Duke, UNC students receive 2017 Moral Purpose awards
The Kenan Institute for Ethics and Parr Center for Ethics at University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill recently announced the winners of the 2017 Moral Purpose Award, an annual contest to highlight the role a liberal arts education plays in students’ exploration of their personal and social purposes.
This year’s entries – submitted by undergraduates at Duke and UNC – addressed questions about how a student’s core beliefs or larger aims have been tested, transformed or confirmed at college, as well as lessons learned from defending or challenging ideas and social norms. Entries included essays of 500 to 800 words that considered the intellectual, emotional, and moral commitments that make for a full life.
Winners and essays included:
Duke
Grand prize:
- Amulya Vadapalli, PPS ’19, Public Policy Studies – A Closed Mind
Honorable Mention:
- Richard Phillips, PPS ’17, Public Policy Studies with Ethics Certificate – A Bridge for When Walls are Torn Down
- Alexandra Zrenner, T’17, Economics and Mathematics – The Education of a Young Liberal
UNC
- Brian Wong, ’19,Political Science via a joint degree program with the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and the National University of Singapore – For Liberty, and Love of Learning
Vadapalli and Wong both received a $1,000 prize.
