Logan student wins statewide competition

Princeton Logan Junior High sixth-grade Megan Hendrickson is all smiles after hearing she won a statewide essay contest on her favorite president, Abraham Lincoln. In her essay, Megan wrote, “We all can see why Abraham Lincoln is important today by looking at history and seeing the changes that have taken place over time regarding race and equality.” (BCR photo/Barb Kromphardt)

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PRINCETON — Megan Hendrickson loves Abraham Lincoln and American history, so a recent competition on the relevance of Lincoln was a perfect fit.

So perfect, in fact, that Megan was the first-place winner, defeating other kindergarten through eighth-grade students across the state.

On Monday, Sen. Roland Burris announced the winners of his statewide essay writing competition. In recognition of the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial, Burris asked students to write an essay answering the question, “Why is Abraham Lincoln Still Important Today?”

Megan, a sixth-grader at Logan Junior High School in Princeton, first heard about the contest from teacher Margaret Jaskowiak. Jaskowiak had read about the contest in the Bureau County Republican and provided the information and forms to any students who wanted to participate.

“I said, ‘Well, maybe I’ll do it,” Megan said.

Megan said Lincoln has always been her favorite president.

“My mom always makes a joke that says that Abraham Lincoln’s family would be my second family,” Megan said.

So, taking her knowledge of Lincoln and doing some research on the Internet, Megan began to type, eventually spending about four hours on the project. She wrote about slavery and the Civil War. She even wrote about the current president.

“I mentioned about Barack Obama, and how he wouldn’t be president if it wasn’t for Abraham Lincoln,” Megan said.

Megan told about a quote from a movie she watched titled, “Not Easily Broken.”

“We’re not black and white first,” she said. “We’re human before we’re black and white, so we’re practically all the same; so there was no reason for the slavery.”

Megan got the word from a friend Monday morning that she had won.

“I looked at her like she was nuts, and I was kind of amazed,” she said. “And after she had explained it to me, I had 10 minutes of silence because I couldn’t believe it.”

Megan’s essay was included in the 2059 Lincoln Capsule, which was sealed during a ceremony in Washington, D.C. Wednesday. The capsule included reflections and essays about Lincoln written by students and members of Congress and will remain sealed until 2059.

She will also receive a personal letter of congratulations from Burris and have her name and winning essay entered into the official Congressional Record.

“I thank Megan for her fantastic essay and send her my congratulations for winning the first-place prize in my competition,” Burris said in a press release. “I am pleased to know that students across the state of Illinois are being exposed to the significance and legacy of President Lincoln and are able to reflect on how his leadership still resonates today.”

Burris received more than 250 essays from students all across the state of Illinois. In addition to Logan, students from the Leepertown School District in Bureau also participated, and the school with the highest percentage of eligible students participating came from Bradford. The school will receive an American flag flown over the United States Capitol Building during the 200th year since Abraham Lincoln’s birth.

Megan's essay:

Why is Abraham Lincoln still important today?

At the beginning of creation, God created mankind in his own image with the intent that all would be treated equally, On January 1, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln established a document called the Emancipation Proclamation freeing the African American slaves from their slave owners' farms. But still, why is Abraham Lincoln still important today? First, Abe Lincoln abolished slavery, Next he kept the nation as one, so we would act as one nation not two, and remain strong. Last but not least, Abe led the nation through the Civil War as Commander in Chief,

President Abraham Lincoln put slavery to a halt when he signed the Emancipation Proclamation to abolish slavery. Today, this has had a huge impact on us. The slavery halt is one of the reasons we have our 44th President Barrack Obama. If we still had slavery, we might be two separate nations, the North and the South, and many of the opportunities for African Americans that we have today, simply would not have been possible. When Abe stopped slavery it still didn’t stop people from doing horrible things to people. Slavery had ended, but segregation and racial discrimination started. That was the worst part. Many of these things have taken more than a Century to bring about change. We went through a time when African American people couldn’t even go to school or ride on the bus with others, or they had to sit in the back. I believe if it weren’t for Abraham Lincoln, some of these changes might not have even come about and we might still have segregation in schools and public transportation. I believe that Lincoln’s feelings regarding race and equality were summed up when he said, “but there is only one race, the human race.”

President Lincoln kept the country together at a time when the southern half of the nation was trying separate from the Union over the issue of slavery. Lincoln said, “This nation cannot exist half slave and half free”’ and that “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” The quote is relative to Abraham Lincoln holding the nation in one or in other words us being one with each other as a nation. Had Lincoln not take such a strong stand against slavery, and had the strength and courage to hold this country together, our country might not be what it is today. Lincoln held strong to his faith and beliefs even though he knew it would bring about the Civil War.

Abe led the country through war as Commander in Chief, leading with pride and hope for our country. He had entered his Presidency with a task before him greater than he felt he himself could handle, but felt that with God’s help and for the sake of our nation, he could not fall. Had Lincoln not had the courage to lead us into and trough the Civil War, for the cause that he believed was right, where would our country be today?

Our nation and the world only have one race, the human race. I believe that President Lincoln believed this, and took a stand on his beliefs that have had more than a hundred years of changes in our nation. We all can see why Abraham Lincoln is important today by looking at history, and seeing the changes that have taken place over time regarding race and equality. We should all work together  as one nation to continue to President Abraham Lincoln’s legacy and believes that all men are created equal.