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ETHICS ESSAY CONTEST ENCOURAGES STUDENTS TO Miami – Miami-Dade County Public Schools (M-DCPS), the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity, LRN, the Miami-Dade County Youth Fair & Exposition and The Betsy-South Beach have partnered to present the Elie Wiesel Foundation Prize in Ethics Essay Contest. M-DCPS is the first district in the nation to offer the prize at the high-school level. Thousands of young people have participated in the Foundation’s Prize in Ethics at the college level since its inception in 1989. Open to Miami-Dade high school juniors and seniors, the essay contest encourages students to apply Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel’s call to action to “think higher, feel deeper” about urgent ethical issues confronting them in today’s world. Wiesel encourages a continued “thirst for learning” and “a thirst for discovery” among students. District winners will be chosen from school site winners and announced at a special awards ceremony on March 31, 2014, 5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m., at The Betsy-South Beach, 1440 Ocean Drive, Miami Beach. The ceremony will include remarks from Superintendent of Schools Alberto M. Carvalho, Nobel Peace Prize winner Professor Elie Wiesel and CEO of LRN Dov Seidman. Following the ceremony, The Betsy will host a special dinner to commemorate this landmark initiative and honor those involved. The winners will receive a combined $7,000 in scholarship prizes provided by the Miami-Dade County Youth Fair & Exposition: First Place: $3,000 scholarship; Second Place: $2,000 scholarship; Third Place: $1,000 scholarship and $250 scholarships each to four honorable mentions. “I am thrilled that our students are the first high school students to participate in the Elie Wiesel Foundation Prize in Ethics Essay contest,” said Carvalho. “This is an extraordinary opportunity for students to gain a deeper understanding of the impact that personal ethical choices have on their lives as well as the lives of others. Professor Wiesel’s work and writings provide the perfect platform on which students can broaden their concept of important issues pertaining to ethics and character.” Professor Elie Wiesel was born in 1928 in Sighet, Transylvania, now a part of Romania. He was 15 years old when he and his family were deported by the Nazis to Auschwitz. He is the author of more than 60 books of fiction and non-fiction including his internationally acclaimed memoir, Night. For his literary and human rights activities, he has received numerous awards including the Nobel Prize for Peace. In 1987, Marion and Elie Wiesel established the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity. LRN is the exclusive corporate partner of the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity Prize in Ethics. “The Miami-Dade school system has distinguished itself as a leader and innovator in education,” said Seidman. “With the initiation of the Elie Wiesel Prize in Ethics Contest for high school students, Miami-Dade is once again at the forefront in recognizing the critical importance of an ethical dimension in education. Even more impressive, it has explicitly committed to developing ethical leaders, especially as students are coming of age in a more interconnected and interdependent world, where their behavior matters more than ever and in ways it never has before.” Editor’s Note: Media Availability – Event speakers, essay contest winners, finalists and their families will be available for media interviews immediately following the event. # # # 14-JS/038/TTR |
