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Student
wins $15K in essay contest and he owes it all to
Shakespeare.
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 Peter
Enzminger ’08 recently won $15,000 for an essay warning
about the perils of overspending. But Enzminger himself
remains indebted – to Shakespeare.
Enzminger wrote his grand-prize winning entry for the Citi/Scholastic
National Essay Contest in a distinctly Shakespearian style,
with lots of apostrophes, archaic words and inverted
subjects and verbs. Here’s a sample:
Upon the sharp rocks and siren songs of
Fiscal solvency focus thy energies.
Rife with deceit can the dens of the
Moneylenders be, so pack a prudent
Mind and wallet plump to weather the gale
The contest drew on a passage from “The Merchant of Venice”
in which Bassanio asks for a loan of 3,000 ducats to travel
to Belmont to court Portia. Students were asked to bring the
issue into 2004, offering financial advice to Bassanio, who
needs the money for his freshman year at Belmont University.
Enzminger started off writing in a modern style, but he
found hacking out financial pointers was too dull. So
decided to roughly follow Shakespeare’s style, using 8-10
syllables per line, and the words flowed like the River
Thames:
'Cause this dire hazard so potent, use plastic
Sparingly, caringly, as a fallback
For when cash becomes inconvenient
Or insufficient. Pay in full on purchase
When possible, but of this be certain:
Ample funds must in bank be present 'fore
More deals can be made ...
Enzminger wrote this during his last semester at Northern
California’s San Ramon Valley High School, where he was avidly
studying “MacBeth” in English class. Once he decided on the
direction for the essay, it only took him about three hours
to write.
Enzminger sent off the essay and pretty much forgot about it
until May, when he found out he won in a fittingly
theatrical manner.
The contest organizers informed Enzminger’s high school
guidance counselor that he had won on the very day of his
school’s awards event. The counselor surprised Enzminger by
announcing the award that night at the ceremony.
Studying Shakespeare had paid off to the tune of $15,000.
That wasn’t the end of it. Enzminger and family in August
got a free trip to New York City to accept the award from
the contest organizers. The ceremony was at a fitting
location: a Times Square restaurant called The Playwright.
The $15,000 saving bond won’t yield an instant pay off. It
doesn’t mature for seven years. But Peter figures that will
be just in time to help pay off his student loans.
And he already has garnered interest – from the media. In
August, Enzminger was asked to read part of the essay on
National Public Radio. “It’s just been so cool,” says
Enzminger. “I never, ever thought I’d get so much out of the
essay.”
Read the entire essay.
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