THE PAMELA W. CHEEK '63 MEMORIAL PRIZE ESSAY COMPETITION

NOTE: The essay contest will be on hiatus during the 2006 - 2007 academic year. Look for an announcement in mid-2007 regarding the future of the contest.

The Cornell Club of Greater Rochester is pleased to announce its fifteenth annual Prize Essay Competition. The competition is open to all eleventh grade high school students in the greater Rochester area. We hope that participating in the contest will help develop your critical thinking and writing skills. In particular, our recent experience demonstrates these skills are critical to success in your pass drug test college application essay next fall, as well as for your Regents English exam later this spring.

We will award a first prize of $100 in cash, and at least three second place prizes of $50 each; we will also designate an unlimited number of finalists, semi finalists and honorable mentions, depending on the quality of submissions. In past years, up to 40% of the entrants has been so designated. In addition, if the first prize winner is accepted by and chooses to attend Cornell, the Club will increase the award to a total of $1000 during the winner's sophomore year. Similarly, if any second prize winner attends Cornell, that award will be increased to $500. The Cornell Club of Greater Rochester offers the prize; winning or placing favorably in it in no way implies a favorable admission decision by any of Cornell's seven undergraduate colleges. But we also know from the first thirteen years of the competition that every essayist designated as a semi-finalist or higher has been accepted to at least one "highly selective" college!

Background

One of the most important skills that you will continue to develop during the balance of your high school years and in college is the ability to thoughtfully evaluate opposing viewpoints - in other words, to think critically. This skill is important not only for students and scholars, but also for nearly every occupation you might choose, as well as for your personal mental growth and maturity.

The Rules

1. Listed below are 42 pairs of quotations drawn from the writings of a variety of famous scholars, authors, journalists, actors, critics, scientists, theologians, politicians, and business leaders. Select one of the two (or in some cases three) quotes from any one of the 42 sets. Here's a hint to keep you on a successful track: Before you start to draft your essay, go over all the sets. Think about them. Try and come up with a word or phrase that captures the essence of each pair of quotations. For example, set #5 is appropriate for an essay on multicultural diversity. Set #9 is all about the challenges of growing up. Set #15 could be the basis of an essay focused on winning in sports at any cost versus sportsmanship. If set #21 sounds vaguely familiar, a recent Toyota ad campaign has a tag line "Its not the destination, it's the journey." Looks like a clever copy writer at their advertising agency was up to standard on his Homer. Set #22 could be the basis of an essay on the challenges of Muslim fundamentalism in the 21^st century. 2. Pick one of the pairs of quotations. Then, write an essay of 1000 words or fewer that supports one of the quotes in the pair or demonstrates the relevance of the quote to life. 3. There are no limits to the range of your responses, but they should imaginatively reflect your own experiences -- from reading, school, people you've met, extracurricular achievements (or failures), jobs, travel, family dinner discussions, etc. Your essay should give the reader a sense of who you are and why you believe the quote is true. 4. Then, on a separate page, use the opposing quotation and outline a half-dozen or so key points to rebut the case you have just made in your essay. This should take no more than a page. 5. In order to save time and expense by all of us, we require participants to submit their entries via the Internet. This will save you time and postage, and allow us to expedite the judging process. The web site (URL), which also provides examples of past years' winning essays, as well as for these same rules for this year's competition, is www.caagr.org/contest.html. We have posted instructions at the site on how to submit entries by the Internet, as well as these rules.

2007 Cornell Club of Rochester