An essay of fewer than 700 words on the Declaration of Independence will send senior Miles Timberlake to Washington, D.C. this June. 

Timberlake and four other high school students won the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America’s annual Congressional Essay Contest, a nationwide competition open to high schoolers of all ages. Its winners are awarded a full scholarship to the Washington Workshops Foundation Congressional Seminar — a six-day civics program run within the nation’s capital. 

The scholarship covers the seminar’s tuition, travel cost, housing, and meals, and the seminar will be held at American University, the school Timberlake is set to enroll in as a freshman in the fall. 

The contest asked students to identify which principles from the Declaration of Independence they believe best lift the human condition and explain how those principles have helped the country overcome its challenges since its conception.

Of all the principles he could have chosen, Timberlake said one stood out: the idea that governments “derive their powers from the consent of the governed,” he wrote in his essay, quoting the original words of the foundational document.

“The reason that people in those positions should follow what the people want is because we’re giving them that power in the first place,” he said. 

From that foundation, Timberlake built an argument about the ongoing relationship between the public and its government — one in which citizens hold the authority to shape, limit, and, when necessary, change the institutions that govern them.

“Sure, the government has control, but that control is only regulated by the people,” he said. “It’s up to the people for us to consider how much power we give to the government [and] how much we take from the government.”

For Timberlake, that includes the right to protest. Making reference to several voting rights initiatives of the past, such as the Civil Rights and women’s suffrage movements respectively. 

Timberlake views the American system as one specifically designed to make peaceful change possible, reducing the need for force.

“Our government is designed where … change can happen peacefully,” he said. “You don’t have to change things by force. You can vote; you can protest; you can speak out freely about your opinions.”

Writing about those ideas now, he said, felt particularly relevant. Current debates over elections, representation, and the role of government made the principle of consent, in his view, impossible to look away from — and worth examining on all sides rather than simply offering surface-level celebration.

“That balance is what, for me, articulates a great essay,” he said.

Timberlake learned about the contest through a friend who knew of his long-time passion for politics, but with college application deadlines drawing nearer, the essay got put on the back burner longer than he would’ve liked. That changed when Timberlake’s dad helped to motivate him, encouraging him to stay on schedule as the deadline approached. 

“He was one of the main drivers in motivating me to actually get the essay turned in,” Timberlake said. “I kind of just disregarded it until it started closing in, and that’s when my dad was like, ‘Okay, let me see some drafts going.’”

His essay submission came on the heels of two consecutive rejections from other civics-centered essay contests, which gave the result added weight when it came back positive. 

“Being able to put my beliefs and my preferences and my topics that I have a deep and passionate interest in into paper” was something Timberlake noted as being personally meaningful — especially when those beliefs were officially recognized by others. 

Beyond the scholarship, the process of writing felt valuable merely for the merit of researching a topic he was already passionate about. Additionally, he said it sharpened his understanding of government as well as his own thinking — and came at a time when he felt ready for it. 

“If you asked me to write the essay a matter of years ago, then I probably wouldn’t have been as passionate about it than I would have been right now,” he said. “It kind of fell into place.”

That timing extended to the subject matter itself. Writing about the limits of government during what he described as a consequential political moment made the topic feel that much more important to contemplate. 

“Even more, it gave me the opportunity to discover where my stance is as a person,” he said. “That essay gave the opportunity to really reflect on what our government is, and there’s no better time to be reflecting about what our government’s limits are in an administration like this.”

In June, Timberlake and other seminar participants can expect a packed week of sightseeing around Washington, D.C. and the opportunity to participate in interactive civics simulations which aim to give students a fuller view of life in politics.

For Timberlake, the week will also serve as an early look at the campus he’ll call home in the fall.

“It’s kind of like a little taste into who I can be,” he said.