Hannah McKinney '15
"The criminal justice system continues to punish long after the sentence ends."
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January 2017 Update
I am working in Boston as a project manager at a small software company. My sights are set on graduate school. I took the GRE and now I am in the midst of evaluating and applying for graduate school programs – more specifically, programs in public policy and public affairs. After taking a year to get settled in the real world, I am thrilled to be getting back into the field of social policy.
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Hannah
McKinney, an American Studies and History major from Ithaca, is our
60th JFK Award winner.
She received her award at the Cornell
Public Service Center's annual awards dinner, where classmates Mike
Newman and Carolyn Chauncey Newman were on hand to do the honors. It was
a moving ceremony in which Mike reflected on the dark day in 1963 when
we learned of President Kennedy's assassination and on the steps the
class took to honor his memory.
Hannah's chosen field is criminal justice, in particular, prison reform.
Her own words, reflecting on her volunteer work in prisons, tell it
best: “I realized,” she wrote, “that the system continues to punish long
after the sentence ends.” Hannah therefore plans a career in human
rights advocacy, focusing on reducing the prison population, eliminating
the death penalty, and addressing the racial and structural biases in
the criminal justice system.
She is already well on her way, having volunteered at Prisoner Legal Services and Opportunities, Alternatives and Resources, both in Ithaca, and at the Auburn Correctional Center; working at Advocates for Human Rights in Minneapolis; interning at the ACLU; learning about non-profit work during her Cornell in Washington semester, along with many other on-campus undertakings.
Hannah received a fellowship to support her work with Advocates for
Human Rights and was voted the Class of 2015 Award for Outstanding
Achievement. She continues the long tradition of JFK winners who worked
and studied abroad, in her case in a child care facility in Ecuador, and
as a language student in Spain.
Hannah proposes to use our award to supplement the small income she will
receive working for an advocacy organization.
The reviewers who selected Hannah singled her out for the thoughtfulness
and passion with which she approaches her chosen life's work. One of
Hannah's referees wrote that “Hannah has already proven herself to be a
young trailblazer in a domain of public service that too rarely attracts
younger people with public service commitments.”
On learning she was this year's winner, Hannah wrote to us: “I am
honored and grateful to the Class of 1964. I have been lucky enough to
come from a community whose unwavering support has led me to discover
and follow my true passion. From running the Cornell Historical Society
to spending the summer in Spain, my Cornell experiences have shaped who
I am and undoubtedly, my future as well. I know that social justice has
a rich history, but I am faced with a long road ahead. Thank you for
believing in me!”
The Class of 1964 warmly welcomes Hannah McKinney as the latest winner
of the JFK Memorial Award.