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Both of
this year’s Joanne
Champion Granger Scholarship winners showed a personal and deeply felt
commitment to human rights that began at an early age.
Frances Jo Dixon began volunteering for the Skating Association for the
Blind and Handicapped (SABAH) at the age of eight and was recently given
their 1000+ Outstanding Youth Service Award for high school students who
have donated over 1000 hours of their time. She also takes an active role
in the care of her brother who was diagnosed with a severe disability.
In
addition to her concern for people with disabilities, she is committed to
securing the basic rights of food and housing for all. She donates her
time to St. Luke’s food pantry and Habitat for Humanity, and has organized
events to bring the problem of world hunger to students’ attention.
In the fourth grade, after being moved by
the song Heal the World, Gunisha Singh started the Heal the World
Club. Her first project was to reduce the smoke output from a factory that
was destroying a small neighborhood. Two years later, she started a
UNICEF club which raised money for children around the world.
She then wrote a booklet about what she had
learned about child labor, land mines and malnutrition. After attending a
seminar on human rights violations in India, she began her book about the
Sikh Holocaust, Lend Me A Tear. After four years, it is in its
final revision and she hopes to be able to publish it before graduation.
Dr. Carl Granger established the
Joanne Champion
Granger Scholarship in honor of his late wife, a high school chemistry
teacher and civil rights activist, to honor a high school senior for
academic achievement and commitment to human rights. Both of these young
women are well deserving of this honor. |
