Thank you to the 527 teenagers who participated in the second week of our 10-week Summer Reading Contest, and congratulations to Chungjune Park, our winner, as well as to our many runners-up and honorable mentions.
Scroll down to take a look at the variety of topics — from the fight against gender stereotypes, to Hong Kong protests, to rising seas along US coastlines, to the new U.S. poet laureate — that caught the eyes of our participants this week.
And please remember to always check the top of our contest announcement to find the right place to participate, any week from now until Aug. 23.
Winner
Chungjune Park from New Jersey chose a Ties essay entitled “When My Mother Forgot Me” and wrote:
When Einstein proposed that time is relative, he was speaking of the physical world. Yet, as I read Kate Neuman’s “When My Mother Forgot Me,” I was reminded of how 5 minutes can feel long and yet cause a lifetime of regret.
As Ms. Neuman recounted the moment in which her mother had forgotten her because of Alzheimer’s disease, I thought about my grandmother. I can still remember my last phone conversation with my grandmother. She had called just to see how I was doing, but I was in a rush that day. I hurried the conversation along, thinking that we would have time later. What I did not know was that 30 minutes after that 3 minute conversation, she would pass away from a heart attack.
I have often been angry at myself. Why didn’t I talk longer? For all that she has done for me in my 17 years, why did I wasted those precious minutes with her on the phone?
While I still have regret and a profound sadness over my grandmother’s passing, Neuman’s words gave me some solace. Like Ms. Neuman’s mother, my grandmother was indeed a mirror. Every time I looked into my grandmother’s eyes, filled with love, she was a mirror that showed me my strengths, highlighted my deficiencies, and inspired me to be a better person.
What I have discovered is that when it comes to those whom we love, there is never enough time. So let us not waste any minute, any second we have with them. Let us live in the moment, and in doing so, make seconds last a lifetime by not having any regrets.
Runners-Up
Swetha Berana on “What Makes a Leader”
Cody Busch-Weiss on “The Land Where the Internet Ends”
Robert DiChiara on “For Megan Rapinoe, Boldness in the Spotlight Is Nothing New”
Ella H. on “Fighting the Gender Stereotypes That Warp Biomedical Research”
Pooja Kanyadan on “The Terror of Getting Lettuce Wrong”
Ariel Kim on “You are Doing Something Important When You Aren’t Doing Anything”
Kaylee Walker on “Let’s Hear It for the Average Child”
Cindy Xin on “Joy Harjo Is Named U.S. Poet Laureate”
Ashley Yung on “What Might It Take to Get Harriet Tubman on the $20 Bill?”
Jonathan Zhang on “Young Voters Keep Moving to the Left on Social Issues, Republicans Included”
Celina Zhao on “‘Cultural Appropriation’ is Critical to Human Progress,” one of the winning editorials from this spring’s Student Editorial Contest
Honorable Mentions
Srisruti Bontala on “What Makes a Leader?”
Jack Breen on “With More Storms and Rising Seas, Which U.S. Cities Should Be Saved First?”
Sophia Collins on “Will You Stay With Me Until I Die?”
Amogh Dimri on “Why Not Let Children Choose Their Own Names?”
Eva Eapen on “‘These People Aren’t Coming From Norway’: Refugees in a Minnesota City Face Backlash”
Shena Han on “When China Massacred Its Own People”
Isaiah Jimenez on “You Are Doing Something Important When You Aren’t Doing Anything”
Yoon JungHyun on “When Pollution is Matter of Life and Death”
Esther Kim on “The Youngest Child Separated From His Family at the Border Was 4 Months Old”
Summer L. on “For Taylor Swift, Is Ego Stronger Than Pride?”
Seo Hyun Lee on “Harvard’s False Path to Wisdom”
Daniel Lenois on “For Hong Kong’s Youth, Protests Are ‘a Matter of Life and Death’”
Megan Maiuri on “In Turkey, Keeping a Language of Whistles Alive”
L. Pelissier on “How to, Maybe, Be Less Indecisive (or Not)”
Stella Son on “Jeremy Lin, ‘Reppin’ Asians With Everything I Have,’ Is Bigger Than an N.B.A. Title”
Andrew Watson on “Harvard’s False Path to Wisdom”
