Mengtong Xiang learned about all the celebrations in advance of America鈥檚 250th birthday through news reports.
Her curiosity prompted her to learn more about America250, the bipartisan organization that Congress created to help plan for and celebrate the milestone.
Inspired by the events, the Montgomery Blair High School student crafted a poem for the America鈥檚 Field Trip contest. The competition, open to kids in grades 3-12 across the country, asked students to respond to the question 鈥淲hat does America mean to you?鈥�
Xiang reflected on her parents鈥� experiences, spent about a week crafting her submission, and then forgot about it, leveling her expectations.
But then, she got an email with 鈥淎merica250鈥� in the subject line. It announced she was one of the contest鈥檚 winners.
The competition drew over 10,000 submissions, but Xiang was named one of the 250 awardees. She鈥檚 also one of five Montgomery County, Maryland, students to be recognized through the contest.
鈥淭o put it in writing and then submit it, and to receive recognition for it, it felt very rewarding,鈥� Xiang told 草莓传媒. 鈥淚t definitely pushes me to think more about how I can share my own stories and struggles to other people, and hopefully they鈥檙e able to relate to it.鈥�
The competition allowed students to submit either an essay or artwork.
Xiang was one of 125 first-place winners who won trips to selected places across the country. The other 125 earned $500 awards.
Winston Churchill High School鈥檚 Vivaan Samaraweera also won a first-place award at the high school level, and Angela Zhang earned a second-place award.
Naomi Song and Rithika Ayyalasomayajula were first-place winners in the grades 3 to 5 category.
Xiang titled her poem 鈥淧ractice Test for the American Dream Form I Exam.鈥� It aims to mimic a student taking an exam and draws on her parents鈥� lived experiences.
As immigrants, Xiang said her parents 鈥渄efinitely had a lot of challenges with assimilating into the culture, trying to find the balance between Chinese culture as well as American culture, as well as learning a whole new language. That鈥檚 something that was pretty much unseen by me, primarily.鈥�
The goal, Xiang said, was to describe a feeling of always having to prove yourself. She considered how easy it is to take 鈥測our parents鈥� experiences for granted.鈥�
鈥淵ou can be introduced into this environment where not all the pieces fall into place for you,鈥� she said. 鈥淭here might not be opportunities that are super easily accessible to you. There might be a lot of challenges.鈥�
After learning she was named a winner, Xiang called her dad, who had encouraged her to consider entering the contest. They celebrated the possibility of a paid-for trip to Yellowstone.
As a Maryland resident, Xiang said she鈥檚 been to many East Coast destinations, but none out west. She picked Yellowstone because it 鈥渉as a lot of cool thermal features, especially like geothermal features.鈥�
Their trip is scheduled for next month.
鈥淲riting and expressing your thoughts on paper is a great emotional outlet, and I really got to understand myself and my family, as well as the dynamic for immigrants in the United States, better,鈥� Xiang said.
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