Essay Option 1 Winner

The Words That Made Us Vol. 2

How should Akhil Reed Amar open the second volume in his trilogy about our ongoing Constitutional conversation, The Words That Made Us Equal: 1840-1920?

Benjamin Fertig



Ben Fertig is a senior at Greenwich High School.  The prize-winning essay is titled We All Are Created Equal.  

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Essay Option 2 Winner

Voting Rights

What do we do next to strengthen voting rights and ensure free and fair elections?

Siyuan Feng



Siyuan Feng is a junior at Greenwich High School.  The prize-winning essay is titled Voting Rights.  

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Essay Option 3 Winner

Elections Matter in Greenwich

Why do local elections matter in Greenwich?

  Kai Le



Kai Le is a junior at Brunswick  School.  The prize-winning essay is titled The Importance of Local Elections in a Functioning Democracy.  

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OPTION 1
Volume Two of The Words That Made Us

How should Akhil Reed Amar open the second volume in his trilogy about our ongoing Constitutional conversation, The Words That Made Us Equal: 1840-1920? 

Yale University Sterling Professor of Law and Political Science Akhil Reed Amar is one of the most cited legal scholars of all time, particularly by the Supreme Court.  The Words That Made Us: 1760-1840 is the first volume of a magnum opus melding the legal and political history of the United States.  It concludes, on pages 697-8, with a challenge to the reader to provide an opening scene for volume two of three.

My story, at least for now, has ended too soon---before America's most notable crusading women and most influential African Americans have had a proper chance to stride onto center stage...  This is a story I can't wait to tell...  The opening scene of The Words That Made Us Equal is not yet cast in concrete.  So if any earnest reader of this postscript has suggestions, I'm all ears.

Accept Professor Amar's challenge and suggest a scene that conveys the next phase of the Constitutional conversation, which is followed in 1921 by the founding of the League of Women Voters.

Your essay should propose a story to open the middle volume of this series, covering 1840-1920.

OPTION 2
Voting Rights

What do we do next to strengthen voting rights and ensure free and fair elections?

Responding to allegations of voter fraud, in 2021 more than a third of state legislatures considered bills that many argue would restrict access to the polls.

The League of Women Voters has a long history of supporting the expansion of voting rights and participation nationwide, and advocated for the John Lewis Voting Rights Bill considered by the United States Congress, in 2021 by the House of Representatives and in January 2022 by the Senate.  A majority of the Senate upheld filibuster protections which prevented the bill's passage.

On January 27^th  the League of Women Voters of Greenwich hosted an hour-long discussion titled "State and Federal Voting Rights: What's Next?" with Andrew Garber of the Brennan Center's Voting Rights and Elections Program.  You are encouraged to view the recording.

Your essay should be addressed to the League of Women Voters US or the LWV Connecticut, and lay out a strategy they can pursue now to strengthen voting rights at the national or state level.

OPTION 3
Elections Matter in Greenwich

Why do local elections matter in Greenwich?

Are you passionate about how your school is run?  Who makes decisions about that and how?  (Private schools too are subject to local government choices in many ways.)

Did you know that the largest municipal legislative body in the country, the Greenwich Representative Town Meeting (RTM), saw a wave of new candidates five years ago for the first time in a century?  Or that nearly 1,000 of your fellow citizens attended local political party caucuses this year?  Do you know why?

How does Greenwich government work?

Why do local politics generate such passion among so few who actually vote?  Why do fewer than 40% of registered voters vote in Greenwich in a municipal election year like 2021?  What's at stake?  Why does it matter?

Your essay should be a persuasive Letter to the Editor explaining why local elections matter and why voters should pay more attention to issues and candidates in Greenwich elections.