By Daily Press staff
If you could add one amendment to the U.S constitution, what would it be and why? High school students in the Los Angeles area were asked that question as part of the annual Ira H. Lurvey Memorial Writing Competition. The winners are students from Venice and Santa Monica high schools.
Rachel de Cou, a 12th grade student at Venice High School, won a $500 U.S. savings bond because she believes gender equality should be an amendment.
Nicole O’Keefe, also from Venice, received second prize for her essay “Revisting the Equal Rights Amendment” and won $250 in savings bonds.
Should immigrants be allowed to run for president? Gilda De La Cruz from Santa Monica High school believes so, and that’s why she won third prize, a $100 savings bond.
Prizes were awarded on Saturday at Temple Mishkon Tephilo in Venice. The ceremony was highlighted by Ina Jaffe, correspondent for National Public Radio.
The Ira H. Lurvey Memorial Writing Competition is in its first year and is a joint venture between the Mishkon Tephilo congregation and the Los Angeles Times-affiliated Times in Education.
The judges include lawyers and journalists. Entries were judged on basis of brevity, clarity and insight. For more information, visit www.writingcompetition.org or call Mishkon Tephilo at (310) 392-3029.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on June 7, 2004. Read the original PDF.