Physicians for Social Responsibility
Sacramento Chapter

Welcome to PSR Sacramento

PSR/Sacramento announces the Winners of the
2008 High School Scholarship Essay Contest

The Sacramento Chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility congratulates the winners of the 2008 PSR/Sacramento Scholarship Essay Contest. These students were chosen from a field of 114 entries for their outstanding essays based on this year's prompt
“War is a racket…in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives.”
--Marine Corps Medal of Honor Winner, Major General Smedley Butler

First Place - Dennis Zheng, Granite Bay High School, Granite Bay
Hear Dennis' interview on the May 5 Insight program

Second Place - Margaret Freiwald, Mira Loma High School, Sacramento

Third Place - Mateo Fabersunne, Dixon High School, Dixon

The other finalists are:

James Allen, Amador High School, Sutter Creek

Benjamin Drahmann, Union Mine High School, Diamond Springs

Jennifer Kocsis, Davis Senior High School, Davis

Jeanne Sabin, Elk Grove High School, Elk Grove

Bianca Taylor, C.K. McClatchy High School, Sacramento

Marshall Weintraub, Davis Senior High School, Davis

Kristine Yoshihara, Mira Loma High School, Sacramento

To read their essay, please click on the student's name.

The ten student finalists presented their essays orally at the Scholarship Essay Contest Finals Dinner held on Sunday, May 4, at the California State Univeristy, Sacramento Alumni Center. The first, second, and third place finalists were chosen by a panel of distinguished judges from the community: Dr. General Davie, Former Superintendent of Schools, San Juan Unified School District; Dr. Kathryn Jeffery, President of Sacramento City College; Lisa Kaplan, Board Member, Natomas Unified School District; Leon Lefson, Community Activist; and Michael G. Virga, Sacramento County Superior Court Judge. The first place winner is receiving a $2,500 scholarship, second place a $1,500 scholarship, third place a $1,000 scholarship. The other seven finalists will each receive $750 scholarships.

Special thanks to California State University, Sacramento for
sponsorship of the event and to Media Edge for videotaping. Thanks to everyone who helped make the 2008 PSR/Sacramento Scholarship Essay Contest a success and, especially, to all the students who entered the contest. Please return to this website in early January 2009 for information about next year's contest.

PSR/Sacramento is a non-profit, educational organization of health care professionals and other concerned citizens committed to the following goals:

• the elimination of nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction
• the achievement of a sustainable environment
• the reduction of interpersonal violence and its causes
• universal access to necessary medical care for all residents of our state and our country, without regard to income level or ability to pay

PSR combines the credibility of the medical profession with the power of an active and concerned citizenry in working toward our goals through education, advocacy, and activism. Click on the links to the left to learn more about our organization and how you can join us in helping to make the world a healthier, safer place.

Joseph Cirincione, formerly Senior Fellow and Director for Nuclear Policy at Center for American Progress and now the president of Ploughshares Fund, was the keynote speaker at the October 28, 2007 4th annual PSR/Sacramento Dinner. One of America's best known weapons experts, Mr. Cirincione is author of Bomb Scare: The History & Future of Nuclear Weapons (Columbia University Press, 2007). Between 1998 and 2006, Mr. Cirincione was the director for nonproliferation at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He was featured in the award-winning documentary Why We Fight.
Mr. Cirincione was interviewed on the October 25 Capital Public Radio Insight program.
Access Sacramento and California State University, Sacramento were co-sponsors of the event.

Urge California Members of Congress to end the war in Iraq and bring our troops home.

Click here for an update on the Cost of the Iraq War