By Shay Sinnott, St. Mary of the Hills
St. Mary of the Hills takes pride in their students’ writing and competes in essay writing contests every year. For the past decade, St. Mary’s has been participating in the Boston Duck Tours Essay contest for middle schoolers statewide. This year St. Mary’s fostered three winners!
The contest called for students to write about any aspect of the Stamp Act crisis of 1765. Jim Healy of the Boston Duck Tours came to St. Mary’s last week to present awards to the winners.
1st Place Winner, Xavier Welch of Milton, and his proud parents Thomas and Bethany
Elise Ferguson of Randolph won 3rd place in the 5th grade category. She wrote her essay on her own reaction to the Stamp Act. Niamh Towle of Hyde Park won 2nd place in the same category. She wrote her essay in the form of journal entries written by Sir William Smith. Niamh’s oldest sister, Caitlin Towle (now a senior at Boston Latin School), also won 1st place in the contest the first year that SMH ever participated when she was in 5th grade!
Mr. Jim Healy of the Boston Duck Tours, Xavier Welch, Mrs. Christine Norton (SMH English Teacher), Niamh Towle and Elise Ferguson.
The grand prize went to 6th grader, Xavier Welch of Milton, who won 1st place in the 6th grade category. His essay was titled “The Stamp Act: Fuel of the Rebellion.” This is the second year in a row that Xavier has won the contest, which is unprecedented. His class has won a field trip on the Duck Tours, once again!
As if that wasn’t exciting enough for Xavier, Mr. Healy informed the students that Xavier’s essay from last year about the 54th Regiment was put into the 2014 Boston Time Capsule! Back in October, a time capsule was discovered at the Old State House that dated back to 1795. The new time capsule was placed in the newly renovated lion statue and placed back on top of the Old State House. Xavier’s essay is one of 28 items placed into the new capsule along with items such as a David Ortiz bobblehead, an iPhone 5, pictures of Mayor Menino and Mayor Walsh, and letters from current newspaper writers. The time capsule will not be opened again for another 100 years! St. Mary of the Hills School is so proud of Xavier, Elise and Niamh on all of their hard work and being a part of Boston history! A special thank you is extended to 6th grade teacher, Christine Norton, for advising her students in the contest every year.