2023 Write to Your Representatives program

2023 Awards Winners Announcement

Overview

The “Write to Your Representatives program” is a valuable opportunity for high school students to engage in civic activities and political processes, advocate for important issues, make their voices heard, and potentially influence the direction of policy decisions. It empowers them to make a difference in their community and in the world. In addition, Writing to Your Representatives can improve students’ soft skills by strengthening their research, analysis, critical thinking, leadership, time management, communication, and advocacy skills. These skills are valuable in many different areas of life and can help youth become more effective leaders and drive change in their communities. Congressman David Trone, Delegate Lily Qi, Delegate Eric Luedtke, and Delegate Linda Foley are very supportive of the “Write to Your Congressmen” program. They urged students to actively participate in the program and praised the Yuan Foundation for promoting civic engagement and civic education among youth. At the 2022 competition, the judging committee, composed of scholars, professors and community leaders, was impressed by the diversity and quality of the projects and the young people’s love for their communities.

Goals

HS students will identify, research and analyze community or social problems, match them to current policies, and propose policies to address these issues. This is not only to develop their soft skills and build relationships with peers, but also to enhance their civic engagement and political participation.

Contest Timeline

05/01–08/31 Registration

09/03 Deadline to submit

Please submit to info@yuan.foundation

09/30 Final presentation

10/03 Announcement of winners

Golden Award, Silver Awards, Bronze Awards,Social Impact Award

11/18 Awards ceremony

Competition Rules

Participants must be high school students in the United State.
Team: each team may have no more than 5 members, and at least one of whom must be an Asian American.
Any work submitted must be original, plagiarism is prohibited.

Judging committee

Introduction to Judging Committee

The Yuan Foundation has the honor of inviting judges from various fields to review the letters. The judges will evaluate the letters according to the following rules:

The quality and effectiveness of the contestant’s proposals.
The social responsibility of the letters.
The likelihood of a successful launch.

Training

The “Write to Your Representatives” program would provide 3 hour video training for the applicants, including :

Civic engagement
Duties and rights of government
Guide to research, analysis, policymaking and action
Case studies

Participants will have the opportunities to receive the following:

Earn 5 SSL hours
Face-to-face meeting with representatives from the Capitol Hill
Understanding the logic of policymaking and how the national systems work
Networking with community leaders and experts in various fields.
Build relationships with peers
Gain valuable skills and experience to include on your resume for a college application.

Success stories

Jeff Hou (2022 Gold Award): Watch his story

My name is Jeff Hou and I’m an alumni of the Write to your Representatives program and competition and I’m here to talk to you about my experiences during this program. One of the most exciting things about this program was me being able to learn and understand the law-making process and drafting my own proposal for certain problems in society. It wasn’t just a competition though. It was an experience for me. It was an experience as I was able to attend workshops to understand the law-making process. It was an experience where I could analyze the systems of this country and see what we could do to improve it. It was also an opportunity for me. It was an opportunity for me to speak with lawmakers and people who actually make a change in this country. It was an opportunity for me to meet politicians like Representative David Trone in his own Capitol office building and best of all, it’s open to everyone. You don’t need prior information or knowledge to join this. You just need to have an open mind and willingness to learn and that’s why I loved this competition. Therefore, I recommend everyone and anyone who is eligible for this competition to join. Thank you！