For the Greater Good
Greater Good Recipients
- 2022-2023
- 2021-2022
- 2020-2021
- 2019-2020
- 2018-2019
- 2017-2018
- 2016-2017
- 2015-2016
- 2014-2015
- 2013-2014
- 2012-2013
- 2011-2012
- 2010-2011
- 2009-2010
- 2008-2009
- 2007-2008
- 2006-2007
- 2005-2006
- 2004-2005
2022-2023
2021-2022
2020-2021
Man Chun Li and Mehar Poreddy's bio coming soon...
Awarded Spring 2021 - Cum Laude Day
(Originally was supposed to be awarded in Fall 2020 on Founders' Day, but was moved due to Rebecca Fleischman Noor having been moved from the previous year).
2020 Greater Good Award & For Making a Difference in Behavioral Health
Rebecca Fleischman Noor has dedicated her career to improving access to effective behavioral health services. A director at the healthcare company Oscar, she is a leader in behavioral health programs. Her mental health advocacy career began in a New York City charter school system, where she assisted special education students and families in connecting to academic and behavioral support. Seeing the lack of resources available, Rebecca joined the Child Mind Institute, where she developed and implemented school-based direct service treatment programs for communities with a lack of access to care. These programs have decreased symptoms of depression, disruptive behavior, and teacher burnout for more than 50,000 students and educators. She also launched capacity-building training programs for clinicians and teachers, reaching 20,000 clinicians and educators in 32 states. Rebecca holds a Masters of Public Administration in health policy from NYU's Graduate School of Public Service. For her impact on education, she was named to Forbes 30 Under 30 Class of 2020.
Awarded Fall 2020 - Founders' Day
(Originally was supposed to be awarded in Spring 2020 on Cum Laude Day, but was postponed due to COVID).
2019-2020
2019 Greater Good Award — Collaborative Leadership
For their exemplary commitment and dedication to the organization Rise Against Hunger (RAH), LA recognizes Roisin Casey and Kayli Grise who have acted for the common good, establishing community-based activities to support the RAH mission as an integral component of LA’s community service program. As freshman, Kayli and Ro joined the club and began coordinating community-based fundraisers and expanding outreach by collaborating with both Groton School and Groton Dunstable Regional High School to host three Rise Against Hunger meal packaging events. These meals have gone to feed needy citizens in the African countries of Burkina Faso and Malawi. For Kayli and Ro’s inspirational and thoughtful work, the Rise Against Hunger was rewarded with a community service grant from the Parents Independent Network in April of 2019. Over the last six years, in collaboration with its partner schools, the club has succeeded in packaging over 100,000 meals and raising over $30,000.
Awarded Fall 2019 - Founders' Day
2018-2019
2019 Greater Good Award — Solutions for Worldwide Sustainability
Founder and CEO of Circulate Capital, an investment management firm dedicated to preventing the flow of plastic waste into the world’s oceans, Rob Kaplan has committed his career to making the case for business-based solutions to environmental problems, deploying millions of dollars toward those efforts in partnership with the world’s largest corporations. Prior to Circulate Capital, Rob co-founded and was the managing director of Closed Loop Partners and served as Director of Sustainability for Walmart Stores, where he led teams to eliminate more than 20 million metric tons of greenhouse gas from the supply chain. Rob received a Master of Business Administration from UC Berkeley and a Bachelor of the Arts in Political Communication from The George Washington University. A four-year student from Acton, Rob credits Lawrence Academy with teaching him that the quality of an idea doesn’t matter unless you can communicate it and take action.
Awarded Spring 2019 - Cum Laude Day
2018 Greater Good Award — Initiative, Collaboration, and Shared Vision
LA salutes Adrian Castanon Galicia ’19, Faris Khimani ’19, Haotian Lian ’20, Kambar Mangibayev ’19, and Muhammad Siregar ’19 for their vision and initiative in helping to make the world a better place. These five LA students organized two projects to help the countries two of them call home. In Mexico, the group collaborated with the local government to organize a reforestation project. In the week leading up to planting, they visited schools, met with government leaders, and appeared on radio and TV programs to educate and recruit volunteers about and for the project. The day of the planting, they had over 400 volunteers, and in eight hours, they planted 2,000 trees. This project helped the Puebla, Mexico, area, boosting its local environment and its people.
In Indonesia, three members of the group worked with the government and were able to organize a massive beach clean-up, educating Indonesian citizens by raising their environmental awareness. Three one-ton trucks full of garbage, plastic bottles, old tires, and other debris were taken from Pantal Panjang in Bengkul, and two kilometers of “Long Beach” now stretch as soft and white as nature intended.
Awarded Fall 2018 - Founders' Day
2017-2018
2018 Greater Good Award — Extraordinary Leadership & Service
Shawn Dove '80 has capped a lifetime of extraordinary service in his role as CEO of the Campaign for Black Male Achievement, a national organization dedicated to improving the life outcomes of America’s black men and boys. During his more than 30 years of leadership as a youth development professional, he has founded or served as director of many organizations dedicated to benefiting African-American Youth. Shawn is a recipient of the Charles H. Revson Fellowship at Columbia University, was awarded a 2014 Prime Movers fellowship for social movement leaders, and in 2015, he was an Ebony Magazine Power 100 recipient. In his two years at Lawrence Academy, he became a top student and an active and involved citizen on campus. He played basketball and football, edited the poetry magazine, and served as sports editor of the school newspaper. He earned a BA in English from Wesleyan University and is a graduate of Columbia University Business School’s Institute for Not-for-Profit Management.
Awarded Spring 2018 - Cum Laude Day
2017 Greater Good Award — A Caring, Positive, Volunteer-Oriented Spirit
Kaylee Kendall Beagan '18 makes the world a better place through her numerous service commitments, many of which she performs outside of her required Lawrence Academy volunteer hours. Since her ninth grade year, Kaylee has worked with SMILE Mass, an organization that helps special needs children and adults and their families make happy, healthy memories; her service includes running with SMILE Mass clients, guiding them through the race courses, and encouraging them along their way. Kaylee also works with the Miracle League, a baseball organization for people with special needs, and she runs Belle of the Ball, a prom dress drive for students in need. At Lawrence Academy, she is part of the Community Service Advisory Board, Rise Against Hunger, and For the Love of Erika; she is also a peer counselor. “Kaylee just exudes positivity and caring,” says Kaylee’s advisor, Sara Anderson. “She influences other people in the way she approaches life.”
Awarded Fall 2017 - Founders' Day
2016-2017
2017 Greater Good Award — Effecting Global Changes in Health
A Winterim trip to Honduras, mere months after Hurricane Mitch had hit, turned into so much more for Katharine Bagshaw '99, a day student from Pepperell. “Honduras wasn't just a travel destination for me, but a place people lived, worked, and spent time with loved ones,” Kate recalls. That excursion proved to be a culminating catalyst of her LA experience, inspiring Kate to effect meaningful change by working with countries such as Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam, along with establishments such as the World Health Organization, to ensure equal access to health care for all. Since her time at LA, Kate has coordinated HIV/AIDS interventions; consulted for the Gender, Equity, and Human Rights Team; and worked on immunization and malaria. As an immunization program officer in Washington, D.C., Kate works to improve the health of mothers, newborns, and children worldwide by supporting countries in reaching the unreached with high and equitable immunization services. A Grinnell College graduate, Kate was a Cum Laude Society member during her time at Lawrence.
Awarded Spring 2017 - Cum Laude Day
2016 Greater Good Award — Leadership in Service
As a sophomore, Sam Rosenstein '17 helped establish Lawrence Academy’s affiliation with Stop Hunger Now and became a driving force within the organization on campus. Under Sam’s leadership, LA began fundraising for and hosting an annual Stop Hunger Now meal-packaging event, putting together more than 30,000 meals and raising more than $9,000. He also initiated a Stop Hunger Now partnership with nearby Groton School. A Southborough native, Sam is also a committed Little League baseball coach, a boating camp counselor, a Peer Counselor, and a member of the Elm Tree Society and the Faculty Student Senate.
Awarded Fall 2016 - Founders' Day
2016 Greater Good Award — Empathy Activism
Inspired by his older sister Megan, who has Down syndrome, Trent Briggs '17 began his activism at the age of nine. Upset by the derogatory language (the R-word) used to define Down syndrome in the Scholastic Children’s Dictionary, he lobbied to have the definition changed – and was successful. As a teenager, Trent has worked to educate people about the genetic difference and to encourage respectful language when referring to those with intellectual disabilities by speaking on the subject to schools and organizations. A day student from Westford, Trent has extended his service ethic to Lawrence Academy as a Peer Counselor and member of both the Community Service Advisory Board and the Elm Tree Society.
Awarded Fall 2016 - Founders' Day
2015-2016
2016 Greater Good Award — Perseverance, Optimism and Service
Described as “never somebody to seek the spotlight for himself,” Kevin White’s '96 generous spirit was always apparent, and tragedy only amplified it. In 2013, Kevin was knocked unconscious and suffered shrapnel wounds in the Boston Marathon bombings, but he didn’t let the experience leave him broken and bitter; rather, the 35-year-old put his career as a financial analyst on hold in order to care for his parents, both of whom were injured more seriously in the bombings, and soon after began giving back to the organizations that had supported him and his family in their time of need. In the three years between the tragedy and his unexpected death in December 2015, the Fenn School, Villanova University, and Vanderbilt University alum donated his time and talents to the Greg Hill Foundation, the Boston Medical Center, the Robert F. Kennedy Lancaster School, the American Heart Association, and the Heather Abbott Foundation. He also ran the Boston Marathon in 2014 and 2015 as a member of the Marathon Coalition, raising money and awareness for fellow victims of the bombings.
Awarded Spring 2016 - Cum Laude Day
2015 Greater Good Award — Helping Children in Need
Taylor Goodman-Leong '17, at the age of seven, responded to the loss of a young friend to cancer by creating a project she called For the Love of Erika. Initially moved by the joy that her gifts brought to her ailing friend and inspired by Erika’s own generous spirit, Taylor now personally distributes thousands of presents each holiday season to children at local hospitals and at parties she arranges for residents of homeless and domestic violence shelters. She has received numerous state and regional awards and commendations over the years and was among the six students nationwide inducted into the 2014 Caring Institute’s Caring Hall of Fame. The president of her class for three years and a member of the Student Senate, Judiciary Council, and Elm Tree Society, Taylor encourages volunteerism by example. Her determination to continue to expand the influence of her charitable work has resulted in the 2015 designation of For the Love of Erika as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
Awarded Fall 2015 - Founders' Day
2014-2015
2015 Greater Good Award — Creating Sustainable Health Systems
Kris Ansin '03 serves as the Executive Director of Mali Health, a Cambridge-based organization whose mission is to reduce maternal and child mortality in resource-poor communities in West Africa. Specifically, they would improve access to quality primary care at low costs, while increasing the capacity of and participation in local health systems. While the group’s focus is on the most vulnerable families in the peri-urban communities of the Mali capital of Bamako, Kris’s goal is to develop a program that will be replicable elsewhere, a vision that is supported by a 2014 grant from Grand Challenges Explorations, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. After attending LA, Kris studied at George Washington University before earning a Master of Public Health Degree in International Health and Development from Tulane University. He has worked with USAID, Ashoka, and the Africa Maven Group Consulting Firm and has experience with programs in India, South Africa, and Mali. He currently splits his time between Boston and Mali.
Awarded Spring 2015 - Cum Laude Day
2014 Greater Good Award — Dedication to Service
Acton senior Jillian Clymer '15 came to LA as a freshman with a history of community service. In elementary school, she helped support the Acton Food Pantry. As a middle school student, she raised funds for Project Tamaa, which is dedicated to improving mental health and social service programs in Africa. On the LA campus, she quickly became a driving force in the Community Service Club, encouraging students to become involved and providing opportunities that have resulted in making contributions in support of numerous non-prof›it endeavors. Also a Peer Counselor, Jillian is recognized for bringing an upbeat, positive energy and outlook to all of her efforts, prompting one friend to perceive a “strong connection between altruism and happiness.” Her passion for service is reflected in her Winterim choices, which have included working at HeadStart, volunteering in a Peruvian village, and teaching and helping to build a community center in the Dominican Republic. As a senior, she will continue her efforts with a service session in Ecuador.
Awarded Fall 2014 - Founders' Day
2014 Greater Good Award — Community Leadership
For senior Oren Karp '15 of Pepperell, service is an integral part of life both on and off campus. At LA, he co-founded and serves as co-president of C.L.A.S.S. (Courtesy, Leadership, and Selfless Service), a student group that encourages respect and community engagement. He serves as secretary for a student diversity awareness group called Umoja, assists the Admissions Office as a member of the Elm Tree Society of campus tour guides, and acts as a Peer Counselor to the student community. A day student, Oren is also deeply involved in his own community, serving as president of the northeast region of the North American Federation of Temple Youth and working summers as a counselor at Camp Pathfinder in Ontario, for which he has trained extensively to serve as an outdoor guide leading groups of campers on wilderness canoeing adventures. A member of the Cum Laude Society and a National Merit Scholarship semi-finalist, Oren is recognized as an involved and dedicated leader and role model.
Awarded Fall 2014 - Founders' Day
2013-2014
2014 Greater Good Award — Advocating Social Justice
Andre Eaton '87 is the Senior Pastor of The St. John’s World Tabernacle in Brooklyn, New York, where he has served for the past seven years and is affectionately known as Pastor Dre. He serves as New York State Regional Coordinator for the National Center Parent-Child Home Program, a home-based literacy and parenting program for at-risk families, and is on the governor’s Early Childhood Advisory Council. A past executive director for Jumpstart for Young Children, Inc., and for Covenant House Georgia, he has received awards for his dedicated service in both the not-for- profit sector and in ministry. Following a B.A. in Sociology from Brandeis University and a Master’s in Social Work from the University of Pennsylvania, Andre recently earned a Master of Divinity degree from Columbia University’s Union Theological Seminary. In all his work, his objective is, in his own words, “to be the constant advocate for social justice for children and families who experience poverty and other social issues that directly affect their success and productivity.”
Awarded Spring 2014 - Cum Laude Day
2013 Greater Good Award — Fostering Community
Amadu Kunateh, a junior from Lynn, Massachusetts, strives to embody and encourage the message in a favorite quote from Kenya’s Rev. Dr. Samuel Kobia: “If you want to walk fast, walk alone; if you want to walk far, walk with others.” A student with in origins in Sierra Leone, Amadu considers LA his home and has actively worked to promote inclusivity, respect, and empathy in the school community. Not only does he participate in the clubs Cultural Coffeehouse and Umoja, but, as a freshman, he also created a League for Exceptional Gentlemen, which now includes women and is known as C.L.A.S.S. (Courtesy, Leadership, and Selfless Service), and a Show and Tell series based on a tradition from his homeland called fambul tok (family talk) that encourages the community to recognize and appreciate personal stories and differences. A diligent student and talented soccer player, Amadu is noted for his contagious optimism, genuine curiosity, and desire to live life with gratitude for all of the positivity and love that has been given to him.
Awarded Fall 2013 - Founders' Day
2012-2013
2013 Greater Good Award — Sustainable Food Production
JD Sawyer grew up in Acton, Massachusetts, where he learned to love and respect the natural world. After attending LA and then Hobart and William Smith Colleges, he moved to Colorado in 1996. While there, he served as Director of Operations for Johnson & Wales University and made it his mission to reduce the environmental impact of their Denver campus. In 2009, JD and his wife Tawnya took their common concern for sustainability further, establishing Colorado Aquaponics. Combining aquaculture and hydroponics, aquaponics recirculates water from fish tanks through vegetable grow beds—the fish waste feeds the plants and the plants filter the water, keeping the fish healthy. A sustainable, healthy food system than can be built in any community anywhere, it requires little space, uses little water, is chemical-free, and avoids the heavy carbon footprint caused by shipping foods long distances. JD and Tawnya have devoted themselves to encouraging healthy practices in their own local working community and are committed to educating and inspiring others with their model.
Awarded Spring 2013 - Cum Laude Day
2012 Greater Good Award — Volunteer Efforts
Jake Riggert began serving his Groton community in elementary school and his efforts to date include supporting firefighters, emergency services, schools, youth baseball, holiday toy drives, food pantries, and the town’s 350th anniversary celebration. Since its inception in 2004, he participated in the Groton middle school’s recently completed Big Book: Pages for Peace Project, seeking input from world leaders, Skyping with students from Afghanistan and Libya, and speaking publicly about the book that challenged the Guinness record for the largest book ever made. At LA, Jake serves as a peer counselor and tour guide and pursues his passion for playing football and drums. Following the 2011 tsunami in Japan, he raised relief funds and housed two Japanese LA students. For a professional 2011 Winterim internship, he trained employees at a local business on the use of iPhone and iPad applications, creating a presentation that he has since shared with other businesses. In all of his pursuits, Jake impresses others with his unassuming generosity.
Awarded Fall 2012 - Founders' Day
2011-2012
2012 Greater Good Award — Empowering People Through Photography
During his four years as a day student from Lunenburg, Massachusetts, Ryan Ansin ’05 laid the foundation for the work that he now does in earnest. In 2003, he established a business making promotional videos for non-profit organizations. One of his first projects was documenting Khmer Rouge survivor Loung Ung’s efforts to eliminate landmines in Cambodia; others took him to Southeast Asia and Africa. After honing his skills at Emerson College, Ryan imagined that the stories of his subjects could be even more powerful if he put the cameras into their hands. In 2010, his former business, Every Person Has a Story, became a non-profit that finds and facilitates photography clinics. It now operates 20 schools in Cambodia, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Rwanda, and the United States. Photographs are shared worldwide through the Internet, exchange programs, and art gallery displays; any sales benefit their locations of origin. The group’s premise is that “every story deserves to be told.”
Awarded Spring 2012 - Cum Laude Day
2011 Greater Good Award — Inspiring Involvement
Senior Connor Kilian is known for the passion and dedication that he applies to each commitment that he embraces. Among his efforts on campus, he is a creative co-leader of the Cultural Coffeehouse Series, an involved member of the Association for Black and Latino Encouragement, and the recent founder of a group supporting Kiva, a global non-profit organization with a mission to connect people through lending to alleviate poverty. At every opportunity, Connor shares his honest enthusiasm and concern in a way that inspires others to become involved. In his hometown of Tyngsboro, Massachusetts, he is pursuing his Eagle Scout rank with a project to design and create a kiosk made of recycled wood and manually assembled solar panels. Placed in a public location, it will house a solar-powered monitor displaying practical information about how to “be green.” A high honors student and member of the Cum Laude Society, Connor has received recognition for his abilities in written and spoken English and was named a Commended Student in the 2012 National Merit Scholarship Program.
Awarded Fall 2011 - Founders' Day
2010-2011
2011 Greater Good Award — World Hunger Relief Efforts
Born in Paris, France, George Aelion ’70 moved with his family to a house near the LA campus at the age of eight, developing a long relationship with a school that he feels taught him the importance of a multi-dimensional lifestyle that includes work, physical activity, and creative interests. He graduated from Connecticut College with majors in French and government, joined the Peace Corps, and then worked as assistant director of international projects in marine sciences and nutrition at the University of Rhode Island. Since 1992, he has been working with the United Nations’ World Food Programme, the world’s largest humanitarian agency, which provides food to about 90 million people a year. His roles have included humanitarian response and development operations in Kosovo, India, and southern Africa, where he was stationed until 2007. Human resources and donor relations were also a focus of his efforts, and George now serves as a senior donor relations officer at WFP headquarters in Rome.
Awarded Spring 2011 - Cum Laude Day
2010 Greater Good Award — Commitment to Community
Senior Matt Bosselait has a well-established habit of lending a hand. In his hometown of Bolton, Massachusetts, Matt volunteers yearly at Memorial Day ceremonies and regularly at the Just Cause Walk for breast cancer, the Lord’s Acre Corn Festival, and the Special Olympics. An Eagle Scout, Matt has participated in many community improvement efforts, his Eagle Service Project being the creation of a series of walking paths in Bolton. He remains active with the scouts as a mentor and camp counselor. At Lawrence Academy, Matt was an accomplished technical theatre student who made his expertise readily available. In the classroom, the high-honors student was noted for taking the extra step to help others. He received awards for his appreciation of natural beauty and love for Lawrence Academy and for his ability as a public speaker. Matt also managed WRLA, the school’s radio station, served on the Faculty-Student Senate and the Student Curriculum Committee, and acted as a tour guide for campus visitors.
Awarded Fall 2010 - Founders' Day
2009-2010
2010 Greater Good Award — For Mentoring Youth
After participating in the New Jersey SEEDS program for talented and economically disadvantaged youth, Pam Nwaoko attended Lawrence Academy for four years as a boarding student from Irvington, New Jersey. At LA, she co-founded the Association for Black & Latino Encouragement (ABLE), which supports students of color on campus. Later, Pam continued advocating for minority and marginalized youth at Georgetown University, where she helped to lead Young Leaders in Education About Diversity, an organization dedicated to raising awareness surrounding religious tolerance, sexual orientation, age, race, ability, class, and gender. Pam mentored girls at the Duke Ellington School for the Arts, educating them about gender issues, and she joined Georgetown University’s After School Kids Program, an outreach program that supports adolescents on probation. Honored by Glamour magazine as one of its “Top Ten College Women of 2009,” Pam was also named a 2008 U.S. Goldman Sachs Global Leader and a 2009 Truman Scholarship finalist. Selected to speak at her own graduation ceremony at Georgetown, Pam went on to work as a litigation paralegal in preparation for law school.
Awarded Spring 2010 - Cum Laude Day
2009 Greater Good Award — Empowering the Disabled
Maggie Raemer, a four-year senior from Brookline, Mass., has devoted herself to helping children and adults with mental disabilities. For three consecutive summers, Maggie volunteered at Camp Jabberwocky, where she worked with and befriended disabled campers. In 2008, MTV aired a television show called “How’s Your News”, an episode of which Maggie helped campers to create. In addition to her work on campus in support of A Precious Cause (on behalf of orphans in Botswana) and organizing many charity walks, especially A Walk for Hunger, Maggie worked diligently as a member of The Elias Fund, which is dedicated to helping communities in Zimbabwe. Having also interned at The Horace Mann School for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing during Winterim 2009, Maggie hopes to study special education in college.
Awarded Fall 2009 - Founders' Day
2009 Greater Good Award — Service Without Borders
A four-year senior from Chungnam, South Korea, Yoo Jin Cho was active in the community service program at Lawrence Academy, having served on the Cultural Coffeehouse Series focus group and the steering committee of the school’s Community Service Program, helping to plan the school’s first Community Service Day in 2009. In addition to working during Winterim with severely disabled adults in Fitchburg, Mass., Yoo Jin has volunteered with Habitat for Humanity in South Korea and works there with disabled people and abused women through the YWCA—an expression of service that she learned from her parents’ private medical practice.
Awarded Fall 2009 - Founders' Day
2008-2009
2009 Greater Good Award — Serving Urban Youth
A four-year day student from Leominster, Mass., Denise Korn ’83 was selected to receive the Greater Good Award for her work in providing opportunities in the world of design and art for underprivileged youth. Soon after starting Korn Design, an award-winning brand design and strategy firm based in Boston and New York, Denise co-founded Kids Can Cook, a nonprofit that brings middle school students into the kitchen to learn about nutrition, the inner workings of a restaurant, and habits promoting self-esteem. A Cornell graduate, Denise went on to start Youth Design Boston to provide public high school students with professional internships in the Boston area, and she is duplicating that program in Denver and Providence. Denise also supports The Farm School, a teaching farm in Athol, Mass., that teaches students about organic farming and personal responsibility.
Awarded Spring 2009 - Cum Laude Day
2008 Greater Good Award — Helping Those in Need
Taking leadership roles in community service projects during her freshman year, Frances Hamilton of Andover, Massachusetts, created A Precious Cause, a club at Lawrence Academy that raises money for orphans in Africa. With a special mindfulness of the poor and hungry, Frances spearheaded Help Feed the Hungry and, in her sophomore year, organized her first drive for Toys for Tots. In a schoolwide public speaking contest that same year, Frances spoke to raise awareness about solutions to world hunger. As a junior, she joined forces with two classmates to supply the school community with ribbons to be worn at the wake of an LA sophomore who lost his life in a car accident; she also helped to launch the school’s peer tutoring program. Involved in student government, the Faculty-Student Senate, and the Honor Council at Lawrence Academy, Frances has enriched the school with her devotion to those near and far who are less fortunate, her intelligence and initiative, and her many acts of kindness.
Awarded Fall 2008 - Founders' Day
2007-2008
2008 Greater Good Award — Community Activism
Cory Peterson founded a chapter of the Elias Fund at Lawrence Academy in the fall of 2005 while serving as the nonprofit’s Northeast regional manager and while coordinating 32 high school chapters nationwide. In the same year, he began organizing the first EliasFest, a benefit concert to help further the mission of the Elias Fund to provide educational opportunities to Zimbabwean youth and empower young people everywhere to participate in community development. In May of his senior year, Cory’s vision was realized in Acton, Massachusetts, when 11 bands headlined by State Radio raised over $10,000 at EliasFest. A four-year day student from Littleton, Cory matriculated at St. Lawrence University, where he received one of the university’s 25 scholarships awarded to students named Community Service Scholars.
Awarded Spring 2008 - Cum Laude Day
2007 Greater Good Award — Leading by Example
Born and raised in Bolton, Massachusetts, Chris Dickson assumed a can-do approach to all areas of his life. The Cum Laude Society elected to honor the student body co-president for the optimism and enthusiasm with which he made everyone feel welcomed and encouraged at Lawrence Academy; for exercising initiative to improve communication within his off-campus youth group; and for serving four years as a summer camp counselor to teach children about survival skills and conservationism. Throughout his four years at Lawrence Academy, Chris took personally the school’s invitation to all students to participate actively in the life of the community. A captain of the boys’ cross-country running team, Chris went on to attend Colorado College.
Awarded Fall 2007 - Founders' Day
2006-2007
2007 Greater Good Award — Social Work
Tia Smith of Brooklyn, New York, was awarded the Whitehurst Prize at her graduation for “exceptional growth toward maturity of conduct, opinion, and discourse.” Tia returned to Brooklyn after graduating from Rollins College and, in her work for both the Salvation Army and the Church Avenue Merchants Block Association, became the program supervisor for the largest family shelter in the United States. In serving that nonprofit homeless prevention organization, Tia helps entire families recover from the destructive effects of homelessness, mental illness, extended periods of unemployment, and chemical addictions.
Awarded Spring 2007 - Cum Laude Day
2006 Greater Good Award — Promoting Civil Dialogue
Daniel Russo of Harvard, Massachusetts, took the initiative to ensure that students received the information they needed to make informed choices during schoolwide elections. During his junior year, when he was not yet a member of the Faculty-Student Senate, Dan repeatedly engaged others in discussions because of his conviction that a civil exchange of opinions improves the health of any community. While attending Faculty-Student Senate meetings and other committee meetings, the well-spoken award recipient demonstrated the inestimable value to the community of members who participate actively and constructively in public debate. A high-honors student and member of the Cum Laude Society, Dan matriculated at the University of Michigan.
Awarded Fall 2006 - Founders' Day
2005-2006
2006 Greater Good Award — Environmental Education
Megan Camp '79, who grew up on the campus of Groton School as the daughter of two teachers, chose to attend Lawrence Academy because she favored its learn-by-doing approach to education. The president and program director at Shelburne Farms, a non-profit environmental education center that is also a working dairy farm and land trust, Megan was presented with the Greater Good Award for more than 20 years of working as an environmental educator. In earning her degree in environmental studies from the University of Vermont, Megan conducted research at Shelburne Farms for her senior thesis, Environmental Education: A New Paradigm for Education.
Awarded Spring 2006 - Cum Laude Day
2005 Greater Good Award — Relieving Human Suffering
As a freshman from Westford, Massachusetts, Naz Bagherzadeh was instrumental in launching Lawrence Academy’s chapter of Amnesty International. Frequently lending her voice to community service announcements at school assemblies, she put in countless hours researching, raising funds, and planning events, including a trip to New York City to join in war protests. Naz demonstrated to everyone in the community what it means to care about others; raised by a mother from Bolivia and father from Iran, she seemed particularly sensitive to the needs of those overseas, responding quickly to raise funds on behalf of tsunami victims in 2004. Active in the theatre program and on the Faculty-Student Senate, Naz served as student body co-president and continued her studies at the University of Edinburgh.
Awarded Fall 2005 - Founders' Day
2004-2005
2005 Greater Good Award — Social Entrepreneurism
Ken Ansin, who began giving back to his own neighborhood when he was only 11 years old, grew up in Leominster, Massachusetts, and graduated cum laude from UMass Amherst in 1987. When accepting the first Greater Good Award, he had already supported some 20 organizations personally as a board member or board president—a hospital, a museum, an orchestra, the United Way, a number of schools and colleges, Save the Children, and the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation. Before returning home from Mali, where he met a child whom he had been sponsoring, Ken pledged his support to build two schools in the boy’s village.
Awarded Spring 2005 - Cum Laude Day
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Make a Nomination
Each spring on Cum Laude Day, the Greater Good Award is given to an alumnus who has used his or her education to benefit others. Click here to learn more about how you can nominate someone for this prestigious school award.
Serving the Community
Helping others is an ongoing act of community citizenship, not something you do once and consider it done. It's just that, which we hope to instill in our students during their time on campus. Learn more about Community Service at Lawrence Academy.