Each year EqualityMaine Foundation awards scholarships of $1,000 to college-bound high school seniors as part of our education and leadership development efforts. Six 2006 scholarship recipients chosen based on their written essays addressing the question:
How can schools be made safer for all students regardless of their sexual orientation and gender expression?
We receive more than a hundred student essays each year, many of which bear witness to the existence of harassment and discrimination in our schools. The good news is that there are students who speak out when confronted with such conduct. The Joel Abromson Memorial Scholarship program provides a forum for those students to share their personal stories of crisis and courage and recognizes these young champions of civil rights in a very tangible way.
EqualityMaine's scholarship program also lends visibility to our community. EqualityMaine makes it a point to attend our scholarship recipients' awards ceremonies at their high schools, and we often are able to present our awards in person right alongside traditional high school service organizations such as the Sports Boosters, Lions Club and D.A.R.
The award is named after the late State Senator Joel Abromson, a Republican from Portland who lost his battle with cancer in early 2002. Joel was a champion for civil rights legislation, twice sponsoring bills that would outlaw discrimination based on sexual orientation.
Scholarships are awarded in May of each year. The next scholarship competition postmark deadline is April 15, 2007, and scholarship guidelines will be posted in January 2007.
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