Caroline Kennedy honored junior Kevin Kay for his first place finish in the national John F. Kennedy essay contest May 23 in Boston.

The John F. Kennedy Library and Museum annually holds an essay contest that invites students from across the country to write about the political courage of one U.S. elected official. Over 2,000 students from all 50 states entered the essay contest.

Kay found out about the essay contest after learning about President Kennedy in his U.S. history class and reading his book, “Profiles in Courage.” While Kay was surfing the JFK Library’s website, he discovered the essay contest. For the rest of last summer, Kay committed himself to writing the essay.

In his winning essay, entitled “The Forgotten Floridian: John B. Orr, Jr.,” Kay profiled Florida representative and civil rights advocate John Orr, who cast the only dissenting vote against numerous bills that would allow school segregation in Florida in 1956.

Kay chose to write about Orr because of the relatively unknown official’s courage to fight against the social prejudices of his time, he said.

“What truly inspired me to write about John Orr was that, although his courageous stand more than deserved our nation’s recognition and praise, it was met with bitter animosity from his colleagues at the time and has since been virtually forgotten,” Kay said. “After researching Orr’s story, I felt compelled to pay tribute to him through my essay.”

For his first place prize, Kay will receive a $10,000 cash reward from the JFK Library Foundation and John Hancock Financial. Kay plans to donate a portion of his award earnings to the Junior State of America, which Kay has been involved in throughout high school, and invest the majority of his earnings towards college.

“I feel tremendously grateful and privileged to receive national recognition and be honored by Caroline Kennedy,” Kay said. “It is surreal to have been selected as the winner.”