Haddonfield High student wins AAA South Jersey scholarship contest

Juliana Kadar, a senior at Haddonfield Memorial High School, has been selected as the winner in the AAA South Jersey Essay Scholarship contest. Kadar earned $5,000 toward her college tuition with her winning entry.

The contest, open to all high school seniors living or attending school in Camden, Cumberland, Gloucester or Salem counties, presented a challenging scenario for students to answer with a maximum of 1,000 words: What do you consider to be the biggest difference between what your generation does behind the wheel of a car, and your parents’ generation? Should one generation try to be more like the other?”

“I knew the first thing most people would think about is technology,” Kadar said in describing her idea for answering the question. “I decided to be different and focus on defensive driving. It’s something my parents encouraged me to do as I was learning how to drive.”

The resulting paper was selected by a panel of judges as the top thesis from the more than 320 entries received. A total of 59 high schools were represented in the contest. All entrants received a free, one-year basic student membership to AAA South Jersey.

The judges particularly liked Kadar’s concept of a “new Triple A”, which focused on Age, Awareness and Action. She described the new kind of Triple A as:

A – use one’s AGE to learn from the past and adopt a defensive driving approach each and everyday
AA – have AWARENESS of our driving shortcomings and stay tuned into methods that improve overall driving safety.
AAA – take ACTION as a young driver to use technology responsibly

“I was looking for something that was different, and that just popped into my head,” she said. “I thought, ‘I can do something with this.’ ”

Kadar said she will use the $5,000 from AAA South Jersey toward her tuition at Georgetown University, where she intends to study nursing or international health.

AAA South Jersey, with offices Voorhees, Sewell, Millville and Logan Township, has served South Jersey for more than 85 years.

As North America’s largest motoring and leisure travel organization, AAA provides more than 53 million members with travel, insurance, financial and automotive-related services. Since its founding in 1902, the not-for-profit, fully tax-paying AAA has been a leader and advocate for the safety and security of all travelers. AAA clubs can be visited on the Internet at AAA.com.