Booker Receives HKS Award

Newark mayor Cory A. Booker spoke about what he sees as the country’s current need to “transform ideals into substantive reality” as he accepted the John F. Kennedy New Frontier Award at the Institute of Politics yesterday evening.

Caroline B. Kennedy ’80 presented awards to Booker and Giovanna Negretti, the co-founder and executive director of ¿Oiste?, which encourages Massachusetts Latinos to enter public service.

Booker took to the stage with a modest smile and jokes about Stephen Colbert’s recent lampooning of him, but gradually adopted a more dramatic and impassioned tone reminiscent of former President Kennedy’s “New Frontier” inaugural address, a clip of which began the ceremony.

He spoke about his parents’ devotion to teaching him about “great men and women,” which included keeping a bust of President Kennedy in their house.

“I would be sitting there eating my eggs in the morning, looking up, and seeing John F. Kennedy for the first 18 years of my life,” said Booker, who has served as Newark’s mayor since 2006.

Booker said that today’s youth should acknowledge the accomplishments of the great leaders he learned about in his childhood and work to move the country closer to the “perfect ideals” it was founded upon.

In contrast to Booker, Negretti took to the stage wearing a grin that remained on her face throughout her speech.

She told the story of Maria Carrasco, a Lynn, Mass. school committee member who was inspired to enter public service after attending one of ¿Oiste?’s courses on politics and leadership.

After invoking the popular Spanish anthem “Sí, se puede,” (“Yes we can.”), Negretti challenged the crowd to consider a new motto—“¿Què haremos?” (“What will we do?”).

“Your mission is to leave here and ask yourself, ‘¿Que haremos?’What will each of us leave here to do to meet the challenges of our new frontier?” she said.

This was the fifth annual presentation of the New Frontier Awards, given each year to one elected official and one advocacy or community service worker.

Named after a president remembered for his youth, the award has a similarly youthful twist—only people under the age of 40 are eligible.

“The goal of this is to show people that before they turn 40 they can make a difference in politics and public service in their communities,” said Christian B. Flynn, the IOP’s director of special projects and conferences.

In addition to the chance to honor young public servants, the creation of the award also presented the Kennedy Library and the IOP an opportunity to work together.

According to Flynn, the IOP scours the country for nominees for the elected official award and the Kennedy Library does the same for potential community activist honorees.

The recipients are selected by the New Frontier Awards committee, which includes IOP Director Bill P. Purcell, Kennedy Library CEO John Shattuck, and former Kennedy Library Director and advisor to President Kennedy Dan H. Fenn, Jr. ’44.

—Staff writer Lauren D. Kiel can be reached at lkiel@fas.harvard.edu.