An unexpected seven graduate and undergraduate McKay School students earned scholarships this week as winners of the school’s 2026 Mary Lou Fulton essay contest.
Rather than the usual three winners each for the undergraduate and graduate divisions of the contest, the undergraduate division saw four winners due to a third-place tie. McKay School assistant dean Michael Leonard announced the winners at a ceremony held in McKay Commons on Thursday, March 12.
“This is a fun opportunity to honor these winners who did such a great job responding to our essay contest prompt,” Leonard said. He added that the record 54 entries this year pay fitting tribute to Mary Lou and Ira Fulton, the generous donors whose support funds the contest. Each division awards $500 for third place, $750 for second place, and $1,000 for first place.
Leonard noted that the Fultons have donated to every college at BYU, with education being a particular interest of Mary Lou Fulton, who earned a bachelor’s degree in education before marrying her husband, Ira, being baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and becoming the mother of three children, Lorie, Greg, and Doug.
The couple were keenly focused on faith, intellect, and character, embodied by advice from his father that Ira Fulton has lived by all his life, as he told Y Magazine in 2004: “When I was 12, my father stood me in front of a mirror and told me, ‘There’s your competition. Don’t compare yourself with others; just compare yourself with you. My parents always said to me, ‘Do anything the best you can.’”1
The Fultons’ generosity allows the McKay School to sponsor an annual lecture focusing on the intersection of faith and intellect, while the essay contest focuses on character, Leonard said. This year’s contest prompt was a David O. McKay quote:
“Every person who lives in this world radiates light, which affects and influences every other person in the world... The radiance of the light that emanates from our countenance is determined by the choices we make, and is a powerful force in human relationships.”
Early childhood education major Celeste Schmidt was named a winner in the undergraduate division for her essay, “Zuri,” about a loving little girl she met while substitute teaching. That essay tied for third place with communication disorders student Laulea Tavake’s moving essay about a transformational encounter at a red light, “The Story Behind ‘I Hate You.’” Communication disorders student Hattie Dunn’s work on finding light even in the darkness of health challenges, “Where the Light Gets In,” took second place among undergraduates; while elementary education major Hailey Couch took first place for her essay, “Light in the California Central Valley,” a loving recollection of the warmth and light she experienced growing up in an economically challenged region.
Among graduate students, educational leadership student Cindy Halquist’s memorable recollection of meeting and learning from a Holocaust survivor, “Loev Story,” took third place. School psychology student Sadie Clark’s story of finding renewed meaning and motivation as a teacher through the kindness of one parent, “The Light I Could Not See,” was the second place winner. Finally, communication disorders student Jessica Hunter’s meditation on mentorship, meaning, and light at the bottom of a slot canyon, “Reaching and Relentless,” was the division’s first-place winner.
Couch and Hunter read their winning works to an appreciative crowd at the March 12 event, and each of the seven winning essays is published on the McKay School website.
“These essays embody what we’re hoping all of our students experience at BYU,” Leonard said. “It’s an honor to read these essays and understand the depth you all exhibit.”
He noted that he knows McKay School students are mentored by excellent faculty and staff members, including the one mentioned in Hunter’s winning essay.
“If you follow these examples and then take that out into the world as you’re planning to do, you’ll change a lot of lives.”
Essays are linked below for your reading pleasure.
Undergraduate
1st – Hailey Couch, Elementary Education
2nd – Hattie Dunn, Communication Disorders
3rd – Laulea Tavake, Communication Disorders
3rd – Celeste Schmidt, Early Childhood Education
Graduate
1st – Jessica Hunter, MS Communication Disorders
2nd – Sadie Clark, EdS School Psychology
3rd – Cindy Helquist, MEd Educational Leadership—School Leadership