Building a Better World

05/31/2015 · 8:31 am

Ivy Lewis – 2015 BBW Global Awareness Scholarship

Excerpts from Ivy Lewis’ winning essay for the Global Awareness portion of the 2015 Building A Better World Scholarship. Go here for Ivy’s Independent Travel Essay. 2015 BBW Winners.

Global Thoughts – “Knowing what’s going on in the world is not just for the world; it’s for yourself. Knowing what’s going on around me is something I keep close to my heart. The world is constantly changing, so being in love with the world’s events makes it impossible to stop learning. Stepping on historical ground means nothing if you don’t understand what makes it historical. At the very least I plan on constantly educating myself and staying up to date with the globe. To accept people for who they are, or to fight back on an issue education is key. I vow to always be active in my community wherever that may be, because this is not a perfect world”

Peace – “Everyone is different. Every culture has a different philosophy on how they got here, and what makes their Earth special. When humans are not aware of their surroundings, they seem to be easily angered by the little things. To achieve peace, we all must accept each other. War’s are constantly fought over cultural differences and making people do things the right way, but in reality there is no right way.To live peacefully, there must be acceptance. Without awareness and understanding, there can be no acceptance.”

IVY LEWIS

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07/30/2014 · 5:36 pm

Pay As You Earn…the most valuable loan repayment program that nobody knows about

Go here to learn more on how to pay back your student loans without ending up in the poor house.

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2014 Winners – Dominique, Travis, and Nichole

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We are proud to announce the 2014 Building A Better World Scholarship Winners. Each of the three Oakridge Seniors above have earned a $1750 scholarship. Please go here for information on how to donate or to learn more about the history of our Scholarship.

Dominique Jessen won the 2014 Community Involvement Scholarship. Dominique won a $1750 scholarship for her past efforts and future plans for Community Involvement. She was involved in everything at Oakridge High School over the course of her four year career. 6th in her class, she served as a member of National Honor Society and Student Council and played for the 2014 Oakridge Softball Regional Championship team. She was a member of the OHS Marching Band for four years and served as drum major her junior and senior years. She went to Washington D.C. with Close Up in 2014. Dominique will be attending Western Michigan University in the Fall and majoring in business. She has already been selected for membership in the WMU Marching Band and will begin marching in August. Congratulations Dominique. Please go here to read highlights of Dominique’s winning essay.

Travis Simmons is the 2014 Independent Travel Award winner. Travis won a stipend of $1750 to help pay for his December 2014 trip to the Philippines with his grandma. Travis’ mother and grandmother are Philippine by birth. This will be his first trip outside of the United States. Travis served as a member of National Honor Society and Student Council. He was a four year participant in the Oakridge Marching Band and went to D.C. with Close UP in 2013. Travis will be attending U of M Flint this Fall where, after two years he will transfer to U of M Ann Arbor’s College of Engineering, and major in computer software engineering. Travis, like Dominique hopes to march for his college as the U of M Marching Band extends to the Flint campus. Good luck Travis. Please go here to read highlights of Travis’ winning essay.

Nicole DePender was selected as the 2014 Global Awareness / Independent Travel Scholarship winner. Nicole’s situation was unique in that she had two winning entries chosen by the selection committee, and won our first ever choice award – Nicole will choose between a $1750 Global Awareness College Scholarship or use the $1750 to travel this summer to the Grand Canyon. Nicole graduated 4th in the Oakridge Class of 2014. She was a member of National Honors Society and Student Council. Nicole carried a 175 average for the OHS bowling team and pitched for the OHS Softball Regional Championship Softball team, for which she was selected All-State as a senior. Nicole will apply to the MCC Nursing Program in the Fall. She will bowl and play softball for MCC. After completion of the MCC Nursing Program, she plans to transfer to GVSU and study to become a Physician’s Assistant. Please go here to read highlights of Nicole’s winning Global Awareness essay. Please go here to read highlights of Nicole’s Independent Travel essay.

Thank you to Sheryl Swainston, Pat Schroeder, Alicia Parker, Kim Nelski, Jeff Lohman, Bob Wood, TeAnna Friday (2013 winner), Lyndsey Gibson (2004 winner) for serving on the 2014 Building A Better World Scholarship selection committee.

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06/07/2014 · 1:37 pm

06/06/2014 · 4:56 pm

Nicole DePender – 2014 BBW Global Awareness Scholarship

Excerpts from Nicole Depender’s winning essay for the Global Awareness portion of the 2014 Building A Better World Scholarship. Go here for Nicole’s Independent Travel Essay. 2014 BBW Winners.

Global Thoughts – “When we are young people ask us what we want to be when we grow up, we usually answer with “lawyer, doctor, singer, etc.” Most children would never answer with “traveler.” However, to be a traveler means that you are aware of the problems of other places. Taking the time to travel, and see different parts of the world is extremely important in helping the world go around. Sometimes we think that when we don’t have cell phone service we have it bad. But when you look into a different country, you see that they don’t even have drinking water for all of their citizens.”

First and Third Worlds – “To be born into a first world country has given me the opportunity to know what it is like to live “on top.” By this, I mean that I am able to know that even though most everyone has it better than I do, I know that I still have it better than people in third world countries. We need to take part and help others get to where we are today. If you look at countries in Africa, you see extreme poverty, you see that they don’t have the technology that we have, or even the human capitol. If more people would take the time to focus on someone other than themselves, then this world would be a much better place.”

My Plan – “I want to be involved with Doctors Without Borders. Being involved with a program such as this would benefit me because it will really open my eyes to show me how much we have here in America, while other countries are barely getting by. To help out in other countries is something that interests me because I want to travel and get involved with those of different cultures. I want to help make this world a better place for those in poverty, and I want to make a difference – one that will change the lives of many. Everything that I will learn throughout college will help me be able to help other people realize that they can make a difference one person at a time.”

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Nicole and her sister Shannon with the 2014 Regional Softball Trophy – an Oakridge High School Softball first ever Regional Championship.

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· 9:44 am

Nicole DePender – 2014 BBW Independent Travel Scholarship

Excerpts from Nicole Depender’s winning essay for the Independent Travel portion of the 2014 Building A Better World Scholarship. Go here for Nicole’s Global Awareness essay. 2014 BBW Winners.

Thoughts on Travel – “Taking the time to travel, will open your eyes to parts of the world you had no idea even existed. You experience feelings and emotions you never knew you had. You take in the feel of what it was like for someone of past generations, or even present, to live in such places. Travel does things to you that you didn’t know were even possible. That’s the thing about traveling though – you get to see the world while you are becoming awake to different phenomena.”

The Grand Canyon – “Ever since I was young, I had a fascination with traveling. Seeing places that are historic in nature, or are even nature itself, has been something that I have always wanted to experience… For this scholarship I will travel to the Grand Canyon. I might also travel up into Colorado so that I can see various parts of the Grand Canyon. In Colorado, I would be able to stay with my cousin who lives near the Colorado/Arizona border. I know how vast the Grand Canyon is, and I want to see as much of it as possible. While on this trip, I want to meet people and see what draws them to the Grand Canyon. I want to understand why other people are fascinated with this place, just as I am.”

My Grandpa – “When I was younger, I made plans with my grandpa to travel to the Grand Canyon someday when I got old enough. However, two years ago he was diagnosed with bladder cancer which quickly spread and took his life last year. Since I am not able to fulfill these plans with him, I would still like to take this trip in memory of him.”

My Plan – “I would take this trip around June 28 since this is the day that my grandpa passed away. I would like to stay there for roughly a week and a half. I would be traveling alone, since my original plans were to be just my grandpa and myself. The reason we picked to go to the Grand Canyon in the first place was so that we could see the beauty of God’s creations in its natural state. The world doesn’t need to have human modified nature in order to look good. To be able to have the chance to travel to a place like this (to me) is a once in a life time opportunity. I love traveling, but traveling takes money, which I don’t have a lot of. I want to see the world, and to go on this trip is something that would mean the absolute world to me.”

Nicole And Grandpa