Who Won The Creative Crown In MDG’s College Scholarship Essay Contest?

At MDG, creativity is our passion and our promise. It drives and defines us every day, and we’re thrilled to see sparks of this creative spirit in today’s students. To support the creativity of tomorrow’s leaders, MDG recently held a scholarship essay contest called “Looking Beyond College.” High school students and currently enrolled college students were encouraged to submit a creative essay about their dream job in any field, with the best essay winning a $1,000 college scholarship.

After careful consideration of all the entries, the creative crown and scholarship went to Shelby Kuepker, a student at Augustana College in Illinois, for her submission titled, “More of a Reality Than a Dream.” This winning essay describes her career goal of becoming the second female executive editor of The New York Times. Shelby’s entry stood out for its creative and clever concept of writing the essay in the form of a personal letter to Dean Baquet, the newspaper’s current executive editor.

We were extremely impressed with both the quality and quantity of all of the creative entries. Yet Shelby’s submission stood out for its compelling approach, which showed her drive to turn her dream into her ultimate destination. We think the following excerpt from her essay says it all:

“So, as I conclude my letter to you, Mr. Baquet, I apologize for my previous accusations. I’m not ignorant enough to believe I have any kind of talent that compares to yours. I do not wish to swipe your job from you like a conniving, little fox. I wish to work beneath you. I want to listen to your criticism and eventually work my way up the ladder. As you did. I want to follow in your footsteps while putting my own fun, little twist on things. I want to feel stress and confusion, and I want to thrive in it.

I want to be the second woman to be the Executive Editor of The New York Times.

And I want to rock it.”

Congratulations, Shelby! We look forward to seeing you reach your goal at The New York Times one day.

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