Ten M-DCPS Students Honored by Prestigious Elie Wiesel Foundation for Essays on Society’s Ethical Challenges

The prestigious Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity recognized 10 Miami-Dade County Public Schools (M-DCPS) high school students for their entries in the 2021 Prize in Ethics Essay Contest.

For the eighth 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.

The winners received scholarship prizes provided by an anonymous donor. Samantha

Peltrau, a junior at iPreparatory Academy, won first place and received a $3,000 college scholarship for her essay, “My Promise to Humanity, to Ethics.“ Second place was awarded to Nicholas Gonzalez Pagliere, a senior at TERRA Environmental Research Institute, who received $2,000 for his essay, “The Dangers of a Misinformed Population.” Third place went to Kayla Goodman, a senior at Center for International Education: A Cambridge Associate School. She received $1,000 for her essay, “The Invisible War.”

The honorable mentions were Jonathan Tamen, a junior at Miami Beach Senior High; and Keinsley Zamor, a junior at School for Advanced Studies - North. They each received a $250 prize.

The winners were announced during a virtual awards ceremony held last evening. The ceremony included remarks by Schools Superintendent Alberto M. Carvalho and a representative from The Betsy Hotel, along with commentary from the 10 student authors.

Eliezer "Elie" Wiesel, for whom the contest is named, was a Romanian-born, Jewish-American professor and political activist who died in 2016. 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. Mr. Wiesel received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986. 

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