– Winning Essay Profiles Michigan State Senator N. Lorraine Beebe –
BOSTON, MA – The John F. Kennedy Library Foundation recently announced that Giya Agarwal, a senior at Interlake High School in Bellevue, Washington, has won the national John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Essay Contest for High School Students™. The winning essay, entitled “Senator N. Lorraine Beebe: More Than a Footnote,” describes Michigan State Senator Beebe’s support of expanded abortion rights in the 1960’s and her speech to a senate chamber made up entirely of men where she revealed she had a therapeutic abortion 20 years earlier.
Agarwal will receive a $10,000 cash prize for her accomplishment.
The essay contest is sponsored by the JFK Library Foundation and is made possible by support from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. More Perfect is a Silver Sponsor of the contest and the second-place prize is supported by Tina M. Erickson and Michael A. Krutsch in honor of 1995 JFK Profile in Courage Award winner Congressman Michael L. Synar.
“Giya’s essay brings to life a powerful example of political courage,” said Rachel Flor, Executive Director of the JFK Library Foundation. “She tells the story of Senator Beebe, who was the first elected official to publicly disclose having an abortion and who risked her career and even her personal safety to stand up for a woman’s right to choose. Each year, students like Giya remind us why this contest matters as they use their words to highlight acts of courage that continue to shape our democracy.”
The annual Profile in Courage Essay Contest invites high school students from across the nation to write an essay on an act of political courage by a U.S. elected official. The contest is a companion program of the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award®, named for Kennedy’s Pulitzer Prize-winning book Profiles in Courage, which recounts the stories of eight U.S. senators who risked their careers by embracing unpopular decisions for the greater good.
This year, 2,261 essays were submitted from students in fifty states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, and from U.S. citizens in Australia, Canada, Germany, Ghana, Guam, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Netherlands, Nigeria, Philippines, Rwanda, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Giya Agarwal will attend Washington University in St. Louis next year. She is a senior at Interlake High School in Bellevue, Washington, where she has served as class president and co-president of Writing Club. Giya’s work has been recognized by organizations including the New York Times, Pulitzer Center, and Bow Seat Creative Action for Conservation, reflecting a sustained interest in addressing global issues. She has also contributed to local policymaking as a Bellevue Youth Link Board member, focusing on youth mental health initiatives. Additionally, Giya has competed extensively in Speech & Debate at the state and national levels. Through these experiences, Giya has developed a strong commitment to thoughtful advocacy and plans to pursue a career grounded in public service.
Growing up during a renewed national debate over reproductive rights, Giya Agarwal was drawn to the story of N. Lorraine Beebe because of her bold advocacy for abortion reform. In a moment when silence would have protected her career, Beebe chose honesty, even at great personal cost.
Agarwal’s nominating teacher, Stephanie Gosselin, will receive a John F. Kennedy Public Service Grant in the amount of $500 to be used for school projects that encourage student leadership and civic engagement.
Lara Cratty, a junior from Durham, North Carolina, was selected as the second-place winner for her essay on Maury Maverick, former US Representative of Texas. She will receive a $3,000 prize for this recognition.
The second-place prize is funded by Tina M. Erickson and Michael A. Krutsch in honor of Congressman Michael L. Synar, recipient of the 1995 John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award.
Each of the following three finalists will receive a $1,000 prize: Theo Avendano-Monteiro, a junior at Morgantown High School in Morgantown, West Virginia, profiled Mike Pushkin, State Delegate of West Virginia; Theodore Kronby, a junior at Hunter College High School in New York City, New York, profiled Stephen M. Saland, former State Senator of New York; and Kate Martinez, a junior at North Hollywood High School in North Hollywood, California, profiled Tom Bradley, former Mayor of Los Angeles, California.
Fifteen received honorable mentions and are listed, along with winners and finalists, at www.jfklibrary.org/essaycontest.
The JFK Library Foundation created the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award in 1989 to honor President Kennedy’s commitment and contribution to public service and to celebrate his May 29th birthday. The award is presented annually to public servants who have made courageous decisions of conscience without regard for the personal or professional consequences. The award is named for President Kennedy’s 1957 Pulitzer Prize-winning book, Profiles in Courage. A distinguished committee of leaders from the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation and the National Archives and Records Administration selected the winning essays.
The John F. Kennedy Library Foundation is a 501(c)(3), non-profit organization founded in 1984 to provide financial support, staffing, and creative resources for the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, a presidential library administered by the National Archives and Records Administration. The JFK Presidential Library and the JFK Library Foundation seek to promote, through educational and community programs, a greater appreciation and understanding of American politics, history, and culture; the process of governing; and the importance of public service.
The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation supports creative people, effective institutions, and influential networks building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world. MacArthur strives toward transformative change on some of the world’s most pressing social issues, including the existential threats of climate change, criminal justice reform, revitalizing local news in the U.S., expanding who creates, uses, and benefits from artificial intelligence, strengthening the well-being of Native communities, and empowering young people in Nigeria. In addition to the Foundation’s award programs MacArthur Fellows and 100&Change, the Foundation continues our historic commitments to the role of journalism in a responsible and responsive democracy and to the strength and vitality of our headquarters city, Chicago. MacArthur is also significantly increasing financial capital for the social sector and strengthening research and advocacy about the social impacts of technology.
More Perfect is an American alliance of 44 Presidential Centers, National Archives Foundation, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Karsh Institute of Democracy at the University of Virginia, and more than 100 organizations working together to advance five foundational Democracy Goals: 1) Universal Civic Learning; 2) Expanding National Service & Volunteering; 3) Bridging Divides & Building Trust; 4) Trusted Elections & More Representative and Responsive Governance; and 5) Access to Trusted News & Information. More Perfect’s sponsorship of the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Essay Contest for High School Students is made possible through the support of the Office of American Possibilities Fund, a sponsored project of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors.