Sponsored by the San Jose Peace Center, the Collins Foundation and Charles Walton, the contest is meant to challenge high school students throughout Silicon Valley to think critically about social-justice issues in the community and the world.

Past topics for the essays, which must be between 1,000 and 1,500 words long, have included the use of drugs in school, the Israel/Palestine situation and abolition of the death penalty.

This year, students were asked to answer the question: "The Year is 2020. Since high school, in what way have your life choices furthered social good?"

In Valerie's essay, she writes of hypothetically founding a nonprofit bank in Sierra Leone where villagers can take out flexible, 2-percent interest loans, which allow them to purchase such things as seeds for planting and fishing nets. In the essay, she credits her high school economics teacher for inspiring her to do that, and she writes of starting additional banks in neighboring areas.

Valerie's essay won the Lincoln High School senior a $300 check at the May 6 awards ceremony and an invitation to read her essay on May 30 to the Los Gatos Unitarian Fellowship.

Valerie, the daughter of Charlie and Michelle Wilson of Willow Glen, will attend Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in the fall.

Walton, a Los Gatos resident, started the essay challenge in 1989 and continues to underwrite the awards, which range from $25 to $1,000.

The Peace Center was founded in 1957 by those concerned about the spread of nuclear weapons; later its members worked to end the Vietnam War.

The Collins Foundation operates the Collins House and provides a home for the Peace Center. Services the two groups offer include conflict-resolution training, meeting space for groups and students, a library and the annual peace essay contest.

For additional information, visit www. sanjosepeace.org or call 408.297.2299.