2018 Profile in Courage Student Essay Contest Award Ceremony

good afternoon I'm al hunt the chair of the Profile in Courage Award committee and it's my pleasure to welcome you on this beautiful day can you imagine what the weather did for us today I don't know if anybody was up yesterday but it wasn't quite like this so the John F Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum and we're grateful want to recognize just a few people Steve Rothstein the executive director of the John F Kennedy Library Foundation Warren Finch the Acting Director of the Library Museum who made this event possible and a special welcome to ambassador Caroline Kennedy and to edgeless Berg and to Jack slash Berg we are delighted that so many of you could be with us today to honor Geoffrey seaman the winner of the National 2008 profile encouraged essay contest this contest is the companion program of the profile and courage award and it introduces high school students to the concept of political courage and challenges them to use their research and their writing skills to profile elected officials who risk their career to do right by their communities and their country this year we received 1989 submissions from high school students in 48 states Washington DC and Guam and I assure you that Esther Kahn will find those other two states next year 89 volunteer judges evaluated essays during three rigorous rounds narrowing almost 2,000 submissions to the top ten and many of our essay contest judges are with us today I invite you to stand as we acknowledge the tremendous service you do to this program please with the judges are here Stan [Applause] I've done this for a little bit and I have to say I think you're attached this year was more dawning challenging and inspirational than ever because the it really was the ones we saw were just absolutely fabulous we're fortunate to have several members of the Profile in Courage award committee here today in addition to selecting Mayor Mitch Landrieu the very deserving and inspiring recipient of this year's Profile in Courage Award they ranked the top 10 essays and selected the winner in the essay contest so with those members of the committee if I can get Elaine Jones out of her shell or to stand up and the others could you please stand up Chris Martha and others David Shipman Adam Frankel I see here Adam I want a special favor of you afterwards would you please get together with Jeffery seaman he has some interest some interest in speech writing nice I think we have someone here who who might be able to give you some summit some advice I'd also like to recognize Meg McMillan a social studies teacher at Quincy High School she's a committed nominating teacher who had 35 students submit essays and for them made it to the second round meg would you stand up [Applause] and we're delighted that Freddie K president of the women's suffrage celebration coalition of Massachusetts is with us today to celebrate the women's suffrage history told so well and Jeffrey's essay would you stand up [Applause] we are so grateful to John Hancock and the invaluable financial support that they provided to make this program possible they've been doing this for years now and we especially want to thank Tom Cohan and Megan Greeley both of whom are here today and I'd like to invite Tom who was the assistant vice president and counsel for corporate responsibilities and government relations at John Hancock to come up and say a few words Thank You al hunt mr. chairman for for the kind introduction and it's wonderful to be with all of you especially ambassador Kennedy Edie Jack and the entire Kennedy family I also want to thank Steve Rothstein Esther coned the JFK Library team all of you for for hosting us this special special morning and on behalf of Megan Greeley who is here with us on behalf of Tom Sam Locke who is a board member who is not here with us but will be here tonight Jim Gallagher who's our general counsel who chaired the dinner three years ago this evening and Mary Ann Harrison who's the first woman CEO and John Hancock's 150 plus year history it's an honor to be here and as I was thinking about Mary Ann's appointment earlier this year and the essay that was written by Jeffrey in the winding road of history it's interesting to think about Mary Ann's appointment and a young Tennessee representative in the critical vote that he took so Jeffrey congratulations to you and your family for the extraordinary honor and well-deserved recognition that you're receiving I've had the opportunity to not be an end judge but an early stage judge and and prior to being at John Hancock I had the honor of being a senator Kennedy staffer and I recall with real fondness some of the early time I had in his office I drove for him and he used to have a very large bag and Senator Dodd can appreciate how much reading goes into being a United States Senator with a lot of briefing materials and he would always get a binder early part of the year that was the final essays that he had to judge and read and perhaps with a little bit of help from Vicki but mostly his keen interest he tackled those readings with a real strong sense of responsibility to the to the to the task at hand and I think all of the judges feel that same sense of responsibility today and I also think there's a real gift of judging that I shared with you that I didn't know the story that the that one and and I think most of the judges likely if we're being honest likely didn't either and and so there's a real gift of learning that I think senator Kennedy appreciated and certainly I do too so on behalf of John Hancock thank you to the library thank you to all of us it's an extraordinary partnership and we're just really proud to be here thank you thank you Tom we greatly appreciate John Hancock's long-standing commitment to this program it's now my pleasure to introduce the winner of the 2018 profile encouraged essay contest for high school students Jeffery seaman is a junior from Short Hills New Jersey and our first homeschooled winner his love of history and writing and his interest in President Kennedy motivated him to enter this contest Jeffrey's own forensic skills are reminiscent of a young John F Kennedy last month Jeffery won regional championships in impromptu and extant extemporaneous speaking and this June he'll head to the finals of the National Christian forensic and Communication Association last year he captured the grand prize and the New Voices young writers contest do they have a trophy room in the seaman house this summer he's going to participate in a program at Harvard for high school students where he'll take a seminar on the American presidency Jeffrey's essay and if anyone has not read this essay please do it today it's really it's it's it's just remarkable recounts a dramatic historic event that's especially relevant today as we approach the centennial of the women's suffrage and see more women running for political office and winning than ever before it's important that students and teachers in the general public learned about this compelling story of political courage it was August 18th 1920 earlier after 70 years Congress finally approved the constitutional amendment giving women the vote 3/4 of the states had to ratify it time was running out Tennessee was one of the last possibilities now you know when you read I think this was 98 years ago I wasn't even covering this and when you read Jeffries you kind of you're on the edge of your seat what's gonna happen that's how good it is Harry T Byrne was a 24 year old state representative representing a rather rural district in Tennessee and reflecting his constituents and local leaders there was a vote on tabling this amendment and he voted for it but that resulted in a tie which meant there had to be a crucial vote on passage one way or the one way or the other and it was clear that his vote was going to be decisive but galleries were packed with anti suffragettes wine red roses and Pro suffragettes wearing yellow rose you could picture them and she read this just up there in those galleries Jeffrey describe describes Byrnes predicament on one side stood his political prospects on the other stood what he knew was right and his mother that made the decision a little bit easier his mother was college-educated apparently a very learning women and she couldn't vote and they were a bunch of shall we say less qualified people men around her who were burns conscience steered his decision he voted I kind of want to cheer now don't you the amendment passed making Tennessee the last state needed to ratify the 19th amendment so here we are today celebrating women's suffrage and Jeffrey's accomplishment and it's with great pleasure that I present this citation I can hold it up and not drop it accompanied by a scholarship award of $10,000 to recognize Geoffrey's outstanding research and writing on the topic of leadership and courage - described by John F Kennedy and profiles encouraged Geoffrey would you please come up [Applause] Jack and Caroline would you come up and join us for this picture come on no you you stay apply introduce the you know because behind every successful woman you know there is there's a little man every student who submits an essay is required to have a nominating teacher an educator who provides guidance and support during the research and the writing process we're delighted to have Jeffrey's nominated teacher who also this will come as a shock to the Kennedy Library also as his father it's in the family we'd like to thank him for the guidance that he provided to Jeffrey during this process which ended up with his great result so Dave would you come up and join us and we want to present an award to you at John F Kennedy public service grant to encourage student leadership [Applause] back come on you're not finished Caroline we're taking pictures and we ought to point out to that that although dave was his teacher this year Kathy prepared Geoffrey the first eight years correct so therefore you know it really was kind of rip and read for Geoffrey after all the great preparation that Kathy did was terrific yes okay we'll do whatever you say okay all right don't go one more Ron come on up one more come on you're I mean you're the Big Cheese come on up now terrific thank you all right fine with both of them but we can why don't you start but we lost our chairs Esther right madam ambassador is this okay all right let's talk about how you came to this point how you wrote this wonderful essay and what your role and it was and and tell us you can tell us a bit more about Jeffrey first of all how did you hear about the contest and how did you decide to enter Jeffrey I really love politics history and how did you hear about the contest Dave well as a particular focus this year I wanted to expand Jeffrey's writing styles so we had him compete and create a short play he entered a short story contest on historical fiction based on the Christmas truce in World War one and I learned about the Profile in Courage essay contest which is this confluence of history politics and writing and if you know Jeffrey those are the three things he loves it really shows how did you pick harry key burn so i knew i wanted right about the 19th amendment right we're coming up on the hundredth anniversary is that why because of the anniversary it was because the anniversary and I think that women's rights is something that's even more relevant today almost it was then so I then start doing online research to try to figure out more about the ratification process and I learned it was very heated and I learned that this young state representative from Tennessee had played a crucial law and it really stood out to me because it showed the power of one single vote and it would seem very relatable so that's why I chose him did you encourage him when he did you participate in his choice Dave and you will talk it through nope that was yeah it was sure a good one describe the research he did so most of the research I did was online I only used about two books and I tried to figure out how many I tried to find as many primary sources as I could since I really wanted to know the truth because the research process actually showed me that over time about a hundred years ago legend can quickly blend in with facts so I wanted to find the primary sources to really see in Harry T burns own words and in his mother's own words why he did what he did so I for example I looked online and found Harry D Burns mother's letter that she sent to him urging him to vote for a terrific what you say in that letter she said hurrah and vote for suffrage don't forget to be a good boy and put the rat in ratification and he said later he knew that it's always safest for a boy to follow his mother's advice we all could agree on that so I think the research process was really rewarding I haven't done a lot of historical research before and this really gave me an opportunity to do that how the man named was the teacher high expectations gotta meet the expectation because it David tell us about your role and about Geoffrey and he obviously is an extremely talented young man but tell me how you helped in this process sure so as we were explaining homeschooling a little bit different you don't actually do public school at home or school at home his high school years are much more like College it's very unstructured he gets to spend the time and delve as deep into a area as he wants and the key to our view of home schooling is to get someone who loves to learn and that really is what Jeffrey is all about in terms of what I do I help structure the curriculum and this was really more part of his honors English program because his AP US history and European history had taken two years ago and that's all source baked document based questions and analysis and research but this seemed to be the right confluence of all the pieces together you had Jeffrey has three older siblings all in California yep right now do they have the same interest in history and writing as the baby does they all have an interest in writing they love literature but for example my older son who's at Caltech his love his math and so his home school was all about competing in math programs and going to the US Math Olympiad and things like that it seems to me to be rather high achieving family Jeffrey what was the most challenging and rewarding for you both in writing when you heard you had the most challenging part was really telling Harry burns story right because you owe it to him you owe it to history to get it right and I had to sift through a lot of sources to really figure out what made him cast that vote since then obviously the anti suffragists claim he was just bribed and many people today just considered him the ultimate mama's boy who was so scared of his mother he couldn't do otherwise but vote for ratification he voted he voted earlier just when hours just to table the amendment so I think the most challenging part was telling that story right and discovering why he cast that vote and what really helped me discover that was when he said in his own words that when he was put on the roll call for time and eternity he had to vote for what he knew was right and I think the most rewarding part is also telling his story because it's really great to know that now more people will know about his act of courage as JFK said and profiles and courage often the only reward that courageous politicians have is that history will later tell their stories and they'll be honored for that and so the most rewarding part was just being part of that and helping honor Harry burns legacy well you sure did that is he recognized in Tennessee or in the women Freddy in the women's movement today I know he is recognized in Tennessee is one of like the top 15 famous Tennesseans of all time but he's not well known outside of Tennessee that's great you can do more now to make sure that that no longer is the case because it really is a a remarkable story you deepen your understanding of courage I think it did before and I think many people consider this that the politicians are just courageous or they are you know kind of born courageous but Harry T burns story really demonstrated what JFK said in profiles and courage the courage is political courage is making that choice in that moment of decision to do the right thing and it doesn't mean you hadn't have been courageous all your life before or afterward really is a choice that you have to make in that decisive moment and that I think is something that reading and researching Harry T Byrnes story really helped show me this may be unfair but do either one of you think about that in contemporary context of you know is there do we have Harry T burns around I don't think we have enough Harry T versus around I think political courage is especially relevant today because as you get more polarized and more politicized you need more people have the courage to cross party lines to vote the right way even if it doesn't go along with what their parties might expect it really should be a timeless quality yeah yeah it sure should be and I hope this helps Harry T bring Jeffrey looking ahead you you told me that you were looking at a number of colleges now and are you gonna major do you know yet in politics and English and history yeah I don't know I love them all so much it's just hard to decide I like trying to choose a favorite child but I'm taking the thinking of economics or pre-law as a possible major uh-huh and and and you're gonna keep writing and keep writing all the time Kathy do you want to add anything to this remarkable young man sir you must be so proud to begin with I've been trying to tell Jeffy that he's a really excellent writer and I don't think he's always believed me because I'm his mother so I actually am so grateful to all of you for possibly recognizing his talent because now maybe he'll believe it and Geoffrey is Harry T Byrne said listen to your mother [Laughter] we have time to throw this open through some questions I know is Donna here Donna's not here I know Freddie is here Freddie you must have a question for for Jeff or David well I think you may have asked it because I was certainly interested in how you learned about the story which apparently was research on the internet which is really terrific and of course I'm interested in what may be going on in Tennessee to celebrate him more Harry Bern and your work and whether this might lead to more publicity frankly for this incredible story one of the things that I know it's very important about the suffrage Centennial is that there are thousands and thousands of stories out there and we just don't know them so it's so spectacular that you found this one and wrote about it so beautifully have you thought about ways that that we might you know the winning this award might help get the story up well I think that winning the award will help get the story out just because this is a fairly well-known consciousness I haven't I mean obviously tell my friends about it and help spread the word about Harry T Byrne but writing this really was my contribution to getting his legacy out and I and as you said there were so many people who showed courage it was almost hard to choose someone because just in the suffrage movement there were thousands of politicians who showed courage and went against their party or their constituents to vote for the right thing so we should always keep that in mind well honor I mean here you keep earn but we're also honoring all politicians who have so courage then and now yeah we are but that was the decisive vote yes that was the decisive vote so that's why I chose it just one one question a little bit off subject what happened to Harry T Byrne after well whatever heavy burden he really demonstrates the fact that to be politically courageous doesn't require any great accomplishments before after because he continued to serve in the legislature for a while and then simply retired and he always liked to tell his story on his rocking chair on his front porch to any visitors to his house in Tennessee though he had played a decisive role in the 19th amendment but he never really did anything particularly famous or noteworthy after that that really was his moment to shine the moment when he showed the political courage that he had whose God we had Martha the Dean congratulations again and I was intrigued that your father said that you also wrote a play and I'm wondering as you think about the different genres different ways to tell a story what can a play offer and should there be a play about your hero and how about a tweet I mean what about the varieties of ways to get stories out and what would you think appeal to people your own age I think that it's great to try to get the story out through a variety of means I totally think a play could be written about Harry burn or a musical after always seen it with other political figures like Hamilton we could have a musical called Harry burn or something like that no I think that people my age they are more focused on online content so telling his story through I don't know some maybe rap music or something like that what social media is the way to do it but I think many people my age also appreciate just reading stories or essays as well I certainly do about famous historical figures all right this is a charge but I mentioned Adam earlier you and Adam and Jack get together afterwards and figure out how you can promulgate this more because I think you absolutely although I'd love to see the play I'd love to see a play if it's in your Cathy are you the more musical inclined in the family she is well okay then you'll be the director of the musical okay who I see a hand back there in the back congratulations I didn't know about a mr. Burnes till I read your essay and a couple of others who wrote on the same person and yours really stands far out I have a question Jeffrey unrelated to your essay what do you like to do for fun I really like to read a lot and for me we need about history and listening to history audiobooks really is a lot of fun and of course I have a lot of hobbies besides that I like playing chess and getting outdoors but I'd say weeding is really my favorite hobby that's great how many people who are not judges here night and not on the profile courage committee how many people before today had heard of Harry T Byrne raise your hand boy I mean all right that's the contribution that you're making we have time for one or two more questions though I see I see a hand up there as a writer I love the narrative structure you put together for your essay and I'm just wondering if you could talk a little about what made you decide to make the choice to put it in it kind of in the moment story structure and how that helped story that's a great question I think too many people think that history is just dead it's all about the dates and the names and so when I'm lying about history for example like Harry T Byrne I want to really make it relevant in the moment as if you're living that history because obviously it was very relevant and in the moment back then and I think that that really makes history appeal to people because if they're being as if it's a story like happening today in the newspapers they'll find it much more interesting and so that's what I tried to do with Harry T Byrnes story make it relevant to people as if they were reading it in a newspaper and I think that really come makes it come alive in a way that say a traditional history textbook might not are you hopeful tell us who you are I'm sorry Teresa ii am a 24 year judge on this beautiful Philadelphia and so I'm always really bad when people from Delaware and Pennsylvania New Jersey wins so I'm tribal yes I'm very tribal um I'm really involved with getting out the vote we just had a primary in Pennsylvania how do you think learning and knowing history and telling the stories helps women Ron and women vote I think that it shows that every vote does matter for example Harry T burns one vote was decisive and that's not just true for legislature I think it's true for individual citizens as well so every person women their votes absolutely counted also shows how one relatively minor legislator can make a huge difference Harry T Byrne wasn't very famous he was just a state representative and so I think we need more women and more men who are willing to run for office knowing that they are individual choices even if they're not very famous or made very famous can really matter make a huge difference to everyone in the country I haven't gotten the hook yet from Esther or do I see one more question one more hand up back there Jeffrey I'm James Jenkins I work at the library I like to imagine what President Kennedy how he would answer writing profiles and courage changed him opened him up to see new things how it affected his own sense of political courage a little bit more through that process and I wonder if you'd speak a little bit how you imagine this process and the award is helping you see the world differently or or think about your own personal self I think I showed the importance of courage and choosing the right even when they're significant pressure against that in Harry t burns case he was a young man not much older than myself frankly about seven years older and he confronted a fact if he voted against ratification he'd be doing what his party leaders and his constituents wanted he'd be opening up a nice career path for himself to rise higher and higher in state office what he could do the right thing and vote for ratification but that would probably mean the end of his in haier Korea the end of all his life dreams and so I think this process of researching about Harry T Byrne and Brian about him really strengthened my understanding of courage and the importance of choosing the right thing even when your career or your future life is on the line because ultimately the most important thing is about doing the right even when you're under pressure not to do it and Geoffrey where was there where where did you find what did you locate his mother's letter for instance is there a research centre down there that has some of this so there's an online collection I think it's the Calvin McClung online collection which has multiple Tennessee letters artifacts from the time and so I found it and looked at the handwritten manuscript which was digitized I own that that's great that's great well you you did a you know extraordinary job and I think that that in the months and years ahead Harry T and pick me in 2001 Harry T Byrne is going to become much more of a household name as he said so thank you very much let's all congratulate you [Applause] geoffery just have 30 seconds I want to thank everyone here for giving me and high-school students like me this incredible opportunity to write and research so thank you to the JFK Presidential Library thank you John Hancock ester for helping out everyone on the judging committee it was really great experience and I'm very grateful to all of you so Kathy day been a good day we're so proud oh you ought to be you ought to be proud we're gonna continue the celebration this evening and when we honor New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu for his leadership and removing four Confederate monuments from his city while speaking candidly and the spirit of Harry T Byrne about racial injustice that they symbolize and acknowledging the need for reconciliation so we're grateful this is really going to be a special day Mitch Landrieu and Jeffery seaman they've provided exemplary acts of political courage thank you so much and thank you for coming today

Channel: JFK Library

Views: 2,165

Rating: 4.826087 out of 5

Keywords: John, F., Kennedy, Presidential, Library, and, Musuem, american, history, harry, burn, 19th, amendment, women, suffrage, rights, social, equality

Id: IgJHj0zeNaM

Length: 34min 58sec (2098 seconds)

Published: Wed May 30 2018