Aldo Leopold Writing Contest Winners

2025

​Scroll down to view student photos and read their winning essays!

This Year's Essay Topic
​

​Aldo Leopold is most widely known as the author of A Sand County Almanac (1949) in which he articulates his land ethic:  “A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community.  It is wrong when it tends otherwise.” ​
​

​Today, we can look to Leopold’s writing to help guide us in addressing changing realities brought about by climate change, biodiversity loss, growing demand for fresh water, and other global environmental issues.
​ 
 In his essay “Song of the [Río] Gavilan” in A Sand County Almanac, Leopold writes:
​
​“This song of the waters is audible to every ear, but there is other music in these hills, by no means audible to all. To hear even a few notes of it ... you must know the speech of hills and rivers … 
Then you may hear it—a vast pulsing harmony—its score inscribed on a thousand hills, its notes the lives and deaths of plants and animals, its rhythms spanning the seconds and the centuries.”
​

Essay Prompt

Write about the song or melody that you hear in a body of water (such as a stream, river, lake, acequia, ocean, etc.) and what you would​
​answer back.

2025 AWARDS
​

First Place

Amane Janis, Grade 6
Edward Bielejec, Grade 9 
Ana Alexandrescu, Grade 11
​

Honorable ​Mention

Aila Mittleman, Grade 6
Kenia Vargas, Grade 6 
Maida Ryan, Grade 8 
Allison Trevizo, Grade 8 
Ruby Carrell, Grade 12
Kaylee Shelton, Grade 12

Award-Winning Students

Click on PHOTO to read student's essay

​​GRADES 6-7

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​FIRST PLACE​​

AMANE JANIS
Grade 6
La Mariposa Montessori School, Santa Fe
​Teacher: Alexa Rockwell

​HONORABLE MENTION

AILA MITTLEMAN
Grade 6
La Mariposa Montessori School, Santa Fe
​Teacher: Alexa Rockwell

​HONORABLE MENTION

KENIA VARGAS
Grado 6
​El Camino Real Academy, Santa Fe​
​​Instructora: Patricia Chillon

​GRADES 8-9

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​FIRST PLACE 

EDWARD BIELEJEC
Grade 9
Albuquerque Academy, Abq
Teacher: Emily Beenen

​HONORABLE MENTION

Winner of the Estella B. Leopold Memorial Award for Creativity

MAIDA RYAN
Grade 8
Mandela International Magnet School, Santa Fe
Teacher: Susan Nichols

​HONORABLE MENTION

ALLISON TREVIZO
Grade 8
​El Camino Real Academy, Santa Fe​
​​Teacher: Patricia Chillon

​​GRADES 10-12

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FIRST PLACE

Winner of the David E. Stuart Humanitarian Award for Special Merit

ANA ALEXANDRESCU
​Grade 11
Santa Fe Prep, Santa Fe
Teacher: Drew Walker

​HONORABLE MENTION​

RUBY CARRELL
Grado 12
Albuquerque High School, ABQ
Instructora: Ivonne Orozco Sahi

​HONORABLE MENTION​

KAYLEE SHELTON
Grado 12
Albuquerque High School, ABQ
Instructora: Ivonne Orozco Sahi