Student Feature Friday: Essay Contest Winners Madeline Davidshofer and Regan Conrad

Essay contest winners
Regan Conrad (l) and Maddie Davidshofer (r). 

Over the course of the past few years, Nipmuc has worked to establish the core values and beliefs that guide the work that is completed in our school. Through conversations, meetings, and collaboration - our school community voted to adopt four core values: respect, high expectations, accountability, and academics. We shared our values with the school by posting them in the main lobby and by placing quotes in the halls of our building that are related to these values.

While posting our guiding principles is helpful, the best way to see them in action is to hear from our students about the way these values are demonstrated in life at Nipmuc. With that in mind, we offered an essay contest to our students this year asking them to choose one of the quotations about core values and discuss how it relates to life at Nipmuc.

At this time, I am excited to announce that the winners of the Core Values Essay Contest for terms 1 & 2 are Madeline Davidshofer and Regan Conrad. Maddie and Regan are members of the junior class as well as members of our National Honor Society. Their essays spoke personally and meaningfully about how the values are exhibited in student life at Nipmuc.

Maddie chose a quote from Moliere stating, "It is not only what we do, but also what we do not do for which we are accountable" to discuss accountability. In her essay she wrote about the accountability required in being a member of the varsity field hockey team and how "the influence collaboration and accountability have on a team outweighs individual success." She continued by stating:

"The same holds true for Nipmuc's learning community. Accountability is more than merely placing a check mark on a checklist; accountability is ensuring that we are performing to the best of our ability in every aspect of school life...Let us not forget the words of Moliere with every decision we make because actions speak louder than words. The core value of accountability leads students to become responsible, moral, and proactive young men and women who will build the legacy of Nipmuc Regional High School." 

In her essay, Regan chose John F. Kennedy's quote, "Remember that our nation's first great leaders were also our first great scholars" to discuss the value of high expectations. She writes,

"My experiences at Nipmuc have enabled me to realize that it is essential to have high expectations of myself, just as all of the world-renowned leaders have high expectations of themselves. John F. Kennedy...revealed that he felt that all students should strive to succeed...because the effort put into achieving goals in school will benefit those students later in life...Without high expectations that give way to successful and inspirational leaders, how will we be able to grow and prosper as a community and society?"

Madeline and Regan each wrote essays that provide examples of how these values guide and inspire the work of our students. As winners, they each receive $50 and each has the chance to be selected as the overall contest winner for the 2013-14 school year. Congratulations!

The essay contest will take place two more times this school year. The next deadline for the contest is April 3, 2014.