greatest Challenge and Ultimate Success: Defining an American Identity.” Henderson is a political science major from Fallston, Md., and is the son of John and Wilma Henderson.
The third place prize, which includes a $400 cash award, went to junior Jessica Keough, a history major from Cumberland, R.I. Her essay was titled “Thomas Jefferson and John Locke: America’s Co-Founders.” Keough is the daughter of Kevin and Laurie Keough.


Other students who participated in this year’s competition included Patrick James Morse, Donna Marie Webber and Samantha Helen Widmer. The essays were judged by faculty members Clyde Ellis, Michael Carignan, David Copeland, Charles Irons and Nancy Midgette.