Our Awards For Women & Girls
At Soroptimist in St. Helena we believe the best way to improve the lives of women and girls is to improve their access to educational and professional training. To this end, we offer a host of unique scholarships and grants targeted at various age groups and opportunities. Using monies raised at our annual crab feed (now in its 41st year), we are able to fund a wide array of annual scholarships and grants.
In addition to the endowed scholarships listed here, the club provides additional funding to Soroptimist International’s Founder Region Fellowship Program, whose mission is to advance the status of women through financial support in the final year of their doctoral degree. Our club also supports young girls at the start of their academic lives by providing annual grant funding, specially earmarked for female students, to St. Helena’s ‘Preschool For All’ program.
Past Award Recipients
2018 Live Your Dream Award
Jess Smiley, single mother of three and St. Helena superhero, chosen as our 2018 Live Your Dream Award recipient. In October, Jess received her state certificate in massage therapy after fulfilling 900 hours of course curriculum through the National Holistic Institute. Jess did this while caring for three children, one of whom was diagnosed midway through her program with a life-threatening bone disease. Juggling work, family, and school, Jess kept it all together and graduated on time.
Jess told us that winning this award would help, “take some of the financial burden” off her plate, thus making it easier for her to provide for her family. We give this $3,000 award annually to empower inspiring women like Jess.