Each year, Westminster College announces a civility essay contest open to all high school students. This year, A Copper Hills Senior, Ethan Hepworth, was named the winner on 30 Mar 2022. Hepworth was announced during a Zoom Lecture with acclaimed photojournalist Eman Mohammed and he was just publicly announced as the winner 5 Apr.

187 students from 57 different high schools submitted their essays, which for the month of March were reviewed until one essay was chosen as the best of the submissions by a panel of seven judges, all with ties to Westminster College.

The theme for the contest was, “Political and cultural polarization in the United States seems at an all-time high. Why is that, and what can be done specifically to improve the fractured state of our democratic citizenry?” 

The winner of the contest is awarded a $2000 scholarship as a cash prize. Including this year, five students have won the $2000 dollars from the contest. Hepworth said that while the $2000 does not necessarily have to be used for educational purposes, his most likely will be.

Each year, 2 additional runners-up are also selected and awarded $500 dollar cash prizes. The runners-up this year were Anika Rao, a junior from West High School, and Anna Hull, a junior from Rowland Hall.

Hepworth has also been named a national merit scholarship finalist and the Copper Hills Sterling Scholar in the area of Math.