As the United States of America nears its 250th birthday, Senator Andy Kim is launching a new series of statewide programs designed to honor the nation’s long history while “exploring lessons learned throughout the first 250 years to better shape and inform the next 250.”
Among the new initiatives: an “Ought to Be a Law” competition for high school students to present proposals that they think should become laws; a high school art competition titled “America’s 250th Journey: Then, Now, and Tomorrow”; a press availability for high school journalists to ask questions of Kim; a middle school essay contest on what the country can achieve in the next 250 years; and a call for New Jerseyans to make Instagram reels on New Jersey’s history and culture.
“Our founders’ quest for equality and independence began 250 years ago, but it is a delicate experiment we continue to fight for each and every day,” Kim said in a statement. “‘Honoring America 250’ will celebrate the bravery, diversity, and resilience Americans have shown since 1776 while encouraging thought and conversation with students and communities across New Jersey as we embark on America’s next chapter.”
The deadline for most of the contests will arrive on March 1, and Kim’s office said the senator will share other community service opportunities in the future.
Another New Jerseyan in Congress, Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-Ewing), has also made the country’s 250th birthday a focus of her work as a member of the U.S. Semiquincentennial Commission; Watson Coleman’s Central Jersey district, and the state of New Jersey more broadly, is home to reams of Revolutionary War-era history.
The congresswoman recently got the House to pass two bills celebrating the nation’s anniversary: one to bury a time capsule in front of the Capitol, to be opened in 2276, and another to create a commemorative $2.50 coin.
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