Northport student wins national essay contest
Luke Cacic, right, a senior at Northport High School, won the high school category of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation's Student Essay Competition. He is with the foundation's executive director, Marion Smith, left, and Joachim Gauck, former president of the Federal Republic of Germany. Credit: Northport-East Northport School District
A Northport High School student's essay detailing the ugliness of communism has been named a winner in a national essay contest.
Luke Cacic, a senior, took the top spot in the high school category of a student essay competition coordinated by the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, a nonprofit that strives to ensure the millions of people who suffered under communist regimes are not forgotten and educate new generations about the ideology, history and legacy of communism.
Cacic's winning essay explored the ills of communism, the existence of the Berlin Wall, and former U.S. President Ronald Reagan's first impression of the wall in which he stated: "It's as ugly as the idea behind it." Those remarks were made during his visit to a Berlin Wall crossing point called Checkpoint Charlie in 1982.
For winning, Cacic was awarded a $2,000 grand prize as well as the opportunity to attend the Victims of Communism Triumph of Liberty Conference and Gala Dinner, which was held in fall in Washington, D.C.
The essay competition was open to middle and high schoolers nationwide, with entries limited to between 600 and 800 words. A committee of judges was appointed to select the winning submissions.
The foundation was authorized by a unanimous act of Congress in 1993, and U.S. President George W. Bush was honorary chairman from 2003 to 2009.
Michael R. Ebert is an education researcher and has worked for Newsday in various capacities since 2003. He was part of an 11-person team named as 2008 Pulitzer Prize finalists for investigative coverage of the LIRR's platform safety issues.
