RHS seniors, Lindsey Holland and Brandon Ford, are students in Mrs. Krumm’s TWU Dual Credit English classes. They are turning heads with their award-winning submissions to essay contests sponsored by the English, Speech, and Foreign Languages Department at Texas Woman’s University. Most recently, Lindsey Holland won an Emerging Writers Award, including a cash prize, for her research essay on Artificial Intelligence. Lindsey describes the piece as a look at, “How AI is becoming more involved with our everyday lives and the consequences that will occur.” Lindsey explained we already have self-driving cars, but we are not using them because they cannot determine how to code for certain choices. She elaborated, “If a child runs out into the middle of the street and the wreck will mean either the child or the driver will die, should you kill the child or the driver? Society will change a lot in the next decade because of AI robots like Sophia that are capable of learning and thinking on their own.” Ultimately, she is concerned with the consequences surrounding the use of Artificial Intelligence.  

Brandon Ford has won recognition for two separate pieces, the first being a review of an album, The Clown, by Charles Mingus. Brandon is confident in his abilities to review the album as a three-time, all-state bass clarinetist. His second piece is a rhetorical analysis of an article about a proposal to close Rikers Island in New York. He is excited to mention that shortly after writing his rhetorical analysis the proposal to close Rikers Island was accepted. Both of his pieces were published within a TWU campus e-reader to provide example essays for other students in their programs.  

Both Lindsey and Brandon are strong advocates for dual credit courses. Neither is a huge fan of AP testing, and they advocate for Dual Credit because there is more freedom in the curriculum to write about personal interests. Brandon elaborates, “Everything comes down to choices and I feel I have learned a great deal from both Mr. Evans (Brandon’s 9th grade English teacher) and Mrs. Krumm because they are both masters of their craft.”  After graduating from Richland High School, Lindsey will be attending Tarleton State University with an undecided major at this time. Brandon will be attending the University of Denver in the fall, working toward a degree in Jazz Composition.

Please read their award-winning submissions using the links below:

Lindsey Holland’s Artificial Intelligence (opens in a new window)

Brandon Ford’s The Clown (opens in a new window)

Brandon Ford’s The Case for Closing Rikers Island (opens in a new window)