Middle School Winner in Learning Quest Essay Contest
Thinking about the future has big payoff
December 17, 2011
In early September, Social Studies teacher Tina Johnson presented 7th and 8th graders in Social Studies classes an assignment with a built in challenge to think about their future and how college might help their dreams come true. The assignment required planning, questioning, communicating and higher order thinking skills.
First students identified someone they knew who had attended school after graduating from 12th grade. Then they prepared for and conducted an interview with that person to discover how higher education had impacted their life. Then it was time for students to think about their own future career: Will I attend college, technical or other school after graduating from high school? If yes, why and what do I hope to accomplish? How will higher education help me aim to reach my goal?
Finally, students organized what they’d learned into an essay that was entered into the Learning Quest Back-to-School Essay Contest. The Learning Quest 529 Education Savings Program sponsors the annual contest. Essays are judged on creativity and originality of content, grammatical accuracy, logic, and clarity.
Prizes included $1,000 and $500 Learning Quest accounts for one winner and one runner-up, respectively, from each grade level. One randomly selected participant received a $529 account. And, to celebrate the contest's 10th anniversary, one randomly selected participating school won a special prize from Learning Quest — $1 for each entry submitted statewide.
Phillipsburg Middle School was excited to learn that they were the school contest winner! Kansas State Treasurer and Learning Quest Program Administrator Ron Estes presented a check in the amount of $1,021 dollars to Mrs. Johnson and her 7th and 8th grade students during a special assembly at the Middle School on Monday, on Dec. 12.
