Out of the fifty-seven high school students across Indiana who had chosen to participate in the Indiana German Heritage Society (IGHS) essay contest, CHS freshman Adeylyn Booras won 2nd place.
The topic for the essay was “The German Triangle and Beyond: German Settlements in the Midwest”, which meant they wrote about how the Germans had helped shape the US.
“I just googled what city had the most German Americans, and it was Milwaukee, so I wrote about Milwaukee,” said freshman Adelyn Booras.
For the essay contest, she had to write between nine hundred fifty to one thousand two hundred fifty words to create a two part composition. She had to write between seven hundred fifty to a thousand words about the German assistance in the city’s development. That section had to be written in English, while another section had to be written in full German. The other section, the German section, was required to be two hundred to two hundred fifty words. This section was to be written about herself and her relationship with Germany and the German language.
That part can be difficult for contestants, especially because German is not their first language. Booras had some help to write it from both family friends, and a teacher.
“My teacher and a German friend, who is from Germany, helped me with the grammar parts that I didn’t know,” Booras explained.
Overall, researching and writing this essay took time on top of normal schoolwork and activities. When asking Booras how long this essay had taken her to write, she admitted it wasn’t just a ‘quick write.’
“It took me a couple of weeks, but that’s just because I wasn’t doing it constantly,” Booras stated.
In the end, she had said that she believed the amount of time spent on it was equivalent to a normal weekend.
During the interview, Booras explained why learning German was always so important to her.
“We have family friends that are born and raised in Germany and they all speak German…I just wanted to learn it for so long, and there’s motivation to learn it,” Booras continued.
Booras went on to say that some of her family friends are young and will try to talk to her in German, forgetting that she is not fluent. She shared that she hopes one day she will be fluent in German and will be able to have conversations with them. This hope helped to inspire her to join the IGHS contest.
With every contest, there is a key towards success.
“I had my own motivation for doing it, so I think that was why I enjoyed writing and learning more about the German stuff,” Booras explained.
Booras says that the key towards doing well in this competition was wanting to be a part of it. Many schools required their students’ participation, while at Chesterton it was only to be completed if the students had interest.
Since choosing to participate in the contest was Booras’ decision, when asked if she would want to participate again, she hinted that she might.
“Probably, yeah. It was fun and I’m glad I did it,” Booras concluded.
As a prize, Booras had earned multiple things. She had received $200 and a complimentary annual membership to the IGHS. With earning the membership, she will stay informed about German events that are happening in Indiana, but as well as learning about the German impact in Indiana and the Midwest. Winning second place is a huge achievement, so if you see Adeylyn, make sure to congratulate her!