--- title: Honolulu Council Essay Contest description: Our Honolulu Council is an avid supporter of the Sea Cadets! During the Navy Ball, the Honolulu Council allows Sea Cadets to be present to escort guests, handle registration, and assist where needed. Since Covid-19 did not allow for a Navy Ball to be held this year, the Honolulu Council held a Navy Birthday Essay Contest. image: https://blog.navyleague.org/hubfs/DSCN0815.jpg --- [![Navy League of the United States](https://blog.navyleague.org/hubfs/NavyLeague_February2020%20Theme/images/NLUS_Primary-Logo_CMYK_footer.jpg)](https://www.navyleague.org/home) [Navy League of the United States Citizens in Support of Sea Services](https://www.navyleague.org/home) - Memberships: - [Individual](https://navyleague.org/become-a-member/individual-membership/) - [Community Affiliate](https://navyleague.org/become-a-member/community-affiliate/) - [Corporate](https://navyleague.org/become-a-member/corporate-membership/) - [Join](https://navyleague.org/become-a-member/) - [Login](https://members.navyleague.org/) [DONATE](https://navyleague.org/giving) MENU - [Home](https://navyleague.org/) - [Who We Are](https://navyleague.org/who-we-are/) - [Ship Store](https://navyleague.org/ship-store/) - [Contact Us](https://navyleague.org/who-we-are/contact-us/) - [Become a Member](https://navyleague.org/become-a-member/) - [Individual Membership](https://navyleague.org/become-a-member/individual-membership/) - [Community Affiliate](https://navyleague.org/become-a-member/community-affiliate/) - [Corporate Membership](https://navyleague.org/become-a-member/corporate-membership/) - [Council Locator](https://navyleague.org/become-a-member/council-locator/) - [Giving](https://navyleague.org/giving/) - [Donate Now](https://fundraise.givesmart.com/form/RL2VBA?vid=13uyfy) - [President’s Circle](https://navyleague.org/giving/presidents-circle/) - [Teddy Roosevelt Society](https://navyleague.org/giving/teddy-roosevelt-society/) - [1902 Society](http://navyleague.giftplans.org/) - [STEM Institute](https://navyleague.org/programs/stem-initiatives/) - [Meetings & Events](https://navyleague.org/meetings-and-events/) - [Sea-Air-Space](http://www.seaairspace.org/) - [Navy Birthday Ball](https://www.navyleague.org/navy-ball/) - [National Convention](https://navyleague.org/meetings-and-events/national-convention/) - [Special Topic Breakfasts](https://navyleague.org/meetings-and-events/special-topic-breakfasts/) - [STEM Expo](https://seaairspace.org/stem-expo/) - [Programs](https://navyleague.org/programs/) - [Awards](https://navyleague.org/programs/awards/) - [Legislative Affairs](https://navyleague.org/programs/legislative-affairs/) - [Scholarships](https://navyleague.org/programs/scholarships/) - [Sea Service Unit Adoptions](https://navyleague.org/programs/sea-service-unit-adoptions/) - [STEM Institute](https://navyleague.org/programs/stem-initiatives/) - [Youth Programs](https://navyleague.org/programs/youth-programs/) - [News](https://navyleague.org/news/) - [Seapower](https://seapowermagazine.org/) - [Home](https://www.navyleague.org/) - > [Navy League Blog](https://blog.navyleague.org/blog) - > Honolulu Council Essay Contest # Navy League Blog[![RSS Feed](https://blog.navyleague.org/hubfs/NavyLeague_February2020%20Theme/images/feed-icon.gif)](https://blog.navyleague.org/blog/rss.xml) ## Honolulu Council Essay Contest Our Honolulu Council is an avid supporter of the Sea Cadets! During the Navy Ball, the Honolulu Council allows Sea Cadets to be present to escort guests, handle registration, and assist where needed. Since Covid-19 did not allow for a Navy Ball to be held this year, the Honolulu Council held a Navy Birthday Essay Contest. Congratulations Nathaniel Burness, a Sea Cadet in Good Standing, for winning the First Place Prize of a Free Advanced Training! Just like Nathaniel, we also "believe that the future generations that join our country’s Navy will continue to bring honor to the United States of America through continued traits of valor, heroism, inclusiveness, and diversity." Read Nathaniel's winning essay below! **Navy's 245th Birthday Essay Contest** *By: Nathaniel Burness* Over the 245 years that the Navy has existed, United States sailors have demonstrated various values and traits that have kept our military force at sea as powerful as it needs to be to ensure U.S. citizens’ safety throughout the history of our country. Some of these traits are valor, heroism, inclusiveness, and diversity. In the past, we have at times demonstrated all of these traits, but there are times when some of these traits could not be attributed to certain people within the United States Navy. Today, the United States continues to wield the most powerful Naval Force in history and has allowed us to have an extraordinary number of victories at sea. Here is how U.S. sailors have demonstrated different traits throughout history, and even learned from a few mistakes, becoming better sailors because of it. Victory at sea is always celebrated, and that is because everybody knows that those involved had valor, and were heroes. Even more impressive is when the men and women involved come out on top even though they had a disadvantage. This is not a problem our fleet has today, but that is only because of what people in the past have done to fight for our countries freedom. A good example of this is John Paul Jones and his crew on the Bonhomme Richard fighting against the crew of the Serapis. During this fight, John Paul Jones fought hard even though he knew the British ship had a large advantage, as it had damaged his own ship very badly early in the battle. He refused to surrender, motivating his crew, and himself, and managed to outlast his opponent, forcing them to surrender instead. This is a story that many U.S. sailors know and has motivated generations since then. If we all remember stories like this, stories of great bravery, valor, honor, and heroism, then we are motivated to do the same as these past heroes have. This motivation is taught to every sailor, and sea cadet, throughout training and is encouraged on a daily basis. I imagine that if we continue to invigorate others to be valorous heroes, we will continue to have victories at sea. Two other traits that must continue to be carried in the Navy are inclusiveness and diversity. This is an area in which the Navy has made mistakes in the past. It was very recently, 1862 when African-American men were permitted to enroll in the military, and even more recently, 1948 when women were allowed to enroll. If the Navy had included others earlier on in history, many more battles at sea may have been won, and those we already did win, we could have won with fewer casualties and more ease. Women make up almost 50% of the human population, meaning if the same amount of women joined the Navy as men, then the Navy’s size would double. Even today, the Navy doesn’t have the room to include as many women on submarines as men, simply because they weren’t built as suitable living spaces for two different genders. If we had been inclusive, to begin with, submarines would have been built with a gender-inclusive aspect in mind, which would allow an earlier or even immediate transition to both women and men being allowed on the same submarines. However, nobody can change the past, and now that the Navy is transitioning into being inclusive and that previous mistakes are being fixed our future is brighter than ever, and more people are now motivated to join the Navy, and fight for their country in future battles. I believe that the future generations that join our country’s Navy will continue to bring honor to the United States of America through continued traits of valor, heroism, inclusiveness, and diversity. When I go to school and I talk to others about what they want to do when they grow up, about 50% of the students say they are interested in joining the military, and many are interested in joining the Navy in particular. They continue to be motivated and reinforce my belief that future generations of sailors will truly add to the number of victories we will have at sea in the future. Many people are passionate about protecting their country, and they all want to contribute to something greater than themself. Over time the United States Navy has learned what traits are important to have, and which things they need to fix. After all, what makes us humans so intelligent is our ability to learn from previous successes and failures, and I think we are at a point where we have caught those failures and managed to create success, which will ensure another 245 years of victories at sea for future generations.  ![DSCN0815](https://blog.navyleague.org/hs-fs/hubfs/DSCN0815.jpg?width=400&name=DSCN0815.jpg)   Congratulations again, Nathaniel! We look forward to seeing your future accomplishments in the Sea Cadets and beyond!    ![Navy League of the United States](https://blog.navyleague.org/hs-fs/hubfs/NavyLeague_February2020%20Theme/images/NLUS_Primary-Logo_CMYK_footer.jpg?width=72&height=72&name=NLUS_Primary-Logo_CMYK_footer.jpg) 2300 Wilson Blvd., Suite 200 Arlington, VA 22201-5424 Phone: 703.528.1775 Toll Free: 800.356.5760 Fax: 703.528.2333 - [Home](https://navyleague.org/) - [Who we are](https://navyleague.org/who-we-are/) - [Become a Member](https://navyleague.org/become-a-member/) - [Giving](https://navyleague.org/giving/) - [Meetings & Events](https://navyleague.org/meetings-and-events/) - [Careers](https://navyleague.org/who-we-are/careers/) - [Programs](https://navyleague.org/programs/) - [News](https://navyleague.org/news/) - [U.S. Marine Corps](http://www.marines.com/) - [U.S. Navy](http://www.navy.mil/) - [U.S. Coast Guard](http://www.uscg.mil/) - [U.S.-Flag Merchant Marine](http://www.marad.dot.gov/) Copyright 2020 Navy League of the United States | [Privacy Policy](https://members.navyleague.org/privacy-policy)