It’s been hailed by his teachers as an “incredible” achievement. Shore student Aaron Rucinski – 16 and in year 10 at the time – has been unveiled as the winner of the 2021 Harvard Undergraduate Law Review essay contest.
While Aaron had won several school and domestic prizes, his history teacher Luis Siddall said “to win a prize in the USA in an international area, that’s a high honour and he should be very proud of what he’s achieved there”.
Aaron Rucinski, winner of the Harvard Undergraduate Law Review essay competition, at school at Shore. Credit:Flavio Brancaleone
The contest has been run annually since 2006 by Harvard for high school students to encourage a greater understanding of the law. Last year was the first time the contest was open internationally, with entries arriving from 42 schools. Aaron beat out John Chang, a year 12 student of Eton College in Britain, and Sienna Berreby, a year 11 student of École Jeannine Manuel, Paris.
“It was the first time I entered a competition like this, especially an international competition,” Aaron, of Paddington, told the Herald. “I was very surprised to win. Being in year 10, I wasn’t too sure if I’d win, but it was great news.”
Aaron came to know about the contest through a friend. “It was about two weeks before it was due. One of my friends told me … they knew I was interested in law. I loved the topic “Law in a Politicised World”; I found it really interesting,” he said.
Within two weeks, Aaron had picked his topic and constructed the prize-winning essay, titled “Gerrymandering and its Meandering of our Democratic Ideals”. His essay began: “There is no greater threat to America’s democracy than when the voters lack confidence in their political and legislative system.”
Aaron said he underwent “a lot of preliminary planning”, and “gathered [his] thoughts”.
“I landed on gerrymandering. I learnt about it first in debating,” he said.
“I think racial gerrymandering, where the different political parties in America were trying to cut out and minimise the voting process of minority groups in America, was really interesting.” He is passionate about “minority groups have[ing] their voices heard”.
How a year 10 student from Sydney won the Harvard Law essay prize
Source: Philippines Alive
