Winchester High Student is $10,000 McKeown Scholar

WOBURN, Mass., May 17, 2013 – Winchester High School has selected graduating senior Irena Brates as this year’s McKeown Scholar. Brates topped 24 classmates to earn the honor, which is accompanied by a $10,000 merit scholarship to be applied to the four-year college or university of her choice.

Brates will be recognized during Senior Awards Night at the Winchester High School auditorium on Wednesday, May 22 at 7:30 p.m. Winchester resident Denise McKeown, widow of Jamie McKeown, for whom the award is named, will present Brates with a framed certificate.

The McKeown Scholars competition, now in its 17th year, is sponsored by Woburn-based Cummings Foundation.  Joel Swets, the Foundation’s executive director, noted, “We are pleased to recognize Irena’s academic achievement, community involvement, and writing ability. She is very talented and well-rounded, and an excellent representative of the McKeown Scholars program.”

Aside from academics, Brates is an avid runner and violinist who is dedicated to serving the community. As co-vice president of Connect and Commit, Winchester’s community service-learning program, she developed a project through which bread is delivered from a local bakery to a homeless shelter in Somerville.

This fall, Brates will attend Tulane University, where she plans to study public health. She also hopes to join the Peace Corps someday.

Winchester’s high school seniors in the top 20 percent of their class were invited to participate in the McKeown Scholars competition, which began on March 6 with a written essay under exam conditions at Winchester High School. Staff from the school’s English Department evaluated the anonymous essays and selected the top three as finalists for the award. The winner was determined based on overall essay quality, application packet, community service record, outstanding reputation, and a personal interview.

This year’s essay question prompted students to select four individuals prominent in the last 50 years to be carved into a new Mount Rushmore. Celebrating those who have worked to promote peace and unity, Brates selected Jewish-American political activist and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel, the current Dalai Lama, and Martin Luther King, Jr. She suggested that the fourth space be left vacant to represent the millions of individuals who regularly practice the teachings of the three individuals she selected.

Brates noted, “I liked that the question centered on what I find important, which is peace and unity. I thought about historical figures that have influenced me, and of people who followed a similar pattern of beliefs. It was a challenge at first, but I enjoyed writing about the importance of respect and tolerance.”

2013 McKeown Scholar essay topic

If you were to develop a new Mount Rushmore with sculptures of the faces of four individuals prominent in the last 50 years, which four individuals would you select and why?

Essay by 2013 McKeown Scholar Irena Brates

(unedited from original submission)

A New Mount Rushmore

When one looks at Mount Rushmore, they are looking at a carving of famous people’s faces. But those people are human and just like every other human in the world. Therefore, those faces must celebrate the work that has empowered the ties between humans. Those who have worked to make a world a safer place and who have spoken out against persecution should be commemorated on that wall. Elie Wiesel, a man who stated that silence and indifference are the greatest sins of all, should earn a privileged position amongst these faces for his work against genocide. Next to him, Martin Luther King Jr.’s portrait should be carved because he proved that there are ways to break the silence and stand up against injustice. The current Dalai Lama, who fights a war with no weapons, deserves a place on the mountain for his present fight to protect the rights of a forgotten nation. Humans are people regardless of how they look, what they believe in, or who they love, and these men, more than others, have proven that we can work together to make a better world. Lastly, a face should be left blank to represent the millions of everyday people who practice these men’s teachings and work for equality to make our world more peaceful.

Everybody is human, but there are few who decide that some groups of humans are not equal to others. Genocides and persecution plague the diversity of our world by turning groups of people into enemies. Millions die because of their religion or color. Author and humanitarian, Elie Wiesel, was a victim of the Holocaust and this persecution. But even after witnessing the horrors of the concentration camps and dealing with people’s ignorance to the Holocaust after the war, he wrote about his tragedies and forced people to see the reality of the eleven million deaths. He made his readers contemplate their own indifference during persecution and created a window into which people could understand the consequences of ignorance.  Elie Wiesel has helped to make our world a more connected and loved place because he showed that no matter who you are, we are all human.

Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech, “I have a dream”, did not just articulate his own personal dream; he put every person’s hopes into words. King brought people together when he stood at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC. He proved to the rest of the world and future generations that there were people who were finished standing by and being silent while African Americans were mistreated in America. By speaking out, he showed that the hope that everyone will someday be equal in the eyes of the law and society is not an impossible achievement.

Alongside King should sit the current Dalai Lama because even in a time where his people’s rights to their land and heritage are being ignored, he refuses to use violence against the oppressions. He stands a symbol of strength for the Tibetan people, who have been pushed off their land by the Chinese government and risk losing their culture and heritage to Chinese industrialism. The Dalai Lama was exiled from Tibet and now resides in India, but he still continues leading the Tibetan Buddhists in their prayers, celebrations, and pilgrimages. Even though he cannot stand against China alone, he refuses to surrender or be ignored by the United Nations. He leads an army through a war without any fighting, practicing King’s principles and standing for Wiesel’s beliefs.

The last face on Mount Rushmore must be left blank as a celebration of the millions of people who have spoken up against injustice and have fought for those who have been mistreated. Lawyers and politicians who helped to pass new laws to make America a more accepting nation must be remembered because without them, great men like Elie Wiesel, Martin Luther King, and the Dalai Lama would never have been able to make a difference in this world. The millions of nonprofit organizations that work to help refugees fleeing war must be recognized. Even children who stand up for their friend against bullies or an adult who reports an abuse in the workplace make our world a better and safer place. A blank face on Mount Rushmore would teach that anyone can be a part of this small, honored group of people if they decided to treat others with respect and speak up against mistreatment.