Ridgefield High School student Julia Clavi was a national semifinalist in the annual Profiles in Courage Contest. She was among the top 15 student finalists. Her evocative essay on Jose Canales will be published on the Profiles in Courage website and she will receive a monetary award.
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 US 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 US senators who risked their careers by embracing unpopular decisions for the greater good. This year, 2,290 essays were submitted from students in fifty states, Washington, DC, and Puerto Rico, and from US citizens in China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Luxembourg, Peru, Philippines, Qatar, Singapore, Spain, South Korea, and the United Kingdom.
The Profile in Courage Award is a private award given to recognize displays of courage similar to those John F. Kennedy originally described in his 1956 book, Profiles in Courage. It is given to individuals (often elected officials) who, by acting in accord with their conscience, risked their careers or lives by pursuing a larger vision of the national, state or local interest in opposition to popular opinion or pressure from constituents or other local interests. Two recipients, John Lewis (in 2001) and William Winter (in 2008), were designated as honorees for Lifetime Achievement. The winner is presented with a sterling silver lantern made by Tiffany's which was designed by Edwin Schlossberg. The lantern is patterned after the lanterns on the USS Constitution which was launched in 1797. It is the last sail-powered ship to remain part of the US Navy, and is permanently moored nearby.