JANUARY 12, 1968
Bill's Original Script Leads to Award
The contest, which was open to all tenth, eleventh, and twelfth-grade students, was a "script-writing program designed to give high school students the opportunity to voice their opinions on patriotic themes and to convey them via the broadcast media to all of America."
For the contest Bill wrote and tape-recorded a three to five minute script on the topic "Freedom's Challenge." The script was due last December 11.
Among the sub-topics Bill covered were his personal role as a student in meeting the challenge of freedom, actions he could take to make freedom more meaningful to himself and others, ways in which he could prepare himself to be a better citizen, and how to change national institutions and practices to meet more fully the challenge of freedom.
As a local winner Bill received a $25 bond and an opportunity to compete on the district level, which he is presently doing. As a state winner he would receive an expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C. to compete for national honors.
Bill would be competing against 52 other national finalists for scholarship awards. These range from $5,000 for first prize down to $1,000 for fifth prize.
Bill reacted by saying he was taken a little off-guard by all of this. "I was pleasantly surprised," he confided. He then added, "I really don't know exactly what happened!"