Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake junior Kathleen Fogg might be in her teens, but she can now rightly claim she’s a national expert on Constitutional issues.
Fogg recently won a National High School Essay Contest hosted by the Bill of Rights Institute in Arlington, Va. Over 6,000 essays were entered, and all attempted – in 1,000 words – to answer the question “How does the Constitution establish and maintain a culture of liberty?”
The Bill of Rights Institute is focused on educating young people about our Founding Fathers. The contest has been a yearly event since2006, according to Rachel Gillespie, the organization’s director of communications. New York schools were invited three years ago, and now the competition is nationwide.
`We wanted to work with the students and get them thinking about how The Constitution made us different, and its impact…to engage in an essay and to think critically,` said Gillespie.
For Fogg, placing first in the entire country was something of a surreal experience.
“I was confused when I first read it (an email informing her of the win), I was like ‘Oh, I’m a finalist or something,’ then I went on the website and I’m scrolling down to see how I placed…I was scrolling down and I was like ‘Oh my God, I won!’ I started jumping around my kitchen!” said Fogg.
Along with first place, Fogg also won $1,000. She entered her essay as part of a social studies class assignment assigned by teacher Karen Ferris-Fernside, who also won $100. Two entries out of 50 from the class were entered into the contest.
Students had until Dec. 1 to submit their essays, which made for about a month to research, write, hand in drafts and finalize their entries. They also had to incorporate a personal experience regarding their chosen topic.
Fogg chose the topic of property rights. She related a scenario in which her father, John Fogg of Fogg’s Automotive & Suzuki in Glenville, succeeded in putting up a sign in front of his business on Saratoga Road after many meetings with town zoning law officials.
“It’s been in my family for generations and my dad recently decided that he also wanted to sell Suzukis, so this was our only new car franchise. In order to become a Suzuki dealership you had to put a big Suzuki sign out front,” she said.
Fogg was able to get an exemption to the local zoning code and he was allowed to install the Suzuki sign. The process of getting to that point though took time, research and documentation – all of which Kathleen was involved with.
“The end resolution was that we got a sign and became Suzuki dealership. We also got another sign (electric marquis) and that process was a lot easier. You should fight for what you believe in and if you really think that you are right in a situation you shouldn’t give up just because it’s the government and they seem too big to fight or too complicated. You should just keep trying and eventually hopefully you’ll succeed,” she said.
Ferris-Fearnside said what made Fogg’s essay unique were her references to John Adams and the fact that she used The Bill of Rights as her primary document. A majority of students use The Declaration of Independence as their primary document.
“A lot of the kids had done community service, she had donated a lot of service and time. … I’m very proud of Kathleen, and hope she pursues a college choice that includes more creative writing and social studies.”
Ferris-Fearnside has been in the classroom for 40 years and is passionate about teaching about The Constitution.
“I love teaching The Constitution and getting them engaged and to become responsible citizens,” she said.
She learned of the contest through her connections as a member of the National Teacher Council, which she has been involved with since 2006.
This is the second win for Ferris-Fearnside. Three years ago another student of hers, Kassandra Hartt, won for her entry.
Fogg’s essay reads in part, “John Adams strongly believed that property rights were extremely important to the success of America. When he was in England serving as the first U.S. ambassador, he wrote A Defense of the American Constitutions in 1787, in which he addressed property rights. In this document he created several volumes of essays exploring historical or conceptual problems. He then sent these volumes to Thomas Jefferson, who was serving in Paris.”
Fogg’s ability to discuss Adams and the depth of the topic she presented were elements that made her essay a winner, according to Gillespie.
All entries were read by a panel of 60 judges that included five staff members from the institute and a nationwide network of high schoolteachers. Each essay was assigned a number to keep authorship anonymous.
“All of the essays were very good and grappled with a question. Kathleen’s was very well written and she really had a grasp of history,” said Gillespie.
Fogg said, “We need to consolidate our government a little bit and make it easier for regular people to have their voices heard and the town should want to help them and help the businesses to grow. We shouldn’t have to spend so much time fighting our own government just trying to do things we need in order to succeed in our businesses.”
Fogg plans on going to college for business, and hopes to study international finance.