The College Counseling Office is proud to unveil the winners of the 2025 College Essay Contest and to share the winning College Essay Collection. Now in its 13th year, this tradition celebrates the voices, stories and courage of our seniors and PGs through a blind submission process that continues to inspire us.
This year’s submissions — 36 in total — reflected a remarkable range of experiences and ideas, from identity and personhood to language, neurodiversity, empathy and the meaning of home. Each essay offered a window into the writer’s world, filled with honesty, nuance and reflection. The three winning essays stood out for their depth, voice and raw authenticity.
2025 Essay Contest Winners
- First Place | Addie Lewis ’25
- Second Place | Xochi Nandi ’25
- Third Place | Marie Gentile ’25
Honorable Mentions
- Izzy Haslinger Johnson ’25
- Raven Wang ’25
These students’ essays were as unflinching as they were richly composed. We hope you will read them with the same openness and admiration felt by those who have read them over and over. While only a few essays are being formally recognized, the quality of all submissions was extraordinary — a testament to the talent, thoughtfulness and lived experience of all students at WRA, as well as the strength of our English Department and writing program. This week, as we celebrate our first annual Word Count Literary Festival, funded by the T. Dixon Long ’51 Fund for Creative Writing and our Knight Fellowship — it feels especially fitting to honor the power wielded by well-written words.
A heartfelt thank you to the 2025 essay review committee:
- Anna Hutchins, Associate Director of College Counseling
- Hannah Barry ’10, Science Department Chair
- Martha Bayliss ’88, Fine & Performing Arts Department faculty
- Cole Campbell ’08, Instructional Librarian
- Sasha Maseelall ’96, English Department faculty
- Dr. Lisabeth Robinson, Social Science Department Chair
- Lakisha Wingard, Associate Director of Admission
Your thoughtful reading and tireless care for our students’ voices made this celebration possible.
We invite you all to explore the 2025 College Essay Collection — and to witness, in these pages, the spirit, strength and sincerity of our seniors.
