3 Shaker Heights Students Win Scholarships for MLK Essays

SHAKER HEIGHTS, OH - East View Church in Shaker Heights recently announced the winners of its 27th Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Essay Contest. Three Shaker Heights students received scholarships for their work.

Bess von der Heydt of Shaker Heights Middle School won $300 for her first place essay in the seventh-to-eighth grade division. Anna Krouse, also of Shaker Heights Middle School, won $150 for her second place essay. Third place also went to a Shaker student, Isaac Van Orman, who won $50.

On the whole, the church gave away $1,575 in scholarships. Over the course of 27 years, the church has given away more than $29,000.

The theme of this year's essay contest was what would King say to President Donald Trump. Donna Whyte, the interim director of the Black Studies program at Cleveland State University, was the keynote speaker at an event honoring the winners. She told the crowd that King would tell Trump to "stop tweeting."

"He would advise Mr. Trump to understand the power of his words - in this case, the destructive, divisive power of his words," she said in a statement.

Shaker Heights Mayor Earl Leiken also spoke at the event, saying that the political climate has led to uncomfortable conversations in all houses, noting that one of his 8-year-old grandson's classmates asked if he could be American and Jewish.

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