Recently, two Darlington high school students – Nixon Prior and Angeline Myrie – won the state history writing contest out of a field of five contestants. Each year, the NSCDA-CA provides scholarships for students to visit their nation’s capital and learn about citizens’ vital role in American history and government. High school students in grades 10-12 who are interested in American history and government can win a week in Washington, D.C., in June as participants in a Washington Workshops Congressional Seminar.
The competition was on a question about government: “Why did the nation’s founders choose a government with separated powers rather than a parliamentary system?”
“While writing this essay, I struggled to gather and organize information,” Junior Nixon Prior said.
Angeline Myrie, a junior at Darlington, dealt with many struggles while writing her essay.
“There is so much information that can be used, and how to organize and write that information into a paper was the difficulty I had to overcome,” Myrie said.
Prior faced similar yet different challenges while writing her essay.
“The challenges I faced while writing this essay were conducting extensive research relevant to the chosen topic, maintaining historical accuracy in my explanations, and giving enough details on points throughout,” Prior said, “but not too many that would cause me to go off-topic. Making my essay well structured and coherent within the word limit was also another challenge that I faced.”
Both students discussed and collaborated with their AP US History teacher, Ms. Shores, to write their essays for the competition. They completed their essays with additional help from AP US Government teacher Brant Evans.
“The students were selected by a committee of state representatives from the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America. I provided organizational and editing suggestions for the essays and proofreading,” Shores said. “I submitted the essays and packets to the Rome Chapter of the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America, who then forwarded the packets to the state committee.”
Click here to view Nixon Prior’s essay
Click here to view Angeline Myrie’s essay