Achievement Award Topics

2008 Topic A—The Moral of the Story
In some cultures, orators fictionalized tales in order to teach a moral or to guide children and adolescents in their behavior.  In other traditions, authors were restricted to using only certain characters or objects.

Continue this tradition of storytelling by creating a short story that teaches a lesson.  Your tale must contain the following elements: a liquid, a vehicle, a well-known person, and a set of something.  Your piece will be published in a high school literary magazine that is circulated throughout your high school and community.

2008 Topic B—The World of Politics and Dirty Campaigning

Political ads are created to inform the voting public.  Candidates and political parties invest considerable amounts of time and money to promote their platforms.  Political ads, along with campaign literature mailed to residents and computer-automated phone calls to households, contain information concerning jobs, health care, terrorism, and the war, to name a few of the controversial issues that concern voters.  While some ads address the issues with facts and evidence, others may attack the candidate on a personal level.

In a letter to the editor, express your feelings and thoughts concerning political advertisements, including recommendations you would offer candidates as they construct their commercials and print media.  Use examples from national, state, or local elections to support your position.

2007 Topic A—Students Who Don’t Fit In
Oftentimes, in school, there are students who do not “fit in,” who may be shunned and have a difficult time. People sometimes exclude others because of characteristics, such as weight, color of skin, or other physical differences.  Additionally, individuals may be ridiculed for other reasons.  These might include poor academic ability, accents, athletic ability, economic limitations, speech impediments, or the clothes they wear.  
 
In an address to the student body, explain this problem and provide a proposal for how your school could deal with it, who would be part of the solution, and how you would lead the school community in this initiative.   Include your own experiences, observations, and background knowledge.

Discuss one such literary character and the lesson(s) he or she teaches in an application essay for your school parent organization’s annual scholarship.    Discuss why the lesson the character teaches is important to you, how this character’s actions or attitudes address a problem in our world today, and how you can apply what was learned by the character to your life and society. 

2006 Topic A—Senioritis
When the senior year arrives, some students just want to finish high school, look for the perfect job or write a successful college application, and relax before they assume adult responsibilities, but this behavior can prove harmful to your future. 

"Also known as senioritis, taking it easy the senior year may seem like a nice break but is likely to do more harm than good. According to recent reports, incomplete high school preparation can contribute to academic problems in college and mediocre future work habits. More than one quarter of the freshmen at 4-year colleges and nearly half of those at 2-year colleges do not even make it to their sophomore year."  "What to do about Senioritis: Make Your Senior Year Count." College Board. 2001.

"Everything that leads up to the final year helps contribute to its success (or failure) and everything that follows, either in education or work, should lead out of it. As such, the senior year should be the culmination of primary and secondary education, with clearly articulated high standards for leaving school, for which students should have been preparing for four or more years. The senior year also should be the embarkation point that launches the well-prepared student toward success in postsecondary education or the evermore-complex workplaces of the new economy."  Raising Our Sights: No High School Senior Left Behind. National Commission on the High School Senior Year. October 2001.

Imagine that your principal has invited all juniors to write persuasive letters recommending practical solutions to reducing senioritis in your high school. Write your persuasive letter to the principal explaining what one solution is, why you believe it will be successful, how the school can best implement it, and how the school can evaluate its success after implementation. 

Support your suggestion based on your own experience, observations, and background knowledge.  You'll want your letter to be fluent and integrated, not just one paragraph responses for the what, why, and how's.

2006 Topic B—PUTTING VIRTUES INTO PRACTICE
Martin Luther King Jr. dreamed of a day when we would be judged by the content of our character rather than the color of our skin.  He also dreamed of a day when social justice and peace would prevail.  Rosa Parks stood up and sat down for equality and justice, putting her virtues, such as assertiveness and determination, into practice. To make King's dream a reality and to walk in the footsteps of Parks, we need to put into practice the virtues that shape our character.

Chose one virtue important to you and write an article about how you can put it into practice within your community.  You should write your article for the editor of your local newspaper or your school newspaper.  Remember, virtues are abstractions that you are making concrete through your specific suggestions and experiences.

What are some possible virtues you could write about? Linda Kavelin-Popov (The Virtues Project Educator's Guide: Simple Ways to Create a Culture of Character) lists the following virtues among many: generosity, perseverance, respect, and trustworthiness.

2005 Topic A—CELL PHONES
Advanced technology has changed the way that people communicate on a daily basis. Not only is the public bombarded with continuous advertisements for the best wireless service, but the American public is purchasing and using cell phones at the highest rate ever. Schools are finding it necessary to set policies regarding cell phone use during school hours because of the disruption that is caused by student use of cell phones.

Write a letter to your school administrator(s) arguing for or against the need for students to have cell phones in school.

Support your position with specific details based on your own experience and observations.

2005 Topic B—TEEN OBESITY
In 2004, articles in newspapers and magazines and on the Internet reported that obesity is the second leading cause of preventable death in the United States. 300,000 deaths a year can be traced to the obesity epidemic. Yearly economic costs are high: $11.3 billion is spent on obesity related heath problems (type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, arthritis, gall bladder disease, some cancers); $22.2 billion is spent on heart disease traced to obesity. Americans spend $33 billion a year on weight-reduction products. One in three Americans between ages 20 and 79 and one in five youth between ages 6 and 17 is overweight or obese. Seventy percent of obese teens will become obese adults. The major causes of teen obesity are unhealthy eating and sedentary activities.

Write an editorial for your school newspaper discussing the obesity problem and what your peers and/or school could do to combat teen obesity. Support your position with specific details from your own experience, observations, and background knowledge.

2004 Topic A—Music Off the Internet
The music industry’s trade group, the Recording Industry Association of America, has filed 261 lawsuits against people it accuses of illegally downloading, recording, and distributing music online. The RIAA blames lagging CD sales on the downloading of music. Yet, in a Gallup poll, 83 percent of teenagers polled said it was morally acceptable to download music from the Internet for free.

Write an editorial for Rolling Stone, Vibe, Country Music or any other magazine catering to the popular music industry stating your position about the ethics of downloading and sharing music off the Internet. Provide specific reasons that support your position from your own background knowledge, experiences, and observations.

2004 Topic B—Integration and Educational Opportunity
2004 marks the fiftieth anniversary of the 1954 Supreme Court decision Brown v. the Board of Education (Little Rock, Arkansas) in which the segregation of races in public schools was found unconstitutional. The Court ruled that instead of separate schools for students of different races, schools should be integrated and all students should receive the same educational opportunity.

Your school has designated a day in March to commemorate this historic decision. In a speech you will deliver to students and teachers during a school assembly on this occasion, discuss the importance of educational equality in creating a unified, secure, and just society. Has the promise of the Supreme Court decision been fulfilled? Do students from different social classes, genders, races, and ethnic or religious backgrounds have equal educational opportunities? Support your position with specific details from your own experience, observations, and/or current events.

2003 Topic A—Coping with Teenage Stress
Teenagers today face many pressures coming from adults, peers, school, and work.  These pressures can be overwhelming.  Yet in many communities, services to help young people cope with these pressures (such as crisis-line counseling, online intervention programs, peer helpers, open-door counseling) are limited or nonexistent.

Prepare a speech that you will present to leaders in your community to convince them of the need to establish or increase services to help teenagers who are experiencing stressful situations.  In your speech, describe how these services could provide alternative ways for teens to cope with stress.

2003 Topic B—Books vs. Films
The written word has always been important in education; however, with a more technologically advanced society, visual literacy has become more widespread.  Viewing a film in many instances has replaced reading books.  Yet one of the major criticisms of viewing a film based on a book is that too often the fine point of detail, which can make a book come alive, is left out of the movie.

Write to a friend about an exciting piece of literature you have read and viewed as a film.  Using your experience in both reading text and viewing films, tell your friend which medium you prefer and why by focusing on a specific piece of literature.

2002 Topic A—Lyrical Content of Popular Music
Your local newspaper ran an article criticizing the lyrics of popular music. Yet the lyrics of popular music offer many images which reflect positive perspectives of the human potential. In his song "Living for the City," Stevie Wonder wrote of the determination of a poor family with these inspiring words, "her clothes are old but never are they dirty."

Identify a theme from one or more of today's popular music lyrics in which you find inspiring images of human behavior. Write a guest editorial for your local newspaper explaining how these images reflect thoughts, values, and acts that you find admirable.


2002 Topic B—Lessons Not Learned in the High School Classroom
In his book All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten, Robert Fulghum makes the case that the important lessons of life were shaped in him in his kindergarten class. However, contrary to that notion, many of us can cite times when we learned equally important lessons from experiences outside the regular classroom.

Assume you have received the Student-of-the-Month Award from a local community group. While you are very proud of your school success, you also want the community leaders to know that you have learned valuable lessons outside the classroom. Write your acceptance speech in which you describe one of those lessons and explain what you learned and what it has meant to you.

2001 Topic A—Qualities of a Hero/Heroine
In his book, American Heroes:  Myth and Reality, historian Marshall Fishwick writes,  “Our legends are less apt to exalt wisdom or subtlety than brawn and buffoonery.  Believing they can do anything once they set their minds to it, our idols don’t like fences.”  As times change, so do our ideas of heroes.  In times of crisis, we look for those who have the strength and character to lead us.  At other times, we look for those who embody different qualities.  The new millennium might require a re-examination of the qualities of character, personality, strength, or intellect a hero or heroine should have.

Assume you have been invited as a guest editor to submit an article about “Heroes/Heroines of the New Millennium” to your school’s newspaper or Web page. Write the article in which you present those qualities that, in your opinion, define a hero or heroine.  Use your reading, own experience, and observations of others as your support.

2001 Topic B—Teen Pressures/Stress
Today’s teenagers have to make difficult choices.  They have to choose among school, work, homework, extracurricular activities, social life, and home life.  They have to decide how to balance their activities and responsibilities.  Often having to make choices can be quite stressful.  Yet many teens know how to deal with stress.

Imagine that you have been invited by the school board to be part of a team chosen to help teens cope with stress and pressure.  Write a letter to the group explaining how you balance the stress and pressures in your life.

2000 Topic A—-Violence in the Schools
With the continued concern about school violence in America during the past years, educators, parents, and students themselves are left in a quandary. As a result, many districts have considered and taken steps toward increased school safety.

Imagine that you have been invited to be a member of a panel of educators, students, and community leaders to address the problem of school safety. Each panel member has been asked to discuss his or her views on safe schools. Write a letter to the group in which you explain your suggestions for making schools safer.

2000 Topic B—Media Influence
During the past few years, there has been growing interest in the media exposure young people receive. Many believe that teen behavior is shaped by what young people see on television, videos, or in the movies. Some argue that teens model their behavior, dress, or speech after media figures and movie stars.

As a roving reporter for your community newspaper, write an opinion column in which you explore your observations on whether the media has a positive or negative effect on young people.

1999 Topic A—What Influences Teen Buying?
Companies spend millions of dollars on advertising to attract teens.  They select sports figures, music and movie celebrities, and even cartoon charcters, to name a few, to promote their products.  However, some  teens say they are more influenced by their friends than by what they see in national ads.

A company marketing manager is coming to your school to seek advice about ways to promote a new product and has asked your advice about effective ways to market the product to teens.  Write an essay discussing what most influences teen purchasing.

1999 Topic B—Electronic Data
Many schools now use electronic databases as their primary source of information.  Some say this use of technology may replace the need for books and other traditionally published materials.

Write an editorial for your local paper explaining your views on replacing traditional published materials with electronic database information.