Each year, the Laspa Center for Leadership sponsors student projects with the We Act Grant program. The program supports self-designed projects that transform knowledge, passion, and ideas into action, demonstrate creative and effective problem-solving, establish community partnerships, and produce a positive impact.
This spring, six Scripps students were awarded We Act Grants for projects ranging from sustainability to youth empowerment to cooking lessons, which will be completed throughout the summer of 2021. In addition, two awardees from 2020 deferred their projects to begin this summer.
“The proposals we received displayed the kind of innovation and scholarship that we have come to expect, but we were equally impressed this year by our students’ ingenuity in constructing projects that allowed them to pursue their interests while adhering to public health protocols,” says Gretchen Maldonado, assistant director for the Laspa Center.
The 2021 We Act Grant awardees are below.
Clare Boldt ’22, biology major
Boldt will assist with a research project in partnership with the Claremont Autism Center and Claremont Graduate University, “Using Behaviorally Based Intervention to Promote Positive Sibling Interactions for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.”
Aya Burton ’22 , English major
Burton will help host the Weekly Writing Workshop (3W) summer session for 4th–6th graders in the Pomona Valley area, focusing on fostering joy and confidence in writing in partnership with Uncommon Good.
Nejra Kravić ’21, media studies major
Kravić will work on a virtual workshop series in partnership with Radical in Progress, a social enterprise designed as a “one-stop shop” for social justice study guides.
Sabrina Lieu ’22, human biology major
Lieu will be assisting at Health4All, which addresses health disparity in the Pomona community by equipping community members with basic medical skills in partnership with Parktree Community Health Center (PCHC) and Claremont Students for Public Health.
Daphne Liu ’21, cognitive science major
Liu will host “coffee cart conversations,” a program designed to create space for candid conversations about the Asian American experience, hosted specifically in partnership with locally owned Asian American coffee shops in the Bay Area.
Maya Wilson ’23, food studies self-designed major
Wilson will host virtual cooking lessons for 5C students to grow their confidence in the kitchen and demonstrate that cooking can be easy, affordable, and nutritious.
Pandemic-Related Deferrals from 2020
Isabella Waldron ’20, English and creative writing major
Waldron will be premiering “Jawbone,” an original radio play centered around the nexus of ghost stories and sexual assault.
Abigail “Abby” Power ’21, environmental analysis major
Power will conduct virtual lessons around sustainability, including the connections among food, water, and soil, and how they affect the impact of climate change.