Winchester Native to Receive Leadership Award

Wheelock College will award Ariel Folkerts, a Winchester native, along with 17 other Passion for Action Scholars at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, November 16, 2011 from 6-9 p.m.

The third Passion for Action Leadership Award Dinner will celebrate the positive social entrepreneurship of the Wheelock scholarship recipients. Dr. Carol R. Johnson, Superintendent of Boston Public Schools, and Dr. Linda N. Nathan, Founder and Co-Headmaster of Boston Arts Academy, will be honored with the 2011 Passion for Action Leadership Award. Karen Keating Ansara, co-founder of the Haiti Fund at the Boston Foundation, will present the keynote address.

Wheelock College’s four-year Passion for Action Scholarship Program is given to greater Boston area students who have demonstrated an exceptional commitment to community service and involvement. Folkerts received Wheelock College’s highly selective Passion for Action Scholarship in 2009. She is now a junior majoring in Humanities with a Literature focus. She is also pursuing Wheelock’s Community-Based Human Services certificate program.

Folkerts graduated from in 2009. She has been part of the Winchester Youth Center’s peer leadership program where she developed “Pact”, a group where eighth-grade girls gather to discuss body image, peer pressure and the transition to high school. Folkerts hopes to start a similar program in the future and plans to be a college adviser or high school senior guidance counselor.

The mission of the Passion for Action scholarship is to support students in learning to nurture and apply their passion to become leaders for positive change in their communities, the nation and the world. The scholarship is paired with a unique academic program that develops the students’ leadership and community service skills. In May 2012, the first five Passion Scholars, referred to as “Passioneers,” will be graduating. Wheelock plans to award five scholarships each year. The proceeds from the 2011 Passion for Action Leadership Award Dinner will support the growth of this special scholarship program.

For tickets and sponsorship opportunities:

Please contact Lauren Marquis at (617) 879 2328 or lmarquis@wheelock.edu or visit: www.wheelock.edu/wheelock/giving/passion-for-action.