2024 Scholarship Award Announcement
We are delighted to announce our new 2024 Harriet Fitzgerald Scholars, Sophia Wade and Naomi Roth.
Sophia is a 2024 graduate of Camas High School in Camas, Washington and will be attending Spelman College this fall. While in high school, she excelled across the curriculum, receiving academic awards in English, Spanish, Environmental Science, and US History.
In her essay, Sophia shared the work that set her apart from other applicants; after a racial incident at her school, she worked to build a school-wide educational opportunities, including “Micro vs. Macroagressions,” a presentation that was made to every high school classroom. From there she went on to design a lesson plan for the district’s equity curriculum; she piloted the lesson, “The Labels We Carry,” in four fifth-grade classrooms and it is now being taught in all of the district’s elementary schools.
In addition to this work, Sophia had a busy high school career despite COVID’s impact, playing leadership roles in DECA, the Black Student Union, and her local chapter of Jack and Jill of America. She was a member of the mock trial team, a competitive swimmer, and at the time of her scholarship interview, had just joined the tennis team.
The end of her application essay best captures the spirit and eloquence that led to Sophia’s selection as a 2024 Sunflower Initiative Scholar: “…when I visited Spelman, I saw more than community. I saw sisterhood. I saw my home. I am so incredibly fortunate that I can attend Spelman, because not every woman has this opportunity. That is why we need more programs like The Sunflower Initiative. Empowering women to attend women’s colleges is crucial to fighting the inequities in our patriarchal society. These institutions bring women together and create valuable connections. In this world, every woman deserves to feel heard. Every woman deserves to grow. Every woman deserves sisterhood.”
Naomi is a 2024 graduate of River Dell Regional High School in Oradell, New Jersey and will be attending Barnard College this fall. A dancer since the age of three, she has performed the starring role in her company’s production of The Nutcracker for two years. Naomi also made a mark on the company by collaborating with peers to institute a Big Buddy Dance program at the school and mentor the younger students.
She has balanced this passion with her a strong academic career and a host of other activities, such as founding her school’s Human Rights Club and working her way up to the Editor-in-Chief role on her high school’s student paper, while also serving as co-captain of the debate team. She also performed a range of volunteer activities, including serving on the Bergen County Junior Commissioner on the Status of Women, tutoring students in Mandarin, and working as a geriatric behavioral health volunteer.
Naomi’s intellectual interests are equally widespread, as evidenced by her membership in honor societies for Chinese, English, Science, and Math. While attending the New Jersey Scholars Program as a rising senior, she produced a 15-page research paper on the patriarchal portrayal of women in war photography. Naomi plans to study politics and policy at Barnard College to pursue her interests in social justice and interdisciplinary approaches to promoting change.
The scholarship committee was particularly intrigued by the work Naomi did related to artificial intelligence, specifically ChatGPT, and its role in education. Initial discussions with a small group of students led her to propose a school-wide survey, and she was instrumental in developing the survey and getting it approved by school administration. She was invited to present the survey results to faculty, and she then went on to help write an article on their findings that was published in the NJEA Review, a monthly magazine for public school teachers with a readership of over 200,000. Her research and conclusions were eventually featured in the New York Times.