Gerber and Holder Scholarship

Gerber & Holder Workers’ Compensation Attorneys, a top-rated Atlanta workers’ compensation law firm, is proud to support students of all ages and background(s) in their pursuit of higher education.

We offer this privately funded scholarship to help create opportunity for the next generation of Americans and because we know every little bit helps!

2024 scholarship essay question

To enter our scholarship essay competition, answer the following question in 300-500 words:

Georgia law provides employers with an ultimate defense to a workers’ compensation claim in the event they can prove that an injured worker shows willful misconduct in their on-the-job actions, such as wanton and reckless disregard for safety procedures; however, there is no ability in Georgia for an injured worker to sue his employer in tort if they are injured on the job due to gross negligence.

Should an employee be allowed to sue an employer in certain instances, should the willful misconduct exclusion be eliminated?  Why or why not?

Eligibility requirements

• You must be a U.S. resident or resident alien who is currently enrolled in classes with a valid student ID at a U.S. college or University.
• Essays must be unique (not submitted elsewhere) and written by the scholarship application signator.
• Only one submission per student will be considered.
• All entries must be submitted in English.

Guidelines and tips from the judges

The judges, who read thousands of essays, have provided some key tips that will help you write a high-quality essay.

• Answer the question. Submissions that don’t answer the question will be disqualified.
• Be transparent about your use of AI. When submitting your work, make sure to disclose that you used AI to generate content, and provide the prompts you used to generate that content. This ensures that your work is ethical and honest.
• Use AI to generate ideas and inspiration, not as a replacement for your own writing. AI should not be used to generate entire essays or papers without your own input.
• Carefully consider your prompt and the goals of your writing assignment. Generate prompts that are specific and targeted, which will result in more relevant and useful content.
• Use a variety of prompts to ensure that you are exploring different perspectives and ideas. This will help you generate more well-rounded and nuanced content.
• Remember that AI-generated content is not a substitute for your own critical thinking and analysis. Use AI as a tool to help you generate ideas and inspiration, but make sure to carefully evaluate and edit the content generated by the AI to ensure that it meets the requirements of your writing assignment.
• Cite any sources and citations used, including the AI prompts. This ensures that your work is well-researched, accurate, and supported by credible sources.
• Use paragraphs and white space to separate your ideas.
• Come close to the word count requirement. Essays with a count of 50 words below or above the requirement will be disqualified.
• Use a tool like Grammarly to check your work. Free versions are often available.
• Read your essay out loud. If it sounds good to you, it will sound good to the judges.
• Submit your essay as a Word document. Other formats will be disqualified.