2020 OSLN Student Essay Contest

It’s more important than ever to hear how Ohio’s STEM students collaborate, think critically, and persevere through difficulties. OSLN’s Student Essay Contest is back for a fourth year.

We’ve been thrilled and challenged by thoughtful responses from hundreds of students over the years. Our first high school winner, Erica Barnes, taught us how middle and high schoolers can persevere through personal challenges in and out of school. Madelyn Zarembka wrote thoughtfully about her own community’s carbon footprint. Madrica Arnold investigated solutions to local food deserts.

Middle/high school students in Ohio’s STEM schools: We want to hear from you!

Participation Requirements

• Students must currently be in grades 6-12.
• Students must currently attend an OSLN-designated STEM school (see directory).
• Essays must be under 800 words.
• Essays must be submitted by 11:59PM on Sunday, April 12^th at the Typeform at the following link (https://tiny.cc/8621iz). Note: You cannot save drafts in this form. We suggest writing the essay in Microsoft Word or Google Docs and then copying and pasting your essay into the form.

Award Information

• The top submissions in middle and high school will win $200 and a student spotlight on the website.
• A few of our favorites will be published for the readers of the OSLN blog.

Judging information

Essays will be judged by the Ohio STEM Learning team. We’ll use three criteria to rate each submission:

• Clarity: How clear and compelling is the essay?
• Creativity: How does the essay look at the problem or present your solution in a new and interesting way?
• Connection: How clearly does the essay connect to the writer? For an essay about a community problem, why do you care about this problem? For an essay about a problem in your life, how does solving the problem inform the way you see the world?

Reach out to [email protected] with any questions.

We look forward to reading your essays! Happy writing!