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Frank Maier Scholarship – Deadline May 31. Get Your Essay To Morris Jewelry for a Chance for the $5,000 Scholarship!

By Press Release, www.morrisjewelrybg.com
Thursday, May 2nd, 2013 7:00 AM CST

Morris Jewelry is happy to announce a new $5,000 scholarship opportunity for 2013, open to Juniors and Seniors in Warren County High Schools (or home-schooled).   This essay competition will focus on selected historic buildings in Bowling Green, and their potential for adaptive reuse. Students will choose a building from among five listed below, and propose in what way it might best serve community needs into the future.

The Frank Maier Scholarship is in memory of one of Bowling Green’s early German immigrant entrepreneurs, who founded what is today Morris Jewelry at 408 E. Main Street. Mr. Maier also served as a city councilman, and was a pillar of the community.

Bowling Green has a rich history in historic preservation. Our beautiful Fountain Square Park is a prime example of citizen and city efforts to preserve and maintain a national treasure. Other notable examples of preservation successes in Bowling Green include Riverview at Hobson Grove, the L&N Railroad Depot, and the Quigley Younglove building on State Street. In all of these cases, preservation minded citizens of Bowling Green have ensured through their efforts, the future use and enjoyment of these historic places.

Student proposals, on the preservation and adaptive reuse of historic buildings in downtown Bowling Green, should recommend how their selected building may best contribute to a vibrant and diverse mix of businesses that appeal to all ages.   The president of Western Kentucky University recently challenged us to create a “cool factor” in our downtown businesses that would attract WKU students. Added significance is gained when such future use of existing structures involves the linking of historical events and places to our modern life. What we do not want is for our downtown area to become a relic of the past. Any proposed renovation of subject buildings must be done in a manner that preserves the historical nature of the structure while modernizing it in a fashion that accentuates the overall building’s appearance and function. Application of critical thinking for solutions to these challenges is a major goal of the 2013 essay competition.

In making proposals for a specific building, keep in mind the hierarchy of preservation priorities. If possible, preserving what remains of the structure is most desirable. Windows that may be repaired, for example, are preferable to replacement windows. When original structural components are not usable, identify what gives the building its character, by identifying its most important features. The renovation should then incorporate such features to the extent possible. As a last resort, the redesign of a façade, for example, should be compatible with the original building design, and take inspiration from the historic district in which it exists.

A secondary goal for this essay competition is the preservation and appreciation of cursive writing.   Cursive writing is a discipline and an art form. The ability to write in cursive, and read documents written in “long hand” is waning in our society. Many of our youth lack the ability to read and appreciate our nation’s founding documents that were written in cursive in their original form.   The requirement to handwrite submissions for this essay competition is one small way to help reverse this trend. Therefore, in order to compete, proposals must be submitted in the student’s own hand, and written in cursive.

Students must choose one of the following five buildings as the subject for their proposal on the adaptive re-use of a Bowling Green historical site:

  1. Galloway Motors Building at 601 State Street
  2. International Order of Odd Fellows Building at 427 Park Row
  3. Pushin Building at 400 E. Main Street
  4. Capitol Arts Theater at 416 E. Main Street
  5. Taylor Chapel Building at 314 E 7th Street

A rubric is attached that will be used to score the proposal on content, grammar, spelling, legibility, and conciseness. Note that content has a heavier weighting.

Proposals must be submitted to Morris Jewelry by May 31, 2013. The winner will be announced shortly thereafter. We hope this project stirs interest in our historic downtown area and produces proposals that are sufficient to present as potential redevelopment projects.

The award is a $5000 scholarship to a university of the student’s choice.

Preservation Essay Proposal Rubric

Name ___________________________

Quality of Research – Well supported points of view with proper citations
8. 100% factual and accurate
6. 75% factual and accurate
2. 50% factual and accurate
1. Not factual and accurate
Quality of Analysis – A student’s own perspective, reflected in supporting arguments. The use of critical thinking to support analysis
16. Extremely Complementary to downtown businesses
13. Very complementary to downtown businesses
10. Somewhat complementary to downtown businesses
5. Not complementary
Style and Creativity – A confident and coherent expression of ideas
14. 100% logical and coherent
10. 75% logical and coherent
6. 50% logical and coherent
1. Less than 50% logical and coherent
Spelling
4. All words spelled correctly
3. One to two spelling mistakes
2. Three to four spelling mistakes
1. Five or more spelling mistakes
Grammar
4. No grammatical mistakes
3. One to two grammar mistakes
2. Three to four grammar mistakes
1. Five or more grammar mistakes
Word Count (Concise)
4. 1000 to 1200 words
3. 900 to 999 words
2. 800 to 899 words
1. Less than 800 words or more than 1200 words
Total Points:

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