Category: Scholarship

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A Positive Impact For Every Student in the School- What This Arizona Teen is Working Towards to Promote Inclusion

If you opened this article looking for an inspirational story, then you are absolutely in the right place. One of our scholarship applicants is working towards closing the gap between the special needs students and the neurotypical students at her school. She is putting together an inclusion carnival and working to raise funds so that the event can be free for those that attend. She writes,

“Living with a brother who is nonverbal and autistic I am more aware of the isolation of the millions with intellectual and developmental disabilities in my community. Although discrimination and bullying of children with special needs have decreased, there are still problems being faced with understanding the next step of inclusion. I am organizing an inclusion carnival where kids with special needs are able to come and be themselves and enjoy the carnival in a safe and loving environment. The Inclusion Carnival creates a safe space for kids with special needs and typically developing kids to interact and create lifelong friendships. In my community and many other communities, it is evident that there is not enough attention brought to the awareness of the growing community. It is important to me that these events take place so that we can grow to become more inclusive to all people, despite their abilities.”

“I have a brother with special needs and seeing peers go out of their way to include my brother brings tears to my eyes. I want to live in a world where this is done daily. I am working to raise all funds for the carnival so that it can be 100% free for the kids, it can get my peers involved in volunteering and raising money, and raise profit back to my school club chapter.”

Last we heard, the Inclusion Carnival is still on track and our applicant is working hard to pull this off and bring everyone together. We can’t wait to watch her find success! 

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A California Teen Taking Care of the Town’s Invasive Species

In a rural California community, a teen has set out to help rid of an invasive species along the river that borders their town. She writes, 

“A problem that I have recently observed is the massive amount of weeds there are in the river. Based on the stories that go around town, a certain woman thought they were pretty plants so she put some in the river. After some research, I have found that these invasive water plants are called water hyacinths.”

“These invasive water plants have small seeds that can easily spread, making the plant very invasive to bodies of water. In the river, the water hyacinths have spread across to where boats or kayaks may have a hard time crossing. Not only does this plant provide a danger to people, but also to the fish in the river. According to the Prarie Research Institute, when the fall arrives, the hyacinths will die, falling to the bottom of the river, taking the oxygen with them. This puts the river wildlife in danger as they do not have enough oxygen to survive. The environment is put in danger when the water hyacinths are free to spread. “

“These combined reasons are why I would like to do something about the situation. Seeing the river every time I passed over the bridge overhead, I would look at the damage that the weeds were inflicting. Every time I would pass over the bridge, it seemed as if the weeds had spread even farther. I felt pain for the environment every time I saw the weeds as I knew that nothing was being done to stop it. Prior attempts had only made the situation worse. I took it upon myself to see how I could present a project that would clean up my river. Protecting my town motivated me to start the project of removing the invasive weed of water hyacinth. “

“The long-term goal of this project hopes to create a better mindset for the people of my town. By bringing people together to help better the environment, their perspective can change the way they view the world. This goal intends to change the minds of individuals to start caring about the environment and to also have them realize that however small they may be, they can make a change.” 

Her community outreach project is incredibly impressive and we are looking forward to seeing how it continues to unfold over the next few months.

Photo by Pixabay

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A Nebraska Teen Set To Making A Difference In His Community

Today’s scholarship highlight is a teen in Nebraska trying hard to make a difference in his community. He writes, 

“My community is a private high school composed of students from middle and upper-middle-class families. I have observed not only a shortage of awareness of sustainability issues but also a lack of self-awareness of our contribution to the problem. In a community that has a stated mission of “caring for a common home”, we seem to be falling short in this aspect.”

“My solution is to increase the awareness of environmental issues in our community, I’m deeply interested in the issue of sustainability. I’m on the leadership team of a local group called a Students for Sustainability. We organize events to raise awareness for sustainability, and bring together environmental groups from around Omaha.  I designed a solar energy and electric vehicle charger project to bring attention to these issues and start conversations. As the president of the Sustainability Club since my sophomore year, I am implementing new practices such as composting, pollinator gardens, and Earth Day activities.”

“I’ve been interested in sustainability for a very long time now. I really wanted to create a lasting impact on my school’s sustainability. Educating the student body has been a main driver for pushing these initiatives forward.”

This student is inspiring not only his hometown, but all of us reading his story. With his first feedback form, he submitted three or four different ideas on scholarship submissions, each of them just as impressive as the other. We urged him to choose one project to stick with for the final submission, and he did just that. We can see his passion shine through, and we cannot wait to see where it takes him! Regardless of how far he goes in the scholarship program, his local high school and community have already benefitted from him tenfold, and that’s what we love seeing.

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A Student-Led Solution For Food Insecurity On Campus

Our scholarship applicant’s projects are underway and we are beaming with pride over what they have accomplished! The most wholesome part of this scholarship program is watching kids across the nation (and sometimes even the globe) change their communities in such an intimate but profound way. Let’s take a closer look at one scholarship applicant that has participated by submitting forms one and two for feedback.

A student in North Carolina identified a food scarcity problem within her area, specifically among her peers within her school campus. She writes, 

“I think our community has a major food insecurity problem, I have been a part of the Food Lion Feeds project for two years and I feel like it is even more important to help others now than ever. I have been working to create a food pantry on my school’s high school/college campus for students to use as needed! I want to help others because knowing that students are coming to school and can’t purchase food or are struggling to do their work because they are hungry is completely unacceptable to me and I dislike that students have to go through that. I want to do this project because I never want a student to feel that way. My goal is to be able to provide lunch or dinner meals for students so they can be more productive and find more success in the classroom. I have hosted multiple food drives and have worked to have the pantry stocked up to 1000 items. I need to build relationships with other programs on campus to connect students in need so they can create more long-term fixes to their insecurities. My community has been very supportive and helpful throughout this project but managing the budget for this project has been a struggle and I need to learn more about this aspect.” 

We have been in contact with this student to brainstorm funding and budgeting, but we are confident she is on the right track and will be able to use this feedback to continue helping her peers and growing her pantry. In the first feedback submission, we suggested sending more photo evidence of what she has accomplished, and with form two, she did exactly that. This is just a small example of why these feedback forms can be so beneficial for our scholarship applicants, it gives them the chance to know what more we are looking for and how they can better their final application. 

We are all looking forward to where this project takes her and how it benefits her school’s campus both short-term and long-term! 

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Scholarship Advice Following Feedback Form One

Our new scholarship format for the ‘22-’23 school year includes more optional feedback between us and the student. The format is as follows: 

Form 1: The Idea

No idea what to do or where to start? No problem! By filling out this form, you will receive one-on-one mentoring to help you come up with a design thinking project.

Deadline: November 7th, 2022

Form 2: Plan of Action

Now that you’ve started on your project, we want to hear about it! Tell us about your goals, resources, tactics, and the steps you’ve taken (or will be taking) to build up your community. If you feel stuck or unsure, this form will provide one-on-one guidance to ensure that you have everything you need to get started. If you missed the deadline for the Idea form and are still interested in coming up with a project, you can use this form for help in determining what project would best support your community.

Deadline: December 5th, 2022

Form 3: Implementation

*speaks in the style of Kronk* “Oh yeah, it’s all comin’ together.”

This is our third and final form before final submissions are due and it is all about action. We want all the details about your project up to this point. Why you chose this project and the consequent goals that you set. Most importantly, we want to know HOW you accomplished your goals. Show us rather than tell us. We will provide personalized feedback and any tips we can to aid you in submitting your final application.

Deadline: February 20th, 2023

Now that Form One is complete and all feedback has been sent back to the students, here is some of the advice that I found myself telling students over and over. 

Enlist a mentor. This is not only required for the final submission but also incredibly helpful for the development of your project. We as a team here at Honors Graduation can help mentor you as much as we can, but having someone within your community that knows exactly what issues your community is seeing and ways to help make it better will be more beneficial to you than we ever can be! 

Establish a why. If the why behind your project is, “because I observed this issue within my community.” then I can tell you right now that there is a good chance your project won’t make it as a finalist. You need passion and drive behind your project, which brings us to our next point.

If you’re really passionate about it, it will naturally shine through. We read through each submission at least two or three times, if not more. If this project that betters your community in some way is something meaningful and important to you, it shows in your writing. Choose to do something that you love and care about. 

Think long-term. It’s not a scholarship requirement to continue working on your project for years to come, but we do prioritize the projects that will have an impact for the longest. Oftentimes graduating high school seniors will be moving away for college, how will you set your project up so that it can be a continuing thing once you’re gone? 

Don’t think too big. We’re asking you to change your community, not change the world. There are some great ideas out there for huge projects that will have a massive impact on our world! And we definitely do not want to shoot these ideas down. But what project can you do now that will better where you live? We’ve had winners and applicants that have started STEM clubs at their schools. Or planted sunflowers in their local park. Some have simply started tutoring programs. It doesn’t always have to be as massively scaled as some may think it needs to be. 

If you’re seeking additional feedback on your current project, feel free to fill out form 2 from now until Dec. 5th (this deadline is SOON!). Form 3 is also open for submissions from now until Feb. 20th. We look forward to seeing this year’s applicants and what great projects you have been working on. Choosing winners is never easy for us! 

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New Logo, Who Dis?

The time has come to unveil the new branding for our scholarship! As I stepped into the role of scholarship chair and content writer, I began noticing some variations in the way that those who came before me referred to the scholarship. The original name for our scholarship was the Design A Better Future scholarship (which I’m assuming came from the fact that the projects needs to be based on the design thinking cycle). But as the years went on, it also started being referred to as the Build A Better future scholarship and both titles started being used interchangeably.

In order to *hopefully* limit future confusion, I decided to update the scholarship logo and declare one title to be the official title from now on. The HGU scholarship will henceforth be known as the Build A Better Future scholarship. I felt as though using the verb “design” was too passive and wasn’t giving our applicants enough credit. Yes, they are using the design thinking cycle but they are also going above and beyond to bring their designs to life.

design a better future scholarship high school seniors

In addition to updating the logo and title, the website has been updated with all the information needed for our 2023 scholarship! I look forward to seeing how the next group of applicants works on building a better future for their communities. If you or anyone you know is a high school senior that will be graduating in 2023, you can find more information regarding the scholarship here and here. Please email scholarship@honorsgraduation.com with any questions. Good luck!

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Introducing Shoshana Folic: The 2022 Scholarship Top Recipient

This is part of a series of blog posts introducing you to our 2022 Build A Better Future scholarship recipients and their projects. We hope you will find their stories as inspiring as we do! For information on our scholarship, click here.

The final scholarship awardee I have for you is Shoshana Folic! Shoshana’s project, Wishing’ U Well, earned her our top spot; which means that in addition to her $10,000 scholarship, she was awarded a $5,000 grant to continue funding her project.

From a very young age, Shoshana began noticing a lack of resources made available to the special needs community. Even before she started Wishing’ U Well, she volunteered with the Best Buddies organization, which offered her valuable insight into the needs of the community and the issues they face. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, it exacerbated the disparity and Shoshana knew she needed to do more. She started the Wishing’ U Well platform at the age of fifteen, using her skills as a STEM student to maximize the resources that she wanted to make available. To quote Shoshana directly,

“Wishing’ U Well is a free online platform that is focused on improving the mental, physical, social, and spiritual well-being of those with intellectual or developmental disabilities. The Wishing’ U Well website is equipped with a multitude of different resources, sponsors, and social meetings between Florida high school volunteers and the special needs community.”

The website includes several sections, including workout tips and videos, basic nutrition information, coloring pages and playlists designed to encourage relaxation, mantras and affirmations, and–my personal favorite–the Fun With Friends program. Fun With Friends matches a special needs individual with a high school volunteer based on interests and hobbies and allows them to meet once a week via Zoom to talk, laugh, and bond with each other. Wishing’ U Well also hosts virtual group activities, such as drawing and cooking classes.

When it first launched, Wishing U’ Well only had five members in the special needs community, but has now reached over 850 special needs members from 17 different countries. They have also had over 100 high school students volunteer for the Fun With Friends program. Shoshana is actually trying to encourage more special needs members to join this community, as they have more volunteers than they know what to do with.

Moving forward, Shoshana would like to build up her network of sponsors and content creators to spread the word, increase special needs engagement, and supply even more resources. If you are (or know) someone who might be interested in sponsoring, promoting, or creating content for the Wishing’ U Well organization, you can send an email to shoshana.wishinguwell@gmail.com. Sponsors can be anyone from businesses, non-profits, sports teams, and social media influencers.

Likewise, if you know someone in the special needs community who you think could benefit from the resources provided by the Wishing’ U Well organization (hint: that’s everyone!), or if you would like additional information, please visit the official website: https://www.wishinguwell.org/

Wishing’ U Well can also be found on the following social media sites:

Instagram: wishing.u.well

Facebook: Wishing’ U Well

Twitter: @Wishinguwell_

A big congratulations to Shoshana for winning the top spot and a huge round of applause for her and all the work she has done in providing resources to the special needs community.