Point Boro Senior Discusses Social Change In Award-Winning Essay

POINT PLEASANT—Point Pleasant Boro High School recently announced that one of their students, Heather Roselle, recently won first place in a writing contest held by The New Jersey Council of English Teachers (NJCTE).

Roselle, a senior at Point Boro High School, won the contest with her piece, “There is Promise of Light Even in Darkness.” will be recognized for her work at a virtual award ceremony in addition to being featured on the New Jersey Governor’s Awards in Arts Education website.

“It feels amazing to have won this contest,” Roselle says.

“I usually write just for me, so when other people read what I've written, it can be a little jarring but also very exciting, especially when it pans out well.”

Roselle feels that she wouldn't be the writer that she is today without her English teachers that she’s had over the years.

“I feel very grateful for the immense help that my English teachers, past and present, have provided me- I don't think I would have gotten anywhere without them,” Roselle says.

The topic for the NJCTE’s contest was “Social Breath 2020,” where entrants had to write about “the call for social change as you experience it,” according to the NJCTE’s website.

For Roselle, she likes to write about topics like social change, so she decided to enter the contest and use her essay to talk about how topics like police brutality and systemic racism are discussed in a not as racially diverse town like Point Pleasant.

“The topic of police brutality and systemic racism was not one that was commonly discussed until last summer, and even now, there's a lot of controversy whenever it's brought up,” Roselle says.

“The driving force behind the essay was to show people in my town that we have a lot of work to do if we want to make the world a safer and more secure place for people of color,” Roselle adds.

“Solving judicial, social, and economic problems that stem from centuries of systemic racism is not something that will be resolved in a single summer, so more than anything, I wanted white people to read the essay and feel compelled to do their part to change.”