Essay Contest Aims To Engage Students In Stamford Mayoral Race

STAMFORD, CT — Stamford Public Schools, in conjunction with the Prometheum Foundation, has created an essay contest for all city elementary, middle and high school students related to Tuesday night's mayoral debate between Caroline Simmons and Bobby Valentine.

Students were encouraged to tune into the debate online to hear the candidates speak on the issues in Stamford, and then write an essay about what they believe was the most important issue discussed.

The winning elementary, middle and high school students will receive prizes for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place of $100, $50 and $25.

The idea for the essay contest came from Claude Morest, a social studies teacher and debate coach at the Academy of Information and Technology in Stamford. Morest served as a panelist in Tuesday night's debate; he is a member of the Prometheum Foundation.

The foundation is a non-political, non-profit, 501(c)3 charitable organization that "encourages critical and analytical thinking, freedom of thought, and entrance into the marketplace of ideas."

"As a social studies teacher, I think it's very important for students to get engaged in being voters. This particular election is a great opportunity for them to get involved in thinking about how to differentiate between candidates for office," Morest told Patch. "This election is a very interesting one. It's sort of a more exciting mayoral election than usual I would say, with a celebrity and a woman candidate. It's a great opportunity to get the students really involved in thinking about voting."

Simmons, a Democrat, currently serves as a State Representative for the 144th District. She would be the first woman ever elected as mayor of Stamford.

Most recently, Valentine, who is running as an unaffiliated candidate, served as the Athletic Director at Sacred Heart University. He's a former Major League Baseball player and manager. He lead the New York Mets to the World Series in 2000.

Morest said there has been minimal engagement from the students on the mayoral election so far; most of them aren't eligible to vote. But he hopes Tuesday night's debate can spark an interest among students.

"My hope is that this will be a good tool to get them involved," Morest said.

Morest said he'd like for the winners in the essay contest to be announced before the election on Nov. 2.

Stay tuned for a full story on Tuesday night's debate