CHALLENGE YOUR STUDENTS TO WRITE THE NEXT PROFILE IN COURAGE
Encourage your students to participate in the annual Profile in Courage National Essay Contest. The Contest invites students from across the nation to write an essay on the political courage of a U.S. elected official who has served since 1956. It is a companion program to the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award™, named for President Kennedy’s 1957 Pulitzer Prize-winning book, Profiles in Courage, which recounts the stories of eight U.S. senators who risked their careers by taking principled stands on unpopular positions.
Maia Gottlieb of Baltimore City College High School wrote the 2007 winning essay, Shirley Chisholm: Challenging the System. Winning essays, including Ms. Gottlieb’s, are posted on the Profile in Courage Essay Contest section of our web site at www.jfklibrary.org.
The Contest and an online curriculum supporting its use in the classroom address national standards for social studies and language arts, and provide lessons on identifying and analyzing acts of political courage. Both help to prepare students for the writing component of standardized tests.
The Contest is sponsored by the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation and generously supported by Fidelity Investments. The deadline for entries is Saturday, January 12, 2008.