Junior Patrick Reilly Wins National JFK Profile in Courage Essay Contest
The John F. Kennedy Library Foundation announced that Patrick Reilly '13 has won the national John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Essay Contest for High School Students™. Reilly will be honored by Caroline Kennedy during the May 7, 2012, Profile in Courage Award ceremony at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston for his prize-winning essay on former Delaware Governor Russell Peterson, who, in 1971, courageously defied corporate interests in an effort to preserve the natural beauty and resources of Delaware’s coastal areas. Reilly will receive a $10,000 award for his first-place essay.
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 President Kennedy’s Pulitzer Prize-winning book, Profiles in Courage, which recounts the stories of eight U.S. Senators who risked their careers, incurring the wrath of constituents or powerful interest groups, by taking principled stands for unpopular positions. This year, 2,078 students submitted essays from all fifty states and Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, and the Marshall Islands. The essay contest is sponsored by the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation and generously supported by John Hancock Financial.
In his winning essay, “Governor Russell Peterson: Loyal to Future Generations,” Reilly profiles Peterson, who introduced legislation to protect Delaware’s coastal areas from industrial development despite intense pressure from a variety of interest groups. Not only was the governor’s stance at odds with his predecessors, but, as Reilly writes, “Industrial leaders believed that Peterson, a Republican and former Dupont executive, would surely support further industrialization.” Reilly goes on to explain how Peterson’s Coastal Zone Act “took the nationally unprecedented step of declaring Delaware’s coastline and waters forever off-limits to new heavy industrial development.” Peterson faced anger and pressure from corporate leaders, labor, and federal officials. The State Chamber of Commerce opposed the bill, construction workers staged demonstrations outside his home, and the Secretary of Commerce claimed that he was “being disloyal” to the country. “A lesser man would have crumbled under such a harsh rebuke,” Reilly writes, “but Peterson simply replied, ‘Hell, no. I am being loyal to future generations of Americans.’” The one-term governor stayed true to his convictions and kept the bill intact, ensuring “clean waters, pristine wetlands, and excellent beaches that continue to support lucrative fishing and tourism industries.”
To read more, and to read Patrick's essay, click here.
In his winning essay, “Governor Russell Peterson: Loyal to Future Generations,” Reilly profiles Peterson, who introduced legislation to protect Delaware’s coastal areas from industrial development despite intense pressure from a variety of interest groups. Not only was the governor’s stance at odds with his predecessors, but, as Reilly writes, “Industrial leaders believed that Peterson, a Republican and former Dupont executive, would surely support further industrialization.” Reilly goes on to explain how Peterson’s Coastal Zone Act “took the nationally unprecedented step of declaring Delaware’s coastline and waters forever off-limits to new heavy industrial development.” Peterson faced anger and pressure from corporate leaders, labor, and federal officials. The State Chamber of Commerce opposed the bill, construction workers staged demonstrations outside his home, and the Secretary of Commerce claimed that he was “being disloyal” to the country. “A lesser man would have crumbled under such a harsh rebuke,” Reilly writes, “but Peterson simply replied, ‘Hell, no. I am being loyal to future generations of Americans.’” The one-term governor stayed true to his convictions and kept the bill intact, ensuring “clean waters, pristine wetlands, and excellent beaches that continue to support lucrative fishing and tourism industries.”
To read more, and to read Patrick's essay, click here.
Archmere Academy is a private, Catholic, college preparatory co-educational academy,
grades 9-12 founded in 1932 by the Norbertine Fathers.
grades 9-12 founded in 1932 by the Norbertine Fathers.
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