Junior Cassie Gaines received third place in the "One Book One Town" essay contest. Photo by: Matthew Libersky
By Gina Rodeghero
This year Plymouth High School had two winners for the Plymouth Public Library’s “One Book One town” writing scholarship contest. One of the many prompts included, “Gatsby and Me.”
From PHS there were two winners: juniors Rebecca Brumbaugh and Cassie Gaines. Brumbaugh placed second and received a three hundred dollar scholarship. Gaines placed third in the competition and received a two hundred dollar scholarship.
The students who entered the writing contest had many writing prompts to choose from. Gaines explains, “My essay followed the prompt, one of the many provided, ‘Gatsby and Me.’ With this I connected myself with Daisy, a main character in the novel. Using support from the text I illustrated what lesson I learned from her character. That lesson being perfection.”
Writing an essay can be hard because of all of the things that need to be included. While writing an essay so much thought is involved with the writing prompts, and staying within the limits of the prompt. “[I have trouble with] staying within the word limit. I often find it difficult to stay effectively concise,” Gaines says.
People enter essay contests to win scholarships, or to just get the satisfaction of doing something well and getting something in return for it. One big reason that people enter essay contests is to receive scholarships to help pay for college. “I entered because scholarships are necessary for me, no matter their size. It also was a plus to receive a bonus in class,” Gaines states.
Areas of writing all have different components but when put together, if assembled correctly, can create a masterpiece of an essay. Some people believe they are better writers than others but everyone can always improve. “I believe, in some areas of writing I am sufficient, but there is always room for improvement. I face my writing as a challenge to perform even better than before. I always strive to learn new things with every writing task. I feel I am an okay writer but instead of settling on just being okay, and instead of focusing on whether or not I am good, I would rather face in with the thought, what can I learn? What can I improve?”
When entering the contest, people know that if someone wins he/she will receive a scholarship or even a prize. But when entering some may have doubts about the outcome. “I did not believe I would get anything other than experience and of course, the bonus out of this. I was sure others would easily surpass my writing abilities,” Gaines explains.