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OUTREACH
Students Get Creative with 18th Star Essay Contest
This past fall The Collection hosted an essay contest for seventh- and eighth-grade students in Orleans Parish to celebrate the upcoming state bicentennial and The Collection’s recent exhibition, The 18th Star: Treasures from 200 Years of Louisiana Statehood. The theme of the essay contest was significant moments in Louisiana history. Students were encouraged to be creative in how they told their stories; some submitted fictional narratives, while others approached the topic by composing a series of letters or diary entries.
The Collection received 68 entries on topics ranging from Iberville to the Superdome to Mardi Gras, but the two most popular topics by far were Huey Long and the Battle of New Orleans. Each entry was judged on the basis of its composition, historical accuracy, and creativity.
The winners of the 18th Star Essay Contest are:
1st place: Rachel Anselmo, St. Dominic School, “Battle of New Orleans” 2nd place: Hannah Nguyen, St. Dominic School, “Louisiana Crawfish”
3rd place: Madison Vise, Ursuline Academy, “The Journey of Iberville”
The first-place winner received a field trip for her class to The Historic New Orleans Collection to see The 18th Star and to meet with some of the exhibition’s curators. The second-place winner received four tickets for a ride on the steamboat Natchez, and the third-place winner received two tickets for the Natchez. All of the winners also received a THNOC publication for their school library and a family membership. To read the winning essays, please visit our website at www.hnoc. org and follow the Programs tab to the Educational Outreach page.
—Amanda McFilleti