Essay Winner In National Contest.
BY: STAFF REPORT | BocaNewsNow.com
BOCA RATON, FL (BocaNewsNow.com) (Copyright © 2023 MetroDesk Media, LLC) — A Boca Raton student who attends Pine Crest school is being honored by the USS Constitution Museum in Massachusetts. The Museum shared details about Jack Cole with BocaNewsNow.com.
The USS Constitution Museum announced that Boca Raton’s Jack Cole is the second-place USS Constitution High School Essay Contest winner. His essay, “Navigating Our Swells of Discontent – A Story of Hope,” rose to the top of student entries nationwide.
The Pine Crest School student has received an invitation to join Commander BJ Farrell aboard USS Constitution in Boston on October 21st as the ship cruises into Boston Harbor to celebrate the day of its launch in 1797.
The contest was created as part of the festivities celebrating USS Constitution’s 225th anniversary year. The Ship has served as a global ambassador representing the United States around the world and was designated as “America’s Ship of State” through the National Defense Authorization Act signed by President Obama in 2009. This act solidified the Ship’s mission for education and outreach, in addition to establishing Constitution as a location where the president, vice president, and members of Congress can conduct pertinent matters of state, such as hosting visiting heads of state and signing maritime related treaties. The USS Constitution High School Essay Contest invited students to celebrate the spirit of Constitution by considering their mission if they were designated an ambassador role, like a “Ship of State.” How would they represent the very best of our country’s ideals in their communities? Cole’s winning essay was selected by a panel of museum judges, who read the anonymous essays and assigned scores based on pre-specified characteristics.
“USS Constitution has been a popular subject for American writers throughout the years,” explains Watkins. “Oliver Wendell Holmes, for example, penned “Old Ironsides” to draw public attention to the Ship, in jeopardy of being decommissioned in 1830. Cole’s essay is in this tradition of writing with the ship as inspiration.” She adds that his essay stood out because “it is creatively and eloquently written in first-person perspective as the Ship. It has a very stirring and inspirational tone.”
More information about the USS Constitution High School Essay Contest is available on the Museum’s site.
