By: Phoebe Shi

This Thursday, President Biden awarded 17 hardworking people the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the nation. These people include gymnast Simone Biles, gun-control advocate Gabby Giffords, and the first person to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, Sandra Lindsay.

The White house says these 17 people “have overcome significant obstacles to achieve impressive accomplishments in the arts and sciences, dedicated their lives to advocating for the most vulnerable among us, and acted with bravery to drive change in their communities, and across the world, while blazing trails for generations to come.”

Biden’s list of recipients didn’t only include living people; he also awarded the medal to the deceased. These include Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple, and John McCain, a Senator and veteran. McCain and Biden shared opposing beliefs, and they rarely agreed on much. Biden recalls that he, McCain and different members from different parties would argue in the daytime, then have dinner together at night.

Other recipients on the list include Khizr Khan, an immigrant from Pakistan whose son was killed in the Iraq War, Megan Rapinoe, an Olympic gold medalist and activist for racial justice and LGBTQ+ rights, Wilma Vaught, one of the only female generals in the army, and Fred Gray, a civil rights attorney who represented Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr, and the NAACP.

President Biden ended the ceremony by stating, “This is America.”