Christian Stadtman
Churchill County High School junior Christian Stadtman recently won first place in the VFW Voice of Democracy scholarship contest at the local level.
According to the VFW website, the Voice of Democracy program is open to students in grades 9-12, who are enrolled in a public, private or parochial high school or home study program in the United States and its territories.
The program awards a $30,000 scholarship to the winner at the national level.
Stadtman decided to enter the contest after his English teacher Monica Fairbanks encouraged her students to enter the contest.
“I seriously encouraged my students to apply because I have some very strong students in my classes this year,” Fairbanks said. “And I knew this was a wonderful opportunity for them to potentially earn $30,000 for college. I knew they could do it, and Christian went above and beyond, taking on this challenge on top of his already very busy schedule. I’m very proud of him.”
Stadtman said he decided to enter into the competition because he felt it was a good opportunity to get scholarship money for college.
“I won $175, a medal and a plaque for taking first place at the local level,” Stadtman said. “The essay I had to write about was ‘Why are you optimistic about Americas future?’”
Stadtman’s essay had to be recorded onto a CD between 3-5 minutes long. Stadtman said it took him awhile to record the essay. He said he kept messing up; he would get half way through it and would have to start over.
“It took me — no joke — 30 times to finally get a recording that I could use and submit,” Stadtman said. “Recording it was the most difficult part of the process.”
He said there is a limit on how many competitions one can enter in a year, and he plans to enter more next year.
Stadtman is an active member in the science bowl, academic team, quiz bowl, young Republicans and tennis team, and he hopes to be inducted into the National Honor Society next year.
Stadtman said he he may apply to the University of Portland to obtain a bachelor’s degree in physics and then venture to get a doctorate degree in quantum physics at another university.