ELON COLLEGE – The top winners of the Philip Carret Endowed Essay Contest “Thomas Jefferson” were announced at a special dinner on May 11.
Dan Callaway, a junior music theatre major from Mount Airy, received the first prize. He won $1,000 and will tour Monticello, Jefferson’s home near Charlottesville, Va., and The International Center for Jefferson Studies. He also will tour the corporate headquarters of CNN at the invitation of the network’s CEO, W. Thomas Johnson.
Kate Cieslak, a senior history and journalism major from Middletown, Del., won second place and $600. Elizabeth Ann Schaffer, a freshman business and French major, from Charleston, S.C., captured third place and $400.
The annual student essay contest, which was established and endowed by the late money manager Philip Carret, challenges students to research and write essays on the leadership principles and political views of Thomas Jefferson. This year, students were asked analyze and evaluate the decision-making process that led to the Louisiana Purchase in 1803.
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