The mission of the Alliance for Science is to heighten public understanding and support for science and to preserve the distinctions between science and religion in the public sphere.
Announcing Our Top Ten Essay Contest Finalists!
The Alliance for Science is proud to announce the Top Ten Finalists for the 2008 National High School Essay Contest. The essays written by these finalists are now being reviewed by our judging committee to determine our top four prize winners. All of the finalists will receive an award certificate and a previously unannounced book prize (details below).
28-April Update: Finalist awards were sent out via priority mail today.
The finalists are (in alpabetic order by student last name):
| Student | Grade | School | City | State | Teacher |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Neal B. Desai | 10 | The Pembroke Hill School | Kansas City | MO | Kathy Ketchum |
| Frances Eugenia Ellerbe | 12 | Heathwood Hall Episcopal School | Columbia | SC | Dr. George Scouten |
| Brandon Hall | 10 | Pottstown High School | Pottstown | PA | Mary Ann Murrow |
| Marleigh Higgins | 11 | Brookline High School | Brookline | MA | Ms. Plati |
| Christine Kelly | 12 | Academies at Englewood | Englewood | NJ | Claire Kennedy |
| David Martorana | 11 | Iolani School | Honolulu | HI | Dr. Carey S. Inouye |
| Elen Miteva | 10 | Bergen County Academies | Hackensack | NJ | Victor Samarakone |
| Brian V. Monahan | 9 | Bergen County Academies | Hackensack | NJ | Dr. Judith Pinto |
| Sami Rahmani | 11 | Lawrence Central High School | Indianapolis | IN | Anne Marie Milligan |
| Susan Tan | 12 | Bronx High School of Science | Bronx | NY | Richard Lee |
Expelled Exposed!
One thing that can be said for creationists is that they are persistent, and this is true for both openly-religious creationists and for their intelligent design brethren. "Intelligent design" advocates have contributed nothing of real value in the way of peer-reviewed published research, and their popular writings have been dissected and thoroughly refuted by a broad spectrum of scientists, philosophers, and even theologians.
Once again spurning any real effort to actually do science, IDs latest venture is Ben Stein's pseudo-documentary "Expelled". It has received many scathing reviews, even from conservative outlets like Fox News, whose reviewer Roger Friedman said:
"Expelled" is a sloppy, all-over-the-place, poorly made (and not just a little boring) "expose" of the scientific community. It’s not very exciting. But it does show that Stein, who’s carved out a career selling eye drops in commercials and amusing us on sitcoms, is either completely nuts or so avaricious that he’s abandoned all good sense to make a buck.The NCSE has rounded up some of the most penetrating and authoritative critiques on their new site Expelled Exposed. The tag line "Flunked, not Expelled: What Ben Stein isn't telling you about Intelligent Design." is very apt. We urge all our readers to check out this site!
2008 Essay Contest Finalists Have Been Announced!
Click Here to see the top 10 finalists of our 2008 essay contest.
For our second annual National High School Essay Contest we invited students to submit essays of not more than 1,000 words on one of two topics -- "Climate and Evolution" or "Agriculture and Evolution." Click on the links below for more information.
14-JAN-08 Update: Is the essay you are about to submit as good as last year's winning essays? Gregory Simonian, Merve Fejzula, Shobha Topji, and Linda Zhou wrote excellent essays, and this year we expect even more competition, so give it your best effort.
13-JAN-08 Update: More prizes! We have received a pledge for four copies of Kansas Vs. Darwin, a documentary about the Kansas Evolution Hearings. Click the link for more details including a video trailer. Also see this review by Alliance Board Member Jerry Jellison.