MoCo Student Wins Prize in National Essay Contest

Mahya Bigdeli, a senior at Poolesville High School in Germantown, took home $200 in prize money from the Go for Broke National Education Center’s High School and College Student Essay Contest.

Of more than 220 essays submitted for the contest, five times the amount of submissions received last year, Bigdeli placed seventh.

For the second annual contest, students were asked to write a quality essay about the heroic accomplishments of the Nisei soldiers. They were second-generation Japanese Americans, the first generation born in the United States, according to Go for Broke, and the students wrote about how the soldiers serve as inspiration for their own lives.

“The Nisei soldier is a manifestation of the American Dream: these young patriots who joined the U.S. Army fought against the prejudiced resolve of millions of their fellow soldiers. Their story is one of overcoming adversity with audacity, of rebuking the reluctant admonitions of others with regality, of destroying ethnic barriers with dignity,” Bigdeli wrote in the first paragraph of her essay.

The contest provided an opportunity for students to connect to the Nisei’s stories in a meaningful way, said Don Nose, president of Go for Broke National Education Center, in a press release.

Bigdeli’s essay centers around one particular Nisei veteran, Harry Katsuji Fukuhara, who was born into a family in Seattle, witnessed his father’s death, moved back to Japan and returned to the United States when he was 18, according to Bigdeli’s essay. Fukuhara chose to help the U.S. forces by becoming a translator.

“Fukuhara’s story inspires me to fervently lend my unique talents to causes that I am passionate about, and to do so without regard for others’ opinions,” Bigdeli wrote. “While he used his linguistic skills to interpret combatant messages, I use my propensity for words to raise awareness about contemporary political issues. I vicariously fight my own battles through the trenches of each day; whether I am drafting a debate thesis against GMOs in public school lunches, advocating on behalf of environmental regulations with my local Izaak Walton League, or fundraising for refugee children in Syria, I am emulating the actions of the heroic Nisei soldiers.”

A panel of local student educators served as judges for the contest. Submissions were received from 13 states, over 50 high schools and 22 universities.

The top 30 essay winners also received a ticket to attend Go for Broke National Education Center’s Evening of Aloha gala dinner to celebrate the organization’s 25th anniversary on Saturday, Sept. 27. The gala will be held at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel & Suites in downtown Los Angeles.

A compilation of the winning essays will be presented in a booklet at the gala. The essays will be posted online afterwards.

Mahya Bigdeli, senior at Poolesville High School. Credit: Go for Broke National Education Center