1994-1995 Harry Singer Foundation National Essay Contest

Alternatives: Proposals For Local Governments Struggling With Limited Resources
Teacher: Wanda Allen

Camden High School, Camden, Tennessee

1st Kristen Sullivan   2nd Glen Mark Borchert     3rd Heather Robins 3rd Diana Molina

“A twelve-year-old boy shot a stock broker on a street in Corpus Christi, Texas. As the victim watched, the boy blow the smoke from the gun barrel John Wayne style, then rode off on his bicycle."
Shane Morris, Camden High School, Camden, Tennessee

 “I heard about a student-run LSD ring in a school in Virginia with which administrators refused to get involved. Reports claimed that these drug transactions took place outside of the school, but on school property. Administrators claimed that since this went on outside of the school building, it was not a concern of the school administration. They would not monitor the suspected students, and offered no help to police."
Jeremy Wyatt, Camden High School, Camden, Tennessee

 “Many people in this country feel that the institution of education is in severe decline. Schools are deteriorating; good teachers are abandoning the profession; students perceive little value in the subjects they are taught, and officials of other nations openly mock our educational standards and institutions. Our schools have become hotbeds of violence, vandalism, and unethical behavior. And most people feel it is not their problem. Candidates who are running for office are largely ignoring the issue of education reform. When they do mention it, it is stressed largely as a means of restoring our industrial competitiveness. This makes education an aspect of the economy, and not a fundamental institution necessary for the survival of society. Serious education reform cannot be achieved until there is a significant increase in the number of people, political leaders, educators, parents and students agreeing that widespread reform is needed and agreeing on general ways to go about achieving it. Educators must realize that their work, coupled with the institution of family, is the key factor in shaping a young person's life, and deciding what kind of citizen they will someday be."
Jeremy Wyatt, Camden High School, Camden, Tennessee

 "In the past,family, church and school were considered a triangle for education. After the 1960s values were not even mentioned in the classroom."
Shane Morris, Camden High School, Camden, Tennessee

 “If the parents cannot take responsibility for their children they will never be able to teach the children to take responsibility for themselves."
Carie Mitchell, Camden High School, Camden, Tennessee

 “Some will blame the system while others blame the parents. I think it is a combination of both. Neither of the two put any pressure on kids to have high moral standards and to do what is right. All the messages sent to kids today are negative, such as on TV, radio, or movies. Society is not worried about high standards, only what sells, which of course are only the bad things....Today there seems to be no discipline, and what [little] of it there is does not seem to get the message across. In many situations when kids are corrected, they just rebel and get even worse. ...Parents and society should stop and think about what they are doing and how it may be influencing young people. We should all care and encourage everyone to do what is right."
Karen Lynn Cox,Camden High School, Camden, Tennessee

 "During our lives, we all must make choices. Whether we realize it or not, the choices we make not only affect us but affect others as well. Will we make these choices [according to] our own wants, or will our choices be influenced by what others wish to have? Do what the people desire and all ends well. Is this true? This project/essay will explore this idea. We surveyed to see what the people wished and then found the costs, incentives and disincentives to grant that wish. Let us examine what we discovered."
Shayne Holland, Camden Central High School, Camden, Tennessee

 "Our class decided to make the library the subject of our proposal. In our proposal we used various methods of fund-raising and community awareness to save our library."
William Hawkins, Camden Central High School, Camden, Tennessee

 "Our class discussed many fund-raising ideas. We thought about having a fish supper. We would get the food donated by a local restaurant or grocery store,
then we would charge $4 or $5 a ticket. We spoke of car washes and outright donations. A community cookbook was mentioned as a way of raising money. We would gather recipes from the community that had a family history, or some special story behind them. We would print the recipes along with their family stories and sell them for about $15 each."
Kristin Sullivan, Camden Central High School, Camden, Tennessee

 "We came up with ideas to get public awareness ... such as flyers, posters, billboards, signs, radio commercials, and public rallies. Then we all got together and wrote a letter to the editor of both the Camden Chronicle and the West Tennessee Journal. On April 17th we also decided to go to the County Commission's meeting prepared to ask questions."
Nora Morgan, Camden Central High School, Camden, Tennessee

 "By comparing the results of Groups I and II, we can see that there is a lack of communication between the people and the leaders. The people wanted a new library, but the leaders thought that the funds that would be cut would be the funds set aside for the new library. This lack of communication was the stepping-stone that led us to the first step of implementing our proposal to build a new library, which is increasing community awareness."
Shayne Holland, Camden Central High School, Camden, Tennessee

 "The class began working on the library project by looking at possible things around the country that had successfully been built. I personally thought my church's youth building was a prime example. This building housed a fully-equipped gym, with a kitchen and a walking track. It also provided a place for my friends and I to stay during most times of the day. Volunteers work for a specified amount of time to keep the place going. The cost of this building was over $1 million and was paid for with donations and soup-supper sales."
Joseph Watts, Camden Central High School, Camden, Tennessee

 "We feel that our project can become reality due to other successful, local projects ... [other] dreams became realities through hard work and determination. We feel that the same can happen to us if we work hard enough and stay determined enough. The advanced American history class then feels, 'If we fund it, they will build!'"
Rob Florence, Camden Central High School, Camden, Tennessee

 "There were eleven incentives. The first major incentive was, of course, the construction of a new library; the second was the creation of more jobs, such as librarians, library aides, janitors, architects, construction workers, landscapers and pavers to construct a new parking lot; third, increased parking; fourth, increased room for books; fifth, room for a new genealogical society; sixth, a better working environment; seventh, more area for people to work and study; eighth, preservation of the foundation of the original junior high school; ninth, less congestion; tenth, more meeting rooms; and the eleventh and final incentive was that the new library would be a showplace for the community in which the community should, and would be extremely proud."
Scotty Harris, Camden Central High School, Camden, Tennessee

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