Olski Winner of First Hugh MacDougall Essay Contest

COOPERSTOWN—Cooperstown Central School junior Andrew Olski is the winner of the inaugural Hugh C. MacDougall Essay Contest. The writing competition, sponsored by the Rotary Club of Cooperstown, is in honor of longtime Rotarian Hugh MacDougall. The contest is open to juniors enrolled at CCS and judged by faculty members, officials said. Olski was awarded a cash prize of $500.00 and attended a luncheon meeting hosted by the Rotary Club.

Jennifer Pindar, chair of the CCS History Department, explained the focus of the essays as “based upon history and life in Cooperstown in memoriam to town historian Hugh MacDougall.”

MacDougall, a retired United States diplomat, settled in Cooperstown in 1986 and became deeply engrossed in local history, particularly the life and works of James Fenimore Cooper. He served as village historian from 2006 until his passing in 2021. He was predeceased by his wife of 44 years, Eleanore. During MacDougall’s tenure, he founded and directed the James Fenimore Cooper Society, dedicated to preserving and promoting the legacy of the Cooperstown author.

MacDougall, a graduate of Harvard and Columbia Law School, served for 28 years in various foreign diplomatic posts for the U.S. State Department. One notable incident involving MacDougall was his role in rescuing kidnapped students in Gombe, Africa. These students were working with Jane Goodall’s chimpanzees at her research station when they were abducted by rebels. For his rescue efforts, MacDougall was awarded the U.S. State Department’s Bronze Medal.

He was also committed to the Village of Cooperstown, holding positions as historian, trustee, and member of both the Planning and Historic Preservation and Architectural Review boards. During his 15-year tenure as historian, MacDougall conducted historical tours of Cooperstown, authored weekly columns in the local newspapers, and delivered numerous lectures and interviews on the history of the village.

“Hugh MacDougall influenced the school community through his participation as a local History Day contest judge and in community interviews for the Heritage Project,” said CCS Librarian Michelle Hitchcock. “He also donated a collection of James Fenimore Cooper titles to the high-school library.

“Truly, Hugh was an expert in many areas, and he was always willing to share his knowledge and insight. I am grateful to have worked with him,” Hitchcock said.

Pindar explained the essay contest project.

“After a lesson in U.S. history class on Hugh MacDougall and how he embodied civic responsibility, students will research and write about a local historical figure who had a lasting impact on the greater Cooperstown area,” Pindar said. “This person could have been a Rotarian, writer, restaurant owner, a Fenimore Farm, Baseball Hall of Fame, Clark Sports Center, or Bassett employee, service member, an architect, politician, artist, poet, scientist, doctor, etc.”

“In history class, with Ms. Snyder and Mrs. Lambert, we received the assignment of writing about a hometown hero in Cooperstown,” CCS junior Landon Seamon elaborated further. “Each student had an abundance of options to choose from. Once we chose who we wanted to research, we were brought to the school library, where we then had to find three or more sources about our hometown heroes in books and online resources such as Newsbank.

“After the research, we then answered questions about the hometown heroes, which helped us better understand the process,” Seamon continued. “Next, we transitioned into English class—with Mrs. Schallert and Mr. Whirtley, or Mrs. Burk-Sciallo—and then drafted the actual essay, including an overview of [our subject’s life] and what made them a hometown hero.”

From there, the essays were then submitted to be judged in the Rotary competition.

Contest finalists were selected by the English teachers and moved forward to a faculty judging team. Using the blind judging method, with no names provided for the essays, the judges selected the winner after two rounds of evaluation.

In addition to Olski, the winner, finalists included Allison Butts, Brian Zhang, Haakon Pawlowski, Kat Goldfinger, Landon Seamon, Leah Phillips, Lillian Badgley, Oliver Sczubelek, Owen Capozza, Sophia Johnson and Yousef Khedr.

Department Chairs Pindar and Sara Schallert attended the Rotary meeting with Olski and his parents, Sarah Spross and David Olski, for the presentation of the scholarship.

“One of the seven Pillars of Rotary is Education, and this essay contest based upon history certainly serves that mission,” said Rotary President William Waller.

“Civic responsibility is a special focus of Rotary, whose motto is ‘Service Above Self.’ Service to the community has always been in the forefront of Rotary’s dedication and this award memorializes longtime Rotarian Hugh MacDougall, who embodied this Rotary mission,” Waller added.

The Rotary Club of Cooperstown has a long history of supporting student studies by sponsoring international student programs and awarding scholarship grants. These scholarships are focused on vocational training and have been a Rotary commitment for many years.

In 2025, nine scholarships were awarded, with nursing and culinary arts leading the vocations among the awards. Past awards have included mechanics and other hands-on vocations, Waller said.

This article was written and submitted by Cooperstown Jr./Sr. High School staff and students.