Claes Nobel Future Female Leader Scholarship Winner Raises $100,000 For Preschool
National Society of High School Scholars winner of the Claes Nobel Future Female Leader Scholarship, Amelia Wyatt of Concord, North Carolina wrote and illustrated a children's book to raise money for a school she volunteered for. The book is in both English and Spanish, and serves as an allegory for the immigrant experience in America.
ATLANTA, Nov. 18, 2020 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Amelia Wyatt, one of ten winners of the 2020 Claes Nobel Future Female Leader Scholarship, has raised $100,000 for the La Escuelita preschool in Davidson, North Carolina. The preschool provides an essential role as an affordable, bilingual school for children in the area. As it is largely funded by donations, the school was facing budget deficits. Still a middle school student, Wyatt leveraged her Spanish speaking skills to volunteer with the children at La Escuelita. Aware of the funding challenges, she decided to make a difference. Wyatt spent years working to write, illustrate, and publish her book to raise funds for the school.
The book, entitled "Ozzie and the Island," tells the story of a bird met with challenges upon settling on a new island. Wyatt weaves the immigrant experience throughout the book that many children the school serves can relate to as they themselves grow up in a foreign land. With these children in mind, Wyatt made sure the book would have English and Spanish printed on each page, citing the fact that many children speak a blend of both languages.
As an exemplary member of the NSHSS community, Wyatt was awarded the 2020 Claes Nobel Future Female Leader Scholarship, given to ten high school seniors with over a 3.5 GPA and who have exhibited outstanding leadership skills. The $1,000 scholarship was established by the NSHSS to encourage and empower young women to assume future leadership roles in their futures, and to become mentors for young women in their careers. The scholarship is named after the NSHSS's founder, Claes Nobel, a humanitarian and senior member of the family that established the Nobel Prizes.
Recently interviewed in a local publication, Wyatt reflected on the book. "It was the seminal project of my adolescence. Being a leader can be in these quiet moments that people forget. It could be highlighting a story of somebody you just met or reading a book to a small child." Wyatt intends to begin her studies at Duke University in fall 2021 after taking a gap year.
About NSHSS
National Society of High School Scholars (NSHSS) is the premier honors and scholarship program co-founded by Claes Nobel, the senior member of the Nobel Prize family, and James Lewis. NSHSS offers a lifetime of benefits, pairing the highest performing students worldwide with high school and college scholarships, events, connections, internships, and career opportunities that begin in high school and carry on through college and careers. For more information, visit https://www.nshss.org/.
Media Contact
Karen Kane, National Society of High School Scholars, (404) 235-5500, [email protected]
SOURCE National Society of High School Scholars
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