COURTESY PHOTO
Breed Middle School student Ksena Gaskin (glasses, blue shirt, front row) served as a Project 351 youth organization honor guard during a Boston ceremony awarding President Barack Obama the John F. Kennedy Profile In Courage Award.
By THOR JOURGENSEN
Middle school student by day — honor guard at night: It’s all just a normal week for Lynn’s Ksena Gaskin.
The Breed Middle School student was among Project 351 youth organization participants who provided an honor guard at the John F. Kennedy Library in Boston where President Barack Obama was honored last Sunday night.
Wearing blue and white Project 351 T-shirts, Gaskin and other students selected from around the state were on hand as black-tie gala attendees mingled and applauded as Obama accepted the Centennial John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award.
“President Kennedy built a vision of public service, based on a foundation of courage and inclusion,” said Carolyn Casey, executive director and founder of Project 351. “For seven years, Project 351 has been committed to lifting up young people as the best example of kindness, compassion, and generosity. We are honored to be included with other nonprofit organizations who carry forward President Kennedy’s legacy of service.”
Project 351 is a statewide, youth-driven service organization that convenes an eighth grader from every city and town in Massachusetts for a transformative year of development, enrichment, and impact through unique service opportunities
The John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award™ is presented annually to public servants who have made courageous decisions of conscience without regard for the personal or professional consequences.
The award is named for President Kennedy’s 1957 Pulitzer Prize-winning book, Profiles in Courage, which recounts the stories of eight U.S. senators who risked their careers, incurring the wrath of constituents or powerful interest groups, by taking principled stands for unpopular positions.
The opening lines state: “This is a book about that most admirable of human virtues – courage. ‘Grace under pressure,’ Ernest Hemingway defined it.”
Project 351 is supported by private sector and civic leaders including Carob Tree Foundation, John Hancock, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, Martin Richard Foundation, Converse, HYM Investment Group, the Carmen Family, and the O’Brien Family.