By Bethany Hutchens
Gargoyle staff reporter
Posted Friday, Feb. 2, 2007, The OG, news & student awards

THREE UNI STUDENTS won awards for their recent essays on the late civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. The winners were:

• Will Fernandez, subfreshman (Steve Rayburn, English teacher)
• Vaishnavi Giridaran, sophomore (Matt Mitchell, English teacher)
• Jamie Weiser, junior (Suzanne Linder, English teacher)

The essay requirement was to write a letter to King on the value of “double education” — education both through the classroom and through social activism. The topic was based on a quote by King describing the importance of double education in the civil rights movement: “The movement gives to its participants a double education — academic learning from books and classes, and life's lessons from responsible participation in social action.”

The Fifth Annual Middle and High School Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Essay Contest was sponsored by the Bruce D. Nesbitt African American Cultural Center at the University of Illinois. The competition was open to all middle and high school students in Champaign-Urbana.

Winners received their awards in a ceremony held Jan. 20 at the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts. All participants earned a certificate for their work, and the writers of the top 10 essays — which included the three Uni students — were awarded a gift certificate.

Jamie Weiser said she entered the contest of her own volition.

“I have such a strong opinion that learning would be much more effective if people could get socially involved in addition to textbook or lecture learning,” said Weiser of her decision to enter.

Weiser's English teacher, Suzanne Linder, says of Weiser's success: “She did it all on her own, which makes it even more cool.”

The teachers of the winning students also received awards.