Page 12 - Palm City Spotlight - July '21

Page 12, Palm City Spotlight

Honoring

Soroptimist Of Stuart Awards

Allow Women To Live Their
Dreams

By Jackie Holfelder
The women who are awarded with Soroptimist
International of Stuart’s (SIS) annual Live Your Dream
Awards have overcome so many challenges to reach the
places they’re at today that the changes that COVID-19
concerns made to the usual awards ceremony were but a blip
on the radar screen.
Winners of these greatly appreciated monetary awards Glenda Edwards Nicole Mayer Sara McGaha Jenny Nguyen
were notified by phone and received certificates and checks
by mail, rather than at the festive dinner celebration held Second-place Live Your Dream Award winner Sara significant impact through volunteer activity in the area of
prior to 2020. McGaha is enrolled in a full-time nursing program at IRSC. drug prevention, crime, environment, and poverty.
This year’s recipients received the welcome calls during She returned to school after 20 years to pursue her dream. Her This year’s recipient was Jenny Nguyen who moved
Soroptimist’s recent monthly meeting. goal of becoming a nurse was put on hold until her children to California from Vietnam with her dad 12 years ago.
Soroptimist national headquarters requested that each were older and more self-sufficient. The immigration process delayed her mother’s arrival for
chapter present as many Live Your Dream Awards as She enrolled in IRSC during the summer of 2019 after two years.
financially possible to compensate for COVID-related enduring domestic violence and abuse for several years. Living conditions were not good for Jenny prior to her
hardships. As a survivor who is currently a massage therapist, Sara mother’s arrival. Her father had fallen into addiction and
The parameters for the Live Your Dream Award specify looks forward to serving the community as an RN. She when her mother finally got to America, she and Jenny
the recipient be a primary breadwinner for themselves and was also recognized as an award recipient for the Women moved to Florida.
their dependents and be attending an undergraduate degree in Transition category, which is for an individual 40 or This experience led to Jenny’s desire to pursue a career in
program or a vocational skills training program and have a older, overcoming obstacles, to go to school to change her mental health. While a senior at Treasure Coast High School
financial need. This program has been in effect since 1972. career path. simultaneously pursuing a degree at IRSC, she founded
The first-place award recipient was Glenda Edwards, who Third-place Live Your Dream Award recipient Nicole a psychology interest and mental health awareness club,
is pursuing an associate’s degree in digital media at IRSC. Mayer is currently in Thailand in a program for students who organized fundraisers to provide resources like a hotline/
She has two boys, one of whom is a senior in high school have PTSD. She is working towards her bachelor’s degree helpline, a counselor and a bulletin board to encourage
and the other a teenager who was diagnosed with autism at in psychology at Keiser University. conversation and remove the stigma that surrounds mental
the age of 3. She, herself, knows many individuals who are affected illness. Jenny recently helped sponsor legislation and
When Glenda grew up, education was not a priority nor by mental health or brain disorders. After being diagnosed advocated to state legislators through American Foundation
was it encouraged. Her philosophy now is that you can be with bipolar disorder and PTSD at 11 years of age and giving for Suicide Prevention Florida in Tallahassee on Florida Day.
whatever you want to be if you have a good support system. birth to a son with autism, asthma and seizures, Nicole found Jenny will be attending Stanford University in California.
She earned her GED as an adult before going on to IRSC. a passion for understanding mental health and illness. To learn more about these awards, visit www.
At 40 years of age, she wants to be there to support her two The Youth Service Award recognizes young women from soroptimistofstuart.org.
sons and their dreams and goals. sophomore to senior year of high school who have had a Photos provided by Soroptimist of Stuart
good worKs

Eagle Scout Troop 802 Gives volunteer and supporter, Michael
Education Workstations A Lovett. The Children’s Garden,
opened since 2010 needed some
Much-Needed Makeover TLC so Michael and his troop
jumped into action. Michael began
On April 17 an amazing group of young men from Eagle planning and organizing back in
Scout Troop 802 came to the Children’s Museum of the December 2020 as it takes some
Treasure Coast to complete their community project. Taking time to get Eagle Scout projects
the lead on the project is longtime museum visitor, member, approved. The troop focused their
energy on the Education Pavilion’s
and Pizza Garden’s workstations,
both needing cleaning, sanding,
sealing and painting. After a full
day of work, the workstations
received a full makeover. “The
Eagle Scouts have always been Cam Deen, Tanner Traill, Ethan Matos, Christian Triggs, Scotty King, Ryan Traill, and
such a valuable resource for the Eagle Scout candidate Michael Lovett
museum. Individual troops have
completed four large museum projects since 2010, saving
the museum over $5,000 in materials and labor. I applaud
our local Eagle Scouts and leaders for displaying such a
strong connection in the community, we cannot thank them
enough.” says Tammy Calabria, executive director.
If you would like to volunteer or learn more about how to
Answer for make an impact at the Children’s Museum, please feel free
to contact Tammy Calabria at (772) 225-7575, Ext. 203. To
Crossword Puzzle learn more about the Children’s Museum of the Treasure
Coast, visit our Facebook, Instagram and website, all links
provided at www.children’smuseumtc.org.