From a total of 2,134 essay submissions, three Hamilton County students came out on top in the Sertoma Club of Broad Ripple’s annual National Heritage Essay Contest. This year’s essay topic was “What Freedom Means to Me.”
The Sertoma Club of Broad Ripple’s three essay winners were all students from Hamilton County. (From left) Gigi Wilczek of Westfield won second place, Lorelai Polk of Fishers won first place, and Brooks Kline of Carmel won third place. The students’ essays were among a pool of more than 2,100 submissions. (Photo provided by Sertoma Club of Broad Ripple)
The three grand prize winners are:
- First Place: Lorelai Polk, a student at Riverside Intermediate School in Fishers. Her teacher is Mrs. Shelley Brown.
- Second Place: Georgina (Gigi) Wilczek, a student at St. Maria Goretti Catholic School in Westfield. Her teachers are Mrs. Jackie Gaddis and Mrs. Michele Chapman.
- Third Place: Brooks Kline, a student at Clay Middle School in Carmel. His teacher is Mr. Patrick Anderson.
Ms. Polk was awarded a check for $400, a certificate of appreciation, and a commemorative plaque. Ms. Wilczek was awarded a check for $300, a certificate of appreciation, and a commemorative plaque. Mr. Kline was awarded a check for $200, a certificate of appreciation, and a commemorative plaque. Each grand prize-winning student’s classroom teacher was awarded an honorarium check for $150. In total, the Club’s National Heritage Essay Contest committee awarded $6,900 to 94 sixth-grade students and four teachers.
Excerpts from the three winning essays follow:
Lorelai Polk
First Place
To me freedom means I can speak freely, have my own religion and be treated equally. As a free person, I can enjoy many things in life. Different people can express themselves and we can share our ideas to make our world a better place. I can celebrate my religion and be treated equally no matter what gender I am or what I enjoy doing. When I grow up, I can be an engineer, a doctor, or an artist. I can vote and choose who I want to be my leader. I am a proud American female living free in my community.
Gigi Wilczek
Second Place
When I think of freedom, I think of my family and how much their life changed when they moved to the United States from Poland. The different stories I heard from them about life in Poland in the past remind me of what freedom really means. My parents’ stories are important to me, because they teach me how lucky we are to live in the United States. They also teach me that I can enjoy so many freedoms others do not have. Freedom is important, and we should all do our part in keeping these freedoms alive.
Brooks Kline
Third Place
When I hear the word, in my mind I picture the flag of the United States waving in the wind. The flag represents America and what our country values and what it has fought for. Freedom to me is the ability to worship how I want, the ability to work hard and be successful towards what I want, and the ability to act based on my own values and opinions. I hope I never take my freedom for granted and I hope one day my kids and grandkids will be able to have the same choices as me. I know this isn’t possible unless my generation works hard to preserve it.
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The Sertoma Club has sponsored the essay contest for 42 years. Sertoma – short for “Service to Mankind” – believes that participation encourages students to better understand the founding principles of our country and consider how those principles affect their lives today. The contest is open to sixth-grade students in public, private, and parochial schools in the Greater Indianapolis area.
This year, 19 schools totaling 94 classrooms submitted essays within their classes. Classroom winners were chosen from the top three submitted by the teacher from each classroom. Of the over 2,100 total written in all the classrooms, the Club received 283 to do final judging. From these, a total of 20 finalists were identified for consideration as one of the grand prize winners.
Learn more about the Sertoma Club of Broad Ripple at BroadRippleSertoma.org.