2020 Perkins Center Prize Recipients
First Prize: Jon-Martin Lee
Bio: Jon-Martin is from San Jose, CA. He is a third-year student at Seattle Pacific University, studying Global Development and Business. He loves cooking, music, and photography (in that order). Next year, he will serve as the student coordinator for the JPC's SPRINT program.
Concept: Jon-Martin hoped to develop a program that could address people's need for community in a space that was being continually divided. Seattle has a complicated history of racial injustice as well as an ever-growing socio-economic gap. By creating a formalized network of neighbors to support one another, he believes that we could cultivate a degree of mutuality and solidarity amongst new and established Seattle-ites.
Second Prize: Johren Carpenter
Bio: Johren is a third-year pre-med student at Seattle Pacific University intending to graduate in 2021 with her BS in Biochemistry. She has dreams of attending medical school and serving rural areas like her hometown of Sidney, Montana.
Concept: To start a committee with the JPC that gives individuals living with a physical disability a voice on campus. Giving people of different abilities a listening ear and a platform to speak on would be huge for bringing their personal barriers to light for those who have never had to experience such barriers themselves.
Third Prize: Amy De Leon
Bio: Amy is a second year Applied Human Biology student with a minor in Sociology at Seattle Pacific. She is passionate about honoring the cultures and traditions of individuals in underserved communities. She aspires to become a Physician Assistant and attain a Master's in Public Health so she can one day be able to advocate for future patients while also providing culturally sensitive health care.
Concept: The project she came up with attempts to bridge the gap between nutrition and patients from a multicultural home. This program aims to provide cooking and nutrition classes to teach people how to prepare familiar dishes in a nutritious way. The goal is to help prevent the onset of certain medical problems in minority groups by teaching them how to be mindful of the ingredients they use.
2019 Perkins Center Prize Recipients
Katelyn Banks
Major: Physiology
Minor: Bioethics + Humanities and Chemistry
Concept: Homelessness Engagement Week: Love Thy Neighbor
Katelyn poses the question, how can we claim to love our neighbor if we do not know them? As a university in a city with the nation's third largest number of people experiencing homelessness, Katelyn proposes a campus-wide event called "Homelessness Engagement Week" in order to increase awareness and participation in addressing this critical issue. The series of events mobilizes the various academic units and majors to address particular issues on each day of the week. Through events, speakers, and classroom engagement, students will gain awareness, learn stories, and grow empathy for our neighbors experiencing homelessness.
Emmelie Finley
Major: Music (concentration in Composition)
Minor: Worship Arts Leadership
Concept: In Emmelie's own school experience, she saw many students living in Mexico who would daily cross the border into the US to attend school. She observed the systemic inequities that contribute to this reality. Although students have US citizenship, they and their families live in Mexico for various reasons, including cheaper housing or risk of family separation. The current border issues have increased the difficulty and the time it takes to go through this process daily. Many of these transborder students may lack reliable transportation to and from school once they cross into the US. Emmelie proposes a "Border School Bus Program" as a means to accommodate the unique needs of transborder students, identifying various stakeholders and community organizations who might collaborate to launch this busing system.