English Teacher Mr. Harward offers plenty of extra credit opportunities for his students, which many students use. Junior Hilary Hancock is one such student.

Hancock entered the Martin Luther King Jr. Essay Contest for 25 extra credit points. She didn’t really expect to win, she just wanted to get the extra credit. Yet she won the contest.

The MLK Jr. Essay contest was sponsored by The University of Utah, the Utah State Office of Education and the Educational Equity Unit open to students grades 7-12. The theme was about Civil Rights.

One winner was chosen from each of the grades, and two overall winners were chosen form Junior and Senior High.

Hancock said she thought it would be good to do the MLK Jr. Essay contest because, “Everyone has a lot to say about it.” and she wasn’t about to write poetry, because she hates writing and reading poetry.

Mrs. Hancock says she was surprised when she found out that her daughter won such a big contest. She was “excited and proud. I had no idea she had even entered.”

Not only was Hilary a winner in the eleventh grade division, but she was the overall winner of all the high schools.

The winners of the essay contest were chosen from about 276 essays. The winners were honored at a lunch at the University of Utah on Saturday January 13, 2007.

The winners from each grade were given 50 dollars, and the two overall winners were given 125 dollars.

Hilary is just the run of the mill junior, with a job at Pier one. She hangs out at the gym and likes to go shopping with her friends. She is also very open minded. But she did something pretty special, and definitely deserves to be recognized.