Dylan Lyon, a 7th grade student at Heineman Middle School, was honored among winners of the McHenry County Bar Association’s Law Day Essay Contest on May 5.
The organization sponsors an annual essay contest for area middle school students centered on a theme significant to legal culture. This year’s theme was “The 14th Amendment: Transforming American Democracy.” Entries were to explore the amendment’s Citizenship, Due Process and Equal Protection clauses.
Lyon, a student in Mrs. Stanfa’s Course 3 honors literacy class, wrote the essay as part of the class’s “Stand Up, Speak Out, Be Heard” unit.
“As 7th graders students were able to use their knowledge from the Constitution Unit in social studies to pick one aspect of the 14th Amendment that they felt was the most important. Dylan choose equal protection. Then they did a mini-research project to find court cases or real life experiences that supported their claims about the amendment,” Stanfa said.
In his essay, Lyon examined three landmark Supreme Court cases focused on equal protection: Brown v. Board of Education, Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, and Loving v. Virginia. Read the full essay here »
He presented an excerpt of the essay in front of McHenry County judges and Bar Association members at the Law Day celebration.
In addition, the complete essay will be published in the McHenry County Bar Association publication In Brief.
Three winners were selected. Each received a $100 check, a certificate, and recognition at the ceremony.
Pictured (l-r): Lyon presenting his essay; posing with bar association member and essay contest coordinator Steven Greeley in front of the Honorable Charles P. Weech; and posing with Stanfa.
