Whitman Junior Wins $10,000 in Essay Contest

Aras Scimemi, a junior at Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda, won a $10,000 scholarship for an essay on growing income disparity, according to a Montgomery County Public Schools news release.

Scimemi is one of four MCPS students selected as winners in the 2012 Junior Achievement Essay Competition. Scimemi's essay placed first in the state.

The competition, coordinated by Junior Achievement of Greater Washington, asked high school students from Virginia, Maryland and Washington, DC, to compete for scholarships by writing a 1,000-to-1,500-word essay in response to the following question: “How can the country readily and realistically tackle growing income disparity?”

Scimemi focused on education: "In higher education, the major factor contributing to income inequality is the excessive cost," which can be prohibitive for many low-income families, Scimemi wrote in the essay. Those who graduate often have costly student loans, he wrote.

"One possible solution to these issues is to offer jobless university graduates the chance to spend a few years working in low-income schools in exchange for forgiving a portion of their debt. This would enable both under-performing schools to benefit from educated young people, helping to improve the quality of education in their schools, as well as allowing the students to reduce debt at a time when the economy does not provide many employment opportunities. ...

"More emphasis also needs to be placed on other education options. These days, technical and vocational schools are good alternatives to the traditional college education. Too many people spend tens of thousands of dollars on university or graduate degrees for nonexistent jobs while the U.S. needs more students with technical skills such as math, science and engineering available at technical schools and community colleges."

Daniela Hernandez-Fujigaki, a sophomore at Clarksburg High School, was selected as the grand-prize winner of the contest. Isabel E. Hendrix-Jenkins, a junior at Montgomery Blair High School, took second place in the state, and Nicole M. Obongo, a junior at Northwest High School in Germantown, took third place in the state.

Scimemi and the other winners will be honored at a ceremony on June 5 in Washington, DC. To read the winning entries, visit the Junior Achievement website.

The competition is sponsored by David M. Rubenstein, co-founder and managing director of The Carlyle Group, a global asset management company.