The prestigious Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity recognized 10 high school students from Miami-Dade County Public Schools (M-DCPS) for their entries in the 2019 Prize in Ethics Essay Contest.
For the sixth year, M-DCPS is the only district in the nation to have high school juniors and seniors participate in this contest originally created for college students. Thousands of young people have participated in the Foundation’s Prize in Ethics at the college level since its inception in 1989.
This year, Schools Superintendent Alberto M. Carvalho matched the prize money, which doubled the scholarships for the top three and two honorable mentions. Zoe Felfle, a junior at iPreparatory Academy, took first place and received a $6,000 college scholarship for her essay titled “Silent Voices.”
Second place was awarded to last year’s winner, Ana Blanco, a senior at TERRA Environmental Research Institute, who received $4,000. Third place went to Johan Soto, a senior at Coral Gables High, who was a finalist last year. He received $2,000.
The runners-up were Ambar Aballo-Ruiz, a junior at iPreparatory Academy; and Olivia Osterman, a junior at Miami Beach High.
They each received $500.
The five finalists were Abdulla Abouradi from Coral Reef Senior High, Huzaifa Bin-Rahman from Barbara Goleman Senior High, Linda Cao from Coral Reef Senior High, Saiyara Raaida from MAST@Homestead and Clare Simon from Miami Beach Senior High. All finalists received a $500 scholarship pledged by Superintendent Carvalho.
The winners were announced djring a ceremony at The Betsy-South Beach. The Miami-Dade County Youth Fair & Exposition, which contributed $6,500 in scholarship money, is a partner in the collaboration with Miami-Dade County Public Schools, The Betsy-South Beach, the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity and its corporate sponsor, LRN.
Superintendent Carvalho brought the contest to Miami through his association with the late Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel.
The late Eliezer “Elie” Wiesel, for whom the contest is named, was a Romanian-born Jewish-American professor and political activist who died in 2017. He wrote more than 60 books, including Night, a work based on his experiences as a prisoner in the Auschwitz, Buna, and Buchenwald concentration camps. Wiesel received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986.
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