Oshkosh North sophomore Ruby Snow took first place in the 20th Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Essay Contest.  

Winners were announced in early February, with Snow taking first, junior Cristi Isaula-Reyes from Oshkosh West taking second, and sophomore Julia Bock from Oshkosh North taking third. The selection took place during Black History Month, a time when we honor the triumphs and struggles of African Americans throughout history. 

The Contest is an Oshkosh-wide program run by Oshkosh community members alongside the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. This year’s prompt brought to light Dr. King’s sermon entitled “Conquering Self-Centeredness,” by encouraging students to share their thoughts on how stress could have been lessened through recent events including Racial Injustice protests, the Covid-19 Pandemic, and turmoil following the 2020 presidential election. 

Snow decided to spin this year’s prompt into a call-to-action rather than dwelling on what could have been. 

“I decided to write about how instead of looking back on what we could have done in the past, we need to start to initiate change. Instead of being coffee house politicians and just talking about what we care about, we need to go out and actually take action,” she says. 

English 2 Honors teacher Jason Cummings has introduced the contest to his honors students for the past two years. Both years, one of his students has taken first place, last year’s winner being Matthew Centner. 

Snow recalls how her take on this year’s prompt inspired some self reflection. 

“It made me think about the change that I’ve made, which I really haven’t been really good at either, and I wrote about that in my essay too. I used to just post a lot and not actually do anything, and it’s made me realize how inactive I’ve been. I need to start taking more action for the things that I claim to care about.” 

With Snow coming in first place, Oshkosh North will receive $400 to go towards a school organization of Snow’s choice. 

“I definitely want to give some to the [Black Student Union] since it just started, and I think with funds they could do a lot more with the club,” says Snow. 

Student winners were celebrated Wednesday, Feb. 16, from 6:30-8:30 p.m. at UWO in Reeve Union as a part of the University’s Black History Month celebration.