Rankin School of the Narrows is thrilled to congratulate grade 11 student, Rebecca MacNeil on winning a Nova Scotia wide essay contest via http://www.demilitarize.ca.  She won $150 plus a prize book for her essay advocating that the federal government should spend money for farming and food security not new warships for the Canadian navy at the Irving Shipyard. Congratulations Rebecca!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – Wednesday, June 26, 2013

MEDIA ADVISORY

High school essay contest winners announced in “Alternatives to Warships?”
challenge

(Halifax ) –  High school students were challenged to write an essay
examining the alternatives to spending $25 billion on new warships at the
Irving Shipyard for the Canadian navy. The question they were to answer was
“How could the Canadian government instead invest our tax dollars to make
our society and our economy greener, more equitable, and more peaceful?”

The essay contest was launched on May 1 and every high school in Nova Scotia
received information by mail and by email. The essay contest was organized
by Tamara Lorincz of Demilitarize.ca and funded by the Nova Scotia Public
Research Interest Group. Essays were received from high school students
across the province.

The first place winner is Grade 11 student Rebecca MacNeil of Rankin School
of the Narrows. She won $150 plus a peace prize pack. MacNeil argued that
the federal government should be spending tax dollars on agriculture and
food security not warships. Second place winner is Grade 10 student Harrison
Souchereau of Halifax West High School. He won $100 plus a prize pack for
his appeal for more renewable energy, peacekeeping, and education instead of
warships. The third place winner is Emma Purdy, a Grade 11 student at Sir
John A. MacDonald High School, who wrote that the federal government should
invest in wind and solar power instead of warships and the oilsands. She won
$50 plus prize pack.

“I wanted high school students to think critically about the implications of
the warship contract and to challenge them to think about the alternatives,”
Lorincz explained. She was also troubled by the fact that the Nova Scotia
Department of Education re-oriented high school curriculum under the 2012
Kids & Learning First Policy so that students would have trade skills to
work at the shipyard.

“The provincial government has not been direct and honest with students and
the schools about what the shipbuilding contract entails – the NDP wants
young Nova Scotians to be building armed combat vessels. The government
should be investing in post-secondary education and a green economy for the
youth of this province and creating a sustainable future for them,” Lorincz
said.

The high school essay contest is part of Lorincz’s ongoing struggle against
the federal government’s planned construction of warships and the provincial
government’s Kids & Learning First Policy. The high school essays can be
found on her web site: www.demilitarize.ca