Connecticut Movers: Teaming Up for a Better Future
The Connecticut Bar Foundation's James W. Cooper Fellows has announced the winners in the 19th annual Quintin Johnstone Statewide High School Essay Contest.
June 21, 2019 at 12:56 PM
4 minute read
Connecticut Bar Foundation essay contest winners receive awards. From left, CBF Executive Director Natalie Wagner, James W. Cooper Fellows Chairman Daniel A. Schwartz, Fairfield Ludlowe High School graduate Thomas Holtz, Connecticut Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Christine S. Vertefeuille, Simsbury High School student Rachel Coppinger, Portland High School graduate Hannah Sroka and essay contest Chairman Robert A. Harris.
Bar Foundation Names Essay Contest Winners
The Connecticut Bar Foundation's James W. Cooper Fellows has announced the winners in the 19th annual Quintin Johnstone Statewide High School Essay Contest.
The contest, open to high school students at all public and private schools statewide, invited students to prepare an essay on the topic “Jumping the Gun—Preventing School Violence.” This year's topic dealt with two student brothers, one a popular jock and the other a social outcast, who are seen on a viral video at a shooting gun range. The school gets word of the video and decides the video shows that the social outcast brother is a threat and suspends him. The popular brother is not suspended, despite participating in the same activity.
Panelists reviewing the 1,000-word entries included Connecticut Supreme, Appellate, and Superior Court judges, federal district court judges, law school professors and practicing attorneys. Supreme Court Senior Justice Christine Vertefeuille presented awards to the three contest winners at a June 4 ceremony.
Thomas Holtz, a senior at Fairfield Ludlowe High School, was awarded the statewide prize. The two runner-up prizes were awarded to Hannah Sroka, a senior at Portland High School, and Rachel Coppinger, a sophomore at Simsbury High School. Andrea Barton Reeves, president of the Connecticut Bar Foundation, noted that the winning essays “reflect thoughtful, well-written presentations of a controversial topic.” The Fellows presented a $2,000 cash prize to Holtz and $1,000 cash prizes to Sroka and Coppinger.
The Connecticut Bar Foundation James W. Cooper Fellows Program was established in 1994. The Fellows promote a better understanding of the legal profession through the sponsorship and production of a diverse array of programs and projects, which seek to improve the legal profession and the administration of justice in Connecticut. Quintin Johnstone was a professor at Yale Law School before his death in 2014. Johnstone served as president of the Connecticut Bar Foundation from 1987-1991, participated in a variety of Fellows projects for many years, and was a longtime member of the Fellows Education and Program Committee, which helps to organize the annual essay contest.
The deadline for entries for the 20th annual contest is Feb. 21, 2020.
Americorps and CT Public Defender's Office logos.
CT Public Defenders Office to Host AmeriCorps/VISTA Member
The Connecticut Division of Public Defender Services has been selected by the National Legal Aid and Defender Association to host an AmeriCorps/Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA) member.
The program offers training to AmeriCorps VISTA members in best practices in community-oriented defense by placing them in public defense agencies. A member assigned to the public defender's office in Hartford will work on a comprehensive plan to build relationships, share knowledge and engage the communities served by the office.
“We are excited and honored to have been selected,” said Chief Public Defender Christine Rapillo. “Our agency has been focusing efforts on strengthening its community engagement efforts, to bring the voices of the communities we serve into our everyday practices and plans for moving forward.” Rapillo said the AmeriCorps VISTA member will help develop community partnerships to achieve justice in underserved communities.
“Our AmeriCorps VISTA opportunity is available to college graduates from across the United States,” said Dr. Jennie Albert, project administrator. “However, since the goal is to build relationships locally, we are hopeful that the opportunity will attract Connecticut applicants with an interest in criminal and social justice.”
The AmeriCorps member will be posted at the Office of Chief Public Defender for one year, beginning this August. The NLADA's hashtag is #WeAreListening.
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