MISSOULA COUNTY - The Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation announced that two Seeley Lake students won cash prizes for their participation in an essay-writing contest. Ava Thornsberry won first place and received $300. Clara Kyrouac tied for third and received $100. Other Missoula-area students to win were Abigail Sherwood in second and Kenney Smith tied for third. Each entrant received a one-year membership to the Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation.
In their essays, the girls talked about the significance of the 1803-06 Lewis and Clark Expedition in western Montana. The contest was intended for students in the Missoula area and required entrants to submit a 300-500-word essay of original work, with cited sources and a bibliography.
Sarah Cawley, Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation executive director, said that this was the Foundation’s first time hosting this contest. The intent of the contest was to inspire students to hone their academic research and writing skills while learning about Lewis and Clark.
“We were impressed by the literary skills as well as the insights about Lewis and Clark that students had,” Cawley said in a press release.
The essay committee chose Thornsberry as the winner because Cawley said they felt that she had incorporated the most amount of research into her essay.
Thornsberry’s essay focused on the expedition’s achievements and how it created opportunities for westward expansion. It also touched on the darker aspects of its consequences.
“Lewis and Clark’s expedition expanded our knowledge of the West, along with the discovery of new plants and animals,” Thornsberry wrote. “The journey also strengthened America’s claim on the lands and created opportunities for thousands of other people. The expedition also led to an important, while dark, part of our history where Natives were forced off their lands, and taken from their homes.”
In an email, Thornsberry wrote that she has been writing stories in her journal since fourth grade. She heard about the contest from her creative writing teacher Bridget Laird. She decided to enter because she thought that it would be a great way to practice her writing and because she has always been interested in the subject of Lewis and Clark.
During her research, Thornsberry was surprised that Lewis and Clark did not actually find what they were looking for, which was a waterway by which they could travel. Instead they discovered new portions of land as well as new plants and animals.
“It was interesting because I always thought the goal of their mission was to discover new land and map the area,” she wrote.
Thornsberry said she has participated in a few other writing contests but has never had her pieces chosen before.
“It’s a very big achievement to me to have had the privilege to win,” she wrote. “It’s my first of what I hope to be many writing competitions.”
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