The Rotary Club of St. Joseph-Benton Harbor has announced the winners of its annual Scholarship Essay Contest.
The Rotary’s Kristen Bawks tells us the organization teams up with Berrien RESA for the contest each year, selecting the topic for students to write about.
“This year’s prompt was regarding AI and the use of AI and how it may transform societal structures and potentially spark ethical controversies,” Bawks said.
Bawks says the students write their essays at the RESA building without the help of smart phones or, of course, AI. The Rotary wants to promote critical thinking, writing skills, and awareness of contemporary social issues.
“We have eight judges, three from Berrien RESA and the rest from the Rotary Club of St. Joseph-Benton Harbor, that assess the essay’s content quality, the originality and style, their coherence, grammar, and those types of things, and put together a composite score to determine who the top three writers in the contest are.”
So, what did the students express about AI in their entries?
“Cautiously optimistic to be able to use artificial intelligence to assist in a world that can’t ignore it, but at the same time, needing to continue to utilize the human brain as much as possible. I think that was probably pretty common between the essays. And there was intentional comparison between the Industrial Revolution and what’s happening with artificial intelligence now.”
Bawks says there were strong insights in all of the 15 entries, but the top three are from Daniel Kondrat of Andrews Academy, who won first place; Melody Kertawidjaja of Berrien Springs High School, who came in second; and Seth Martin of St. Joseph High School, who finished third.
“The first place winner is a student from Andrews Academy, and he has plans to attend Andrews University in the fall. He was awarded, or will be, awarded on Monday a $1,000 scholarship for his top essay. The second place winner, Melody, is a student at Berrien Springs High School and is intending to go to either Andrews or University of Michigan in the fall. She’s still deciding. And the third-place winner is Seth from St. Joseph High School, and he has plans to attend Brigham Young University in two years after completing a mission trip.”
Bawks says the Rotary Scholarship Essay Contest is now in its 46th year and has partnered with Berrien RESA for 18 years.
