Sussex County announces Election Year Scholarship Contest winners

Georgetown, Del., Nov. 14, 2006: Political pundits take notice – six Sussex County students might be after your jobs in election years to come.

Sussex County Council, at its Tuesday, Nov. 14, 2006, meeting, announced the 2006 winners in the Election Year Scholarship Contest. County Council, for the fourth time since 2000, sponsored the contest as a way to encourage student involvement in the democratic process.

Students ages 18 and younger who are residents of the county and enrolled in public or private schools were eligible to participate and compete for a $200 scholarship as the top prize. To take part, students had to fill out a form on the County’s Web site, and then predict the winners of 22 races in the Nov. 7 general election.

One winner and five runners-up were declared, based on their predictions and a tie-breaking question, from a field of about 300 participants. Those students were recognized with certificates at the County Council meeting Tuesday evening. The winner and five runners-up are:

  • Winner Megan A. Rogers, 14, a ninth-grader at Sussex Central High School. Megan correctly picked all 22 races, and with a guess of 155,000 votes, had the closest predicted vote tally for the winner of the U.S. Senate race (Sen. Thomas R. Carper won that race with 170,544 votes). Megan’s prediction was used to break the tie with the first runner-up, earning her the top prize of $200;
  • First runner-up Natalie Sava, 11, a fifth-grader at Laurel Intermediate School. Natalie also correctly predicted all 22 races in the contest, but was edged by Megan Rogers by the tie-breaking prediction. Natalie guessed the Senate race winner would collect 1,457,326 votes;
  • Second runner-up Jillian Frederick, 16, an 11th-grader at Cape Henlopen High School. Jillian correctly predicted 21 of 22 races;
  • Third runner-up Megan E. Phillips, 16, an 11th-grader at Delmarva Christian High School. Megan correctly predicted 21 of 22 races;
  • Fourth runner-up Cameron C. Goff, 7, a third-grader at North Laurel Elementary School. Cameron correctly predicted 21 of 22 races;
  • Fifth runner-up Perry A. Townsend, 18, a 12th-grader at Indian River High School. Perry correctly picked 20 of 22 races, and had the best tie-breaking vote prediction among those students with two incorrect guesses.

Eddie Sparpaglione, director of the County’s Information Systems office, which coordinated the online contest, said nearly 300 Sussex students participated in the program, a good showing for a mid-term election.

“We were very happy with this year’s participation,” Mr. Sparpaglione said. “It’s encouraging to see so much interest among young people who can’t even vote yet.”

Also impressive, Mr. Sparpaglione said, was the knack the students had for forecasting many of the races. Sixty-five students out of the nearly 300 who participated had four or fewer incorrect predictions.

While the top student won a $200 scholarship prize, the five runners-up were not left empty handed. Each won a $100 scholarship. All of the scholarships are to be paid upon a student’s enrollment in college or another post-high school educational program. Funding comes through councilmanic grants, as well as from the Griffin & Hackett law firm.