We are pleased to announce that Kaitlyn Bogle of Wylie, Texas, United States is the winner of the 2025 ServiceScape Scholarship.
Kaitlyn's submission stood out for its thoughtful examination of writing as both a powerful influence and a lasting legacy. Her essay explores writing's dual capacity to divide and to heal, offering a nuanced perspective that resonated strongly. It was chosen for several key reasons:
- Compelling Exploration of Power: The essay opens with a striking comparison that immediately underscores the immense influence of writing, framing it as a force capable of shaping societies, opinions, and histories.
- Balanced and Nuanced Perspective: Rather than presenting writing as purely beneficial, the entry acknowledges its potential for harm while thoughtfully emphasizing its ability to rebuild, inspire, and connect.
- Broad Intellectual Reach: Kaitlyn effectively weaves together examples from media, history, science, and the humanities, demonstrating how writing fuels progress across disciplines.
- Emotional and Reflective Depth: The essay highlights writing's ability to convey emotion, foster understanding, and transform both reader and author, giving the piece a strong human core.
- Forward-Looking Insight: By emphasizing writing's enduring impact on future generations, the essay leaves readers with a powerful sense of responsibility and possibility.
Overall, this submission is a strong reflection of critical thinking, originality, and expressive clarity—qualities that align closely with the goals of the scholarship.
Below you'll find Kaitlyn's winning entry. We hope her words inspire you, and we look forward to reading more outstanding submissions for our 2026 scholarship.
Writing goes beyond simple communication. The right combination of words- the right syntax- is arguably a weapon more dangerous than nuclear bombs. The media constantly influences how we think and feel about situations, heightening our anger and resentment for one another. Writing can polarize countries and divide families; much of the anguish in today's world can be accredited to the influence writing creates. Despite its power to harm, writing is not only a weapon of destruction. It can heal, rebuild, and inspire.
Whether it's research papers or journals, writing allows us to share new discoveries- no matter how big or small- across the globe, allowing us to advance as a society. We learn from the past while propelling the future - not only in the STEM field, but in humanities as well. For example, misfortunes of the past can be evaded by virtue of historical documents. Logical intelligence is not the only intellect that expands with writing.
Writing gives us the ability to share breathtaking stories that readers reflect their own experience into; it helps authors convey complex emotions and ideas that might otherwise feel alien to the reader. It allows us to escape reality, immersing ourselves in worlds existing only in the mind. Yet, these unreachable worlds teach us indispensable lessons that transfer to our own reality. In many ways, writing is as transformative for the author as it is for the audience.
We have the ability to dive into the deepest oceans of our own intellect. The possibilities we can create with our very own language are infinite, and it is our job to explore them. Whether we are influencing opinions, informing, warning, healing, or exploring, our writing will be left behind to affect generations to come. Our impact doesn't end with us.