本周是为期十周的挑战赛的第六周，我们收到了1244份投稿，并选出了 两位获奖者，分别是 Chenyi Zhu 和 Christopher Leung 的文章。 你可以在下方欣赏他们的作品。
Our Winners
Chenyi Zhu, 15, from Pleasanton, Calif., talked about “Going to a National Park This Summer? Here’s What to Expect.” She wrote:
“Going to a National Park This Summer?”
Yes! I’m very much looking forward to taking my brother to the same parks that I explored when I was his age!
“Here’s What to Expect.”
It’s a quiet place where you can get away from the crowds and—
“Huge visitor numbers”
What about the volunteers who teach the science and history of the land? Higher visitor flow, so surely they’re not gonna keep reduc—
“sharply reduced staffing”
How are they gonna handle reserva—
“scrapped reservation systems”
What’s next, higher prices for foreigners?
“higher entry fees for nonresidents”
At least my brother can get the 4th grade pass, with its beautiful park scenes as the design— is that Trump?
Many things have changed since I first visited a national park, many of which the article didn’t cover. The wonder I felt about the science and history of sequoias remains, but my memories no longer reflect reality. Signs on scientific and historic issues have been removed. People are told to report similarly “negative” signs. Parks are pushed to be less woke. Free-for-everyone days became free-for-“patriotic”-residents-only. Nonresidents now pay nearly triple.
National parks are no longer the sanctuaries that I knew. They’ve been cheapened, dumbed down, no longer worth a visit … or are they?
The question lingers as I look out the car window beside my brother. I smile, recognizing where my parents have brought us for the weekend.
Where I first stepped into a place worth protecting:
Sequoia National Park.
Christopher Leung, 16, from Jericho, N.Y., responded to “Test Your Internet Brain. Can You Use ‘Choppelganger’ in a Sentence?” He wrote:
AP scores came out just over a week ago. Chat, is it safe to say I’m cooked? My academic aura is already falling off, and now college board is about to hit me with a generational debuff. When I finally clicked on the “check your scores” link, it turns out my scores weren’t just cooked, they were deep fried and served with a side of copium. My college chances are on life support, while my delusion stats are maxed out thanks to those who know.
The article “Test Your Internet Brain. Can You Use ‘Choppelganger’ in a Sentence?” made me lock in.
It taught me a new word, Choppelganger, which is the combination of the slang “chopped” and “doppelganger”. Basically meaning someone who looks like you but just worse looking. Similar examples of this word prove how fast unconventional words can be popularized. Proving we can unofficially invent new vocabulary through word of mouth.
These slang words are living proof of the evolution of the English language. While most people dismiss these words as meaningless nonsense, I see it as the most compelling proof that the English language truly has no limit.
Modern human language was shaped by Shakespeare’s coining of words like “swagger,” “bedroom,” and “lonely.” And although it sounds ridiculous, modern Gen Z slang is following the same path, pioneering language history as we know it.
Maybe a couple hundred years from now, students will study brainrot the same way we study Shakespeare today.
Runners-Up
Amalie Bagaria on “What 370,000 College Essays Tell Us About A.I.’s Effects on Creativity.”
Doyun Kim on “How Wall Street Turned Its Back on Climate Change”
Hyomin Yeo on “The Metropolitan Diary Challenge”
Isabella Liu on “Colombian Immigrant Killed by ICE in Maine Had Legal Status, Father Says”
Justin Wang on “Sizzling, Sexy Age-Gap Romance Novels”
Owen Kim on “How ‘Age Tech’ Might Help You Grow Old at Home”
Roy Wang on “What Does Dressing Up Mean Today?”
Shuwei Jiang on “When the Male Gaze Turns on Men”
Yiqing Laura Lu on “Building Nests Is Hard. That’s Why Some Birds Steal”
Honorable Mentions
Aahana Mukhi on “Sites Unseen: What’s Revealed by Traveling With the Blind”
Alyssa Schonfeld on “This Kind of Obsessive Attraction Isn’t Love. But it Has a Name.”
Brian G. on “I’m a Therapist. Not Everyone Should Be in Therapy.”
Charlotte Cipriani on “Afghans Hold Rare Public Protests Against Taliban Rules”
Derek Kang on “California’s Plastic Law Goes to Court: Is It Too Strict or Too Lax?”
Devin Zhou on “Meta Unveils an A.I. Image Generator”
Eric Wang on “A Bird’s Brain Holds Clues to the Sounds of Music”
Eric Zhou on “Our Never-Ending Race to the Bottom”
Eva Manna on “The Constant Work to Keep a Family Connected Has a Name”
Glynnis Gravador on “A Conservative Role Model for Ending the Fertility Crisis”
Helen Dai on “The Revenge of the Philosophy Majors”
Hugo Yu on “America Marks Its 250th Birthday With Storms, Sweat and Fire”
Irene Lin on “Humans vs. Bots — Who Does the Em Dash Better?”
Jaein Kim on “We Are Losing the Ability to Discover What We Didn’t Know to Ask”
Jaekyeom Kim on “How Does One Brain Speak Two Languages?”
Jeongwon Kim on “The 39-ish Most Stylish People of 2026, So Far”
Julia Yi on “Everything’s Bananas”
Mandy Lin on “Life Is Better With Siblings”
Sid Sharma on “Why Are Berries Everywhere, in Every Season? Driscoll’s.”
Woosung Chun on “As the World Cup’s stakes rise, hotel prices keep falling”
Zhenrui Peng on “We Are Losing the Ability to Discover What We Didn’t Know to Ask”
