On January 20, 2017, Mrs. Teresa Rimer of the Daughters of the American Revolution Organization entered Central High School to present sophomore student, Zeena Whayeb, with a certificate and prize of 50 dollars for winning the local round of the DAR essay competition.

This year, there were less than ten student essay entries for the local round of the Christopher Columbus Essay Competition, also known as the Chief John Ross Chapter. The topic this year, was about the potential consequences of Christopher Columbus’ voyage had he had access to modern-day technology.

“This essay took me a while to write because I worked on it for approximately 30 minutes a day up until the submission date,” explained Whayeb. “I don’t like starting something and leaving it incomplete. I wanted to finish it, so I worked on it up until the last day.”

The essay competition is a nationwide contest. Starting with chapters, each chapter will send one winning essay from each of the four grades (grades nine through twelve) to the state to be judged on the state level. The state will submit one winning essay from each of the four grades and they will be judged on a divisional level. Finally, the winning essay for each of the four grades will be judged on a national level. Chapter participants receive a certificate of participation, chapter winners receive a bronze medal and certificate, state winners receive a silver medal and certificate, and the top three national winners receive a special certificate, medals, and a monetary award.

“It feels great knowing that I was one of the winners for the Chief John Ross Chapter, but at the same time I question how big of a deal this is,” elaborates Whayeb. “There were less than ten entries this year, so there was not that much competition.”

“I am glad that Zeena was recognized for her hard work,” elucidates Ms. Sally White, Zeena’s Honors English instructor. “One of Zeena’s strengths as a writer is her determination. She never settles for the bare minimum and is constantly seeking new ways to challenge herself.”

The due date for the essays was November 9, 2016. On this day, a representative from the DAR came to Central to collect the essay(s).

“I was worried that the person who was supposed to come and pick up the essays wouldn’t show up, and that the due date would pass by and my efforts would have been for nothing,” confesses Whayeb. “Although there was some difficulty with communication and it took a while to receive the results, things worked out in the end.”

The Central Digest is proud to wish Zeena luck as her essay goes on to the State Competitions as a potential candidate for the Divisional judgement.