By Gillian Graham

Staff Writer

By the time Shelby Bourgault found out she won a tripto Washington, D.C., she’d almost forgotten about the Supreme Court essay shewrote during Christmas vacation.

Four months after defending Brown v. Board ofEducation as the most pivotal Supreme Court decision in the nation’s history,Bourgault received a phone call saying she was headed south as a winner of anational essay contest.

But Bourgault, an Old Orchard Beach High Schooljunior, won’t be going alone.

Junior Gillian Foss also won a trip to Washington forher essay on the Dred Scott decision. The Congressional essay contest issponsored by the National Association of The Colonial Dames of America and theState of Maine Society.

History teacher Rosa Slack said she knew she wasgoing to assign her Advanced Placement U.S. history students an essay duringtheir winter vacation, but wanted to come up with a way to “sell” students onthe plan. Around that time she received a poster about the essay contest in themail from Zella Dewey, the Maine chairman of patriotic services for thesociety.

“I thought this would be beneficial. It was a win-winsituation,” Slack said. “I said ‘can’t you girls imagine yourselves in thisphoto on the poster?’”

Slack said she entered eight students’ essays in thecontest and was not surprised Bourgault and Foss won because “they’re very hardworkers.”

“They have a genuine interest in history. They likelearning and they’re not afraid to work to get what they want,” she said.

Foss, 17, said she chose to write about the Dred Scottdecision because it has the best argument as the “most pivotal” decision. Shewrote there are occasional instances in history that are watershed moments andthe decision is among them.

“The significance of this Supreme Court case ismisleading, for no one would think that one solitary lawsuit requesting a blackslave’s freedom could amount to anything of such epochal magnitude. However,Dred Scott’s application for freedom in 1857 was heavily rebuffed by theSupreme Court,” she wrote. “This rejection ensued in calamitous consequencesthat essentially set back the issue of slavery and made way for the slipperyslope towards the Civil War, with the North and South discovering that theirdifferences appeared irreconcilable.”

Bourgault said much of her initial research was donein class and Slack edited her essay to prepare it for competition.  Her two-page essay focused on Brown v.Board of Education, which was initially brought to a lower state court in 1951.

“It is undeniable that this case changed the Americanway of life, set a new precedent for segregation to disappear, and opened up aslew of opportunities for millions of African Americans,” she wrote.

Dewey said it is “very unusual” for a high school to have twowinners. Foss and Bourgault will join about 50 other students from across thecountry in Washington, D.C., for a weeklong conference in June. In addition toattending lectures on the news media and international democracy, they willmeet members of Maine’s Congressional delegation.

They also will tour Congress, the Pentagon, theNational Mall, the Museums of the Smithsonian and the Colonial Damesheadquarters, Dumbarton House. The week will culminate with the creation of amodel Congress and students passing bills created in small groups, Dewey said.

Foss and Bourgault each said they are excited for thetrip and the opportunity to see how the federal government operates.

“It will further our understanding of politics,” Fosssaid.

Principal Rick DiFusco said Foss and Bourgault are“well-deserving” of the award because they work hard. He also liked seeing howthey combined skills learned in English classes with their history project tobring national recognition to a small school.

“It brings a lot of pride and recognition to our highschool,” he said.

Staff Writer Gillian Graham can be reached at282-4337, ext. 213.