Upstander Leadership Awards Given by Women’s Center of Greater Danbury
The Women’s Center is pleased to announce an annual college scholarship award opportunity that is generously funded by members of its Board of Directors. This new program is the 2019 Upstander Leadership Award, and the inaugural winners were Colleen O’Connor and Satil Moni.
Both Colleen and Satil were announced as the winners and presented with a $500 check at their school’s Annual Awards’ ceremony in May. This Leadership Award is deemed to help the students with post high school education expenses.
This year’s Award was introduced as a pilot program to high school seniors at New Milford High School. All seniors were invited to write a 500-word essay or submit a video of up to three minutes in duration, explaining how their behavior showed a commitment to the Women’s Center’s values and mission of ending sexual harassment, sexual violence, and/or bullying, and also promoting healthy relationships within their student population. As noted by one of our winners, Colleen, “being an adult in the ‘Me Too’ era is very important because my peers and I are the people who need to start making a difference for our future. Through my knowledge, I believe it is important for me to educate those my age who are the most impressionable.”
The Center expects the Upstander Leadership Award to be more broadly introduced at other high schools within our service area in 2020, so look for future announcements to see if your high school will be part of this exciting program and spread the word!