Students in 19 cities awarded Princeton Prize in Race Relations
By Cass Cliatt
Princeton NJ — The Princeton Prize in Race Relations awards program has recognized 92 high school students in 19 metropolitan areas across the country for outstanding work to advance the cause of race relations.
Twenty-four students won the first-place cash prize — as some cities split the prize between two students — while 68 students were awarded certificates of accomplishment. The first-place honor for each city’s winner is $1,000. Recognition ceremonies took place throughout the summer, culminating last month.
Created in 2003 by alumni volunteers and sponsored by the University’s Alumni Association, the Princeton Prize in Race Relations recognizes high school students for their efforts to improve race relations in their schools or communities.
The program was offered initially in the Boston and Washington, D.C., areas and gradually expanded to be offered during the 2006-07 academic year in the greater metropolitan areas of Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, Cincinnati, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Memphis, Miami, Nashville, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle and St. Louis, as well as in three areas of New Jersey: Princeton; the northwestern part of the state; and Essex and Hudson counties. The program continues to expand each year to more cities.
This year’s winners impressed their local alumni committees with a wide range of projects that included: a drive to provide clothing and hygiene items for 50 children in Kenya; a film project about economic disparity among schoolmates to promote discussions of inequality; an organized hike for 125 Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts that included stops to talk with Muslim, Christian and Jewish leaders to challenge negative stereotypes; a leadership development camp for Latino elementary youth; Latino studies and African American culture electives for a school curriculum; a “Graffiti Journal” to share poems, thoughts and art in response to a race-based threat; and an effort to raise $12,000 for initiatives to help students at risk of not graduating.
Visit www.princeton.edu/PrincetonPrize/news/ to learn more about this year’s winners from each city.
The awards program is administered by the volunteer Princeton Prize Committee, which consists of University alumni, administrators and students.
