Bethany Christian Schools student wins MCC essay contest

Leah Hochstetler, a senior at Bethany Christian Schools in Goshen, Indiana, won top prize for her essay on youth political involvement in the annual MCC U.S. National Peace & Justice Ministries (NPJM) public policy essay contest.  

Corinne Chupp, a junior at Bethany Christian Schools; Marina Reinford, a senior at The Circle School in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; and Eliza Warren, a junior at Eastern Mennonite High School in Harrisonburg, Virginia, received honorable mentions for their essays. 

As the top essayist among 15 national finalists, Hochstetler will receive a grand prize of $1,000. Chupp, Reinford and Warren will each receive $250. 

In Hochstetler’s winning essay, “Hope and Action: Political Involvement and Today’s Youth,” she explores nonviolent youth political movements. She writes, “With the right motivation and organization, young people have the power to imagine and build a future beyond the current state of our country and to lead our nation toward a brighter future.” 

Hochstetler reflects on the example set by the Children’s Crusade during the Civil Rights Movement and how peaceful youth involvement helped expose the harms of segregation. When the children marching and singing were met with violence from authorities, it enraged many people who were until that point indifferent. 

She notes the experience of students from her high school attending a March for Our Lives protest in Washington, D.C., joining hundreds of thousands of others across the country to advocate for an end to gun violence. This type of nonviolent approach, she argues, helps create change despite cultural division.  

Hochstetler writes that Jesus’ calling to love our neighbors “does not mean sitting back and not responding to violence. Loving your enemies means finding creative nonviolent responses beyond the human impulse of fight or flight.” 

She focuses on the issue of gun violence and the need for a solution that encompasses multiple perspectives. While increased mental health resources will be helpful, she says, people also must advocate for legal approaches like red-flag laws, background checks and assault weapon bans. 

Marina Reinford also tackles youth involvement in social change in her essay, “Standing Tall.” She explores simple ways to stand up and make a difference in your community and the importance of doing whatever is possible in the face of hate. “My heart aches for all those who have been hurt, and all those who will be hurt. It is because of that, not in spite of it, that I will walk forward. I will call my legislators, rally with friends from all over the world. I will not be silent. Like Jesus, I shall love recklessly.”

Corinne Chupp and Eliza Warren both share approaches to addressing climate change in their essays.

Chupp writes in her essay, “Beyond Warming,” about the harms of fossil fuels, as well as the need for alternatives like wind, solar and water energy. “As Christians, we are called to be in stewardship of the environment around us. God created this beautiful green Earth and created us with the purpose of taking care of it.”

In her essay, “Approaching Climate Change as an Anabaptist,” Warren writes that a clean planet is a basic human right and that the Bible calls us to “advocate and make choices and steps against climate change to protect God’s Earth in ways that are ethical and self-conscious.” People can do their part by doing small things that slow climate change and spread awareness.

The NPJM public policy essay contest, which is in its 26th year, encourages youth to explore and understand federal government policy issues while reflecting on how their faith engages with advocacy. Topics in this year’s contest included immigration, climate change and social change. 

The contest is open to Mennonite, Brethren in Christ and other Anabaptist youth of high school age and to all youth who attend Mennonite-related high schools within the U.S. and Puerto Rico.

The opinions of the winners do not necessarily reflect the view of MCC.