Colin Lee ’24 Earns Avon First WALKS Essay Contest Win in Decades | Avon Old Farms News | About Us | Avon Old Farms

For the first time in more than 20 years of the competition’s 60+ year history, an Avonian took first place in the WALKS Essay Contest. The competition, held annually since 1962, is contested between students from five local schools—Westminster, Avon Old Farms, Loomis Chaffee, Kingswood Oxford, and Suffield Academy. Students from these schools are given an essay prompt that relates to the constitution or the U.S. justice system. The two best papers from each school are chosen as finalists, and those papers are then read and critiqued by a neutral judge who chooses a winner.

This year, the topic centered on transformations in the Supreme Court’s relationship with other branches of the federal government. Colin Lee ’24 and Jadon Subbu ’25 were chosen as Avon’s representatives, and Colin was chosen as the overall winner! “I wasn’t expecting to win. I was just trying to pass the class, but I’m very happy to be Avon’s first in a long time,” he says.
 

Colin’s winning essay was a deep-dive on the Supreme Court’s rulings on government surveillance cases on the public to really examine the changing nature of the Supreme Court and its power. This is a topic Colin has been interested in since he first learned about his grandfather’s work in surveillance in their home country of South Korea, and has since grown into something he hopes to pursue as a career. His AP U.S. Government class had also recently covered the Edward Snowden case, so the topic was fresh in his mind. “The topic I researched is something I want to work on in the future. I’ve been interested in that type of work since early on.”

After deciding on his topic, Colin spent several days researching his topic and gathering sources. He then made an outline. “After that it was easy. I just followed my outline.” After a week of revisions, he was ready to submit his paper. “I spent a lot of time just critically thinking to myself, putting the topic into real life contexts.”

He says relating the topic to the current state of politics was easy as well. “Nowadays I think the issue of government surveillance is especially important with artificial intelligence and corporations selling our information. It’s something I think is important to know about.”

Colin says that his experiences at Avon prepared him well for this essay competition. He has served as president or leader of Model UN and the Ethics, Politics, and Economics (E. P. E.) Club, for which Colin wrote several similar essays for the club’s monthly journal.

“We talk a lot about these issues in those club settings. Avon has helped me develop the skills and knowledge to talk about these subjects.”

Winning this essay competition will look good on Colin’s resume, which is already impressive. In the fall, he will be attending the University of Southern California to pursue a degree in business and A.I. Eventually, he wants to go to law school and focus on tech law.

As a fellow leader of the E. P. E. Club, there’s no doubt Jadon will be back in the competition next year. Perhaps he or one of his peers will make it back-to-back wins for Avon!

About the WALKS Essay Contest

WALKS is a collaboration between five Greater Hartford area independent schools—Westminster, Avon Old Farms, Loomis Chaffee, Kingswood Oxford, and Suffield—and has advocated for academic achievement and accessible education for more than sixty years.

The WALKS Essay Contest was established in 1962 by two Hartford attorneys, Messrs. Tilney and Taylor, to stimulate the study of the Constitution, its origins, fundamental principles, and the application of the Constitution in vital areas. The position of contest coordinator rotates annually among the History Department Chairs at the five schools; the research topic is selected by the coordinator. Over the years the continuation of this contest has been made possible by funding from the John G. Martin and Daniel Flynn families and later by the law firms of McCarter & English, Robinson & Cole and Murtha Cullina.
 

The contest is open to history students at the five WALKS schools. While many students can submit papers for the contest, each history department selects two finalists. These essays are then read—anonymously—and critiqued by the judge who selects two runners up and a winner. Each finalist receives a Certificate of Merit and a book prize. This year each student will receive a copy of Christopher Collier’s book Decision in Philadelphia: The Constitutional Convention of 1787. A cash award in the amount of $200 is presented to the contest winner. Annually, a silver tray is inscribed with the winner’s name and school and is held at the winner’s school until the following year’s contest dinner.

The 2024 topic centered on transformations in the Supreme Court’s relationship with other branches of the federal government.

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