First Healthy Respect Scholarship Awarded

March 29, 2010 - PRLog -- In keeping with its mission of helping students to work toward their goals and achieve their dreams, Healthy Respect conferred its first college scholarship on an Oregon student who is set to graduate early from high school.

The student, Lizzie Goss of Elkton High School in Elkton, Ore., earned the $1,000 Healthy Respect Essay Scholarship for writing about her determination to make healthy choices despite a disruptive home life. This fall, she plans to use the Healthy Respect tuition aid at Southern Oregon University, where she will major in English with a concentration in writing.

“We were very pleased to receive so many quality essays for our first scholarship contest,” said Dr. Nanci Coppola, Executive Director of Healthy Respect. “Lizzie’s essay stood out due to her clear and effective writing style and her deeply personal story that caught the attention of our judges.”
Essays were received from 1,443 students attending schools in 42 U.S. states and abroad. The rules required them to write a 350-550 word essay describing “how making healthy choices has helped you to achieve your goals or had a positive impact on your life”.
Dr. Coppola added, “We are very proud of Lizzie, and are very privileged to be able to play some part in what I think will be a successful college career for her.”

Lizzie said, “I am really excited about the scholarship.”

She even made a video about winning the Healthy Respect Essay Scholarship, which can be viewed on the YouTube website.  (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_2WbYwJleY)




Lizzie attended summer school between her sophomore and junior years of high school so that she could graduate in three years. She is the only student at Elkton High School ever to have done this.

In her essay, Lizzie explained how she learned firsthand about the negative effects that bad choices can have on a person and those around him.

“Because of this, I decided very early on in life that I was not going to end up like … [that]. I know that one day, I am going to have a family, and I do not want them to be torn apart because of bad choices that I might make,” she wrote

“I have never smoked a cigarette, been drunk, or gotten high. I enjoy being able to remember a lot of things and always have a clear mind. I set high goals and standards for myself …”

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Healthy Respect employs a youth development and education model that focuses on identifying and building on individual, family, school and community assets. Youth development is the process through which adolescents acquire the cognitive, social and emotional skills and abilities required to navigate life.