Congratulations to the winners of Hildene’s 2020 8th Grade Lincoln Essay Competition! We received 167 applications from all over Vermont. A first, second, and third place winner was chosen from each of four regions as well as four honorable mentions. This year's prompt was a tough one, and the time and effort that went into student submissions was clear. Hildene typically honors each year's LEC winners at a luncheon hosted in Manchester in May, however this was an unusual year. As the pandemic has kept us from celebrating with students in-person, it has also opened us up to "thinking outside the box" in wanting to honor them. This video is a compilation of each of the 16 winners' essays, recorded by them from their homes, and shared with all of you. We think you will hear in their work that thoughtful, creative actions to tackle today's challenges is just what we need. Perhaps their ideas will spark your own investigations and solutions-finding. For more information about Hildene's Eighth Grade Lincoln Essay Competition, visit our website: hildene.org/learning/lincoln_...
PROMPT 2020:
Identify one issue facing Vermont that you think your state government (the Scott administration and/or the legislature) should address. Describe the challenge and its negative impacts. Then explain why governmental action is appropriate, suggest one or more actions that state government should take, and explain why you think such action would improve the situation.
INSPIRATION 2020:
“The legitimate object of government is ‘to do for the people what needs to be done, but which they can not, by individual effort, do at all, or do so well, for themselves’.” ~ Abraham Lincoln; The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln edited by Roy P. Basler, Volume II, “Fragment on Government” (July 1, 1854?), p. 221.
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