Social studies invests in future by recognizing present academic passions

With graduation just days away, many seniors have already set their hearts on attending their dream college. Countering the excitement of moving to the college of their dreams, these current-seniors also have to worry about tuition and the expenses of continuing their education. Thankfully, there are many scholarships available, as well as awards to be won, all with a cash prize to go towards paying for education.

One new prize seniors can win is the recently announced Social Studies Award given to students heading into the vast social studies field. Through fundraising and collaboration, department members established the monetary prize to be granted to a senior of their choosing. Department Chair Paul Stellpflug spearheaded the effort.

“We--the Oshkosh West Social Studies Department--decided to pool together money to create an endowed prize,” he said. “This should be a prize that lasts forever. We’re just aiming for $500 to a graduating senior, and it's an award, so it doesn’t go to a university. It’s expenses for college to help out the seniors.”

Throughout the building, there are many departments that offer students money. However, instead of writing checks off to students to help with their education, the teachers within the social studies department decided to aim towards something sustainable.

“We are one of the few departments that don’t have some type of award,” Stellpflug said. “What I’ve seen over the years is that maybe a person who graduates from the past has a favorite teacher who writes them a check randomly from the department, and the department gives the money away. But there’s nothing sustainable. That’s why I wanted to create this and help a senior who is going into a social studies field.”

Stellpflug was also motivated to encourage the next generation that will be leading the country.

“I’m a firm believer that we’ve let too many business people try to run our country,” he said. “I want people to actually know the history and know economics or politics, then you can run for office. I guess it’s sort of the idea that we want an educated citizenry that’s running the system.”

With the cash prize being $500, the application process was simple: only a 200-word essay needed to be submitted.

“We don’t care about your extracurriculars, and we don’t care if you volunteer or play a sport. If you’re a social studies geek and you’re going into the social studies field, then you can apply for the award and get up there and fix the US on the federal level,” he said. “That’s it. I was really adamant and didn’t want some long essay that will take kids forever.”

When it comes to the decision of the winner, the teachers of the department decided to keep it simple: keep it democratic and vote.

“We actually got together as a department, discussed the applicants, looked through their essays, spoke to the teachers who had that student, and we actually went through a voting process,” he said. “We looked at everyone and went through three different rounds. Went from 11, to 5, to 3, and then we voted to see who got it. It’s very democratic. Social studies teachers are very efficient in the way we do things.”

After rounds of voting, the final decision was that senior Hunter Willis, who had aspired to earn it ever since Stellpflug informed him, should win the first prize.

“This award is kind of something I’ve had my eye on since last year when they announced they would do this,” Willis said. “Mr. Stellpflug definitely nudged me towards it. He made the announcement in class and then he sent me the link directly and I could tell he really wanted me to apply for it. It was something I’ve wanted to do for a while.”

The motive to apply for the award came from his passion for US history, taught by Andrew Britton.

“Ever since I took Mr. Britton’s class, and when I got a grasp of history from that class and kind of expanded upon it, going into politics seems to be the only other thing I am interested in,” Willis said. “It’s something I’ve always kind of had in the back of my mind, but as of recently, I can’t see my life going into any other direction. It’s my biggest passion, and it's the one thing I want to pursue.”

Once out of high school, Willis aspires to major in political science. From there, he would love to be active in government.

“If I could run for office, that would be awesome, but if I had to work in somebody else’s cabinet or work for a different senator, I’d be perfectly okay with that,” he said. “But being involved in the political aspect is something that I’m really enthusiastic about.”

As for winning the award, WIllis is glad to have received the honor. He appreciates the recognition for his passion and the personal touch of former instructors.

“It was really awesome,” he said. “They brought in this check during my first hour, and they flipped it around, and I got to take pictures with Mr. Britton and Mr. Stellpflug. It meant a lot to me because those are two of the teachers that I look up to most within the building, and it was really awesome getting recognition from them. I won a different scholarship, and that was awesome, but there is something different about winning this award because it's the recognition of these people that I’ve looked up to in the past couple of years. It was really special.”

By Ruby Pluchinsky

Oshkosh West Index Volume 118 Issue 8

May 23rd, 2022