1994-1995 Harry Singer Foundation National Essay Contest
Alternatives: Proposals For Local Governments Struggling
With Limited Resources
Harrisburg High School, Harrisburg, Illinois
Teacher: Pam Bramlet
1st
Delana Boatright
1st Melissa Cook
2nd Erin Steinsultz 
2nd Ben Wenzel
3rd
Brad Ross3rd Amanda Harris 3rd
Kelly Gorman
"The proposal agreed upon by our class includes awareness programs.
These would include a day care, sexual education classes, and condom distribution. The
effort could be a small one for such a large problem, but helping one student would prove
its worth."
Amy Mitchell, Harrisburg High School, Harrisburg, Illinois
"The students who have addressed this issue have come to their own
conclusions. Pregnancy among teens and ignorance is a growing problem. With much debate,
the class proposed to offer classes to teens and parents, and also to set up a day care
system at the school, to help keep the students in school."
Heather Gibbs, Harrisburg High School, Harrisburg, Illinois
"In Illinois, we have what is called 'high sulfur coal.' This means
that when used, it emits harmful chemical into our air. Government has decided that 'low
sulfur coal' is better. Thus, instead of using our own resources, we are forced to buy
foreign coal. My proposal is that we bring in the technology needed to reduce the sulfur
in our coal. This way we could keep our mines in business, and jobs would come back to us.
We wouldn't have to retrain the coal miners to learn a brand new job because this is what
they already know how to do."
Elizabeth Hope Angelly, Harrisburg High School, Harrisburg, Illinois
"My AP English class conducted two polls concerning the unemployment
problem in southern Illinois. The first poll [directed] questions to businesses. When
asked whether they had laid off employees due to government or budget cutbacks, the
majority replied no. Two more questions were asked in reference to whether businesses
would help with the unemployment problem; yes and no answers were about equal. The final
question asked if they were willing to work to bring jobs to the area. Nearly all those
polled replied that they would. The second poll concerned individuals. From the poll's
results, twenty-nine were coal miners, and about half had been affected by cutbacks. Two
questions concerned taking advantage of opportunities at community colleges or job corps.
The majority replied yes to college, but no to job corps. The final question showed that
on average, each person knew fifty people who were laid off."
Amy Molinarolo, Harrisburg High School, Harrisburg, Illinois
"It has been said that for every job terminated, five other jobs are
affected. For instance, when a mine closes [truck drivers, engineers and construction
workers lose jobs right along with coal miners.]"
Elizabeth Hope Angelly, Harrisburg High School, Harrisburg, Illinois
"'I've had to go from making $11 an hour to $4.25 an hour working at
Wal-Mart,' said one former employee of the Sahara Mine in Saline County. Many of the
people that our class polled made similar statements about their job situation, prompting
us to decide that the major problem in our area is unemployment resulting from the
shutdown of many coal mines."
Jenny Hankins, Harrisburg High School, Harrisburg, Illinois
"Programs such as condom distribution could backfire and encourage
students toward sex. Many feel that since [others], provide free condoms, passing them out
at school would only be misunderstood. Several churches and parents could protest."
Amy Mitchell, Harrisburg High School, Harrisburg, Illinois
"The citizens polled [showed a willingness] to take advantage of all
available opportunities including educational training at the local community college.
Close to one third of the people polled were ex-coal miners and one half of the people
claimed that the government cutbacks had affected their jobs. The average [respondent
personally] knew of fifty unemployed people."
Kelly Gorman, Harrisburg High School, Harrisburg, Illinois
"For the last twenty minutes of one class, all the students did was
brainstorm for potential success stories and solutions to the problem. When the time came
to write our rough draft, a majority of the students knew how they were going to compose
their essay to get across the point that our school system needs a better sex education
class and parents need to communicate with their young adults."
Elizabeth Garnett , Harrisburg High School, Harrisburg, Illinois
"The proposal agreed upon by our class includes awareness programs.
These would include a day care, sexual education classes, and condom distribution. The
effort could be a small one for such a large problem, but helping one student would prove
its worth."
Amy Mitchell, Harrisburg High School, Harrisburg, Illinois
"The students who have addressed this issue have come to their own
conclusions. Pregnancy among teens and ignorance is a growing problem. With much debate,
the class proposed to offer classes to teens and parents, and also to set up a day care
system at the school, to help keep the students in school."
Heather Gibbs, Harrisburg High School, Harrisburg, Illinois
"In Illinois, we have what is called 'high sulfur coal.' This means
that when used, it emits harmful chemical into our air. Government has decided that 'low
sulfur coal' is better. Thus, instead of using our own resources, we are forced to buy
foreign coal. My proposal is that we bring in the technology needed to reduce the sulfur
in our coal. This way we could keep our mines in business, and jobs would come back to us.
We wouldn't have to retrain the coal miners to learn a brand new job because this is what
they already know how to do."
Elizabeth Hope Angelly, Harrisburg High School, Harrisburg, Illinois
"My AP English class conducted two polls concerning the unemployment
problem in southern Illinois. The first poll [directed] questions to businesses. When
asked whether they had laid off employees due to government or budget cutbacks, the
majority replied no. Two more questions were asked in reference to whether businesses
would help with the unemployment problem; yes and no answers were about equal. The final
question asked if they were willing to work to bring jobs to the area. Nearly all those
polled replied that they would. The second poll concerned individuals. From the poll's
results, twenty-nine were coal miners, and about half had been affected by cutbacks. Two
questions concerned taking advantage of opportunities at community colleges or job corps.
The majority replied yes to college, but no to job corps. The final question showed that
on average, each person knew fifty people who were laid off."
Amy Molinarolo, Harrisburg High School, Harrisburg, Illinois
"It has been said that for every job terminated, five other jobs are
affected. For instance, when a mine closes [truck drivers, engineers and construction
workers lose jobs right along with coal miners.]"
Elizabeth Hope Angelly, Harrisburg High School, Harrisburg, Illinois
"'I've had to go from making $11 an hour to $4.25 an hour working at
Wal-Mart,' said one former employee of the Sahara Mine in Saline County. Many of the
people that our class polled made similar statements about their job situation, prompting
us to decide that the major problem in our area is unemployment resulting from the
shutdown of many coal mines."
Jenny Hankins, Harrisburg High School, Harrisburg, Illinois
"Programs such as condom distribution could backfire and encourage
students toward sex. Many feel that since [others], provide free condoms, passing them out
at school would only be misunderstood. Several churches and parents could protest."
Amy Mitchell, Harrisburg High School, Harrisburg, Illinois
"The citizens polled [showed a willingness] to take advantage of all
available opportunities including educational training at the local community college.
Close to one third of the people polled were ex-coal miners and one half of the people
claimed that the government cutbacks had affected their jobs. The average [respondent
personally] knew of fifty unemployed people."
Kelly Gorman, Harrisburg High School, Harrisburg, Illinois
"For the last twenty minutes of one class, all the students did was
brainstorm for potential success stories and solutions to the problem. When the time came
to write our rough draft, a majority of the students knew how they were going to compose
their essay to get across the point that our school system needs a better sex education
class and parents need to communicate with their young adults."
Elizabeth Garnett , Harrisburg High School, Harrisburg, Illinois
"Several ideas ... need [to be] examined more closely. A combination of [well]
developed ideas [may bring] success. ... The process takes time and patience."
Kelly Gorman, Harrisburg High School, Harrisburg, Illinois
"So, what else can we do that we haven't already done to solve the unemployment
problem in our town? Our class ran in circles trying to find an answer that would solve
the entire problem. We finally decided, after a heated debate, that we must work to
alleviate a few of the symptoms at a time."
Brad Ross, Harrisburg High School, Harrisburg, Illinois
"It will take time and the efforts of many people to solve this problem."
Damon Lampley, Harrisburg High School, Harrisburg, Illinois
"Efforts have been made to bring in new industries and failed because we lack
water resources and efficient ways of transportation in and out of our town. The
possibility of a big job-supplying industry coming into our area seems unlikely because of
these deficiencies."
Amy Molinarolo, Harrisburg High School, Harrisburg, Illinois