Class of 2010
Economics
Penn State University Park
Self Nominated

Penn State economics major Miatta Massaley was quick to recognize that legal rights are often worthless if you cannot afford a lawyer.  For many years, hundreds of students in the Borough of State College could do very little when they were mistreated by their landlords.  And many private landlords were similarly without means of redress when students failed to pay rent, or caused damage to their rental properties.  Miatta soon realized that an alternative to expensive legal proceedings was desperately needed.

Hilary Griffith

Class of 2010
Letters, Arts, and Sciences
Penn State Fayette, the Eberly Campus
Nominated by Susan Crampton-Frenchik

Standing up for your beliefs often requires courage and commitment.  Hilary Griffith rose to the challenge, and inspired others to appreciate and respect difference.

When a friend approached Hilary and offered to organize a free professional performance at the Penn State Fayette campus to help raise money for THON, she embraced his idea.  You might wonder why supporting a charity performance would require courage or conviction. In this case it had to do with negative reactions from students and staff.  You see, Hilary's friend is a professional drag queen and the performance would be a drag king and queen show.

Andie Graham

Class of 2009
Letters, Arts, and Sciences
Penn State DuBois
Nominated by Keely Roen

Every year, the ECO club at Penn State DuBois holds a fundraiser.  In the spring of 2007, the club decided to host a pudding wrestling match.  The ECO club is a male-dominated club populated by the Wildlife Technology Program--a program with 24 men and only four women. While the event was likely well-intentioned, even the publicity for the event--in which a woman wrestles another woman in a pool of pudding--was causing a spate of sexist remarks.  Sexually suggestive comments that objectified women were heard on campus and male students posted photos of the potential wrestlers online, accompanied by degrading comments.  One student, who initially supported the event, listened to the reactions and became increasingly concerned, and she chose to do something about it. That student is Andie Graham.

Koann Eicher

Class of 2009
Letters, Arts, and Sciences
Penn State Shenango
Nominated by Juley Alford

Do you know about the Pennsylvania Safe Haven Law?  Odds are, you've never heard of it.  Yet this law offers an important option to parents who are unable to care for their newborn infants.  This law ensures that such parents can, without fear of prosecution, give their newborn child to any hospital staff member for safe haven.  The infant will receive needed medical care and the county's child and youth agency will help to find the child a suitable and loving home.  Supporters of the Safe Haven Law believe the law helps to ensure the welfare of these infants by providing an option for parents who feel they have no other choice.

Mallorie McCue

Class of 2008
Advertising and Public Relations, and Women's Studies
Nominated by Vivienne Wildes and Caren Bloom-Steidel

When Mallorie McCue learned that Penn State was dramatically reducing the program addressing sexual assault in it's freshman orientation program (FTCAP) she did something about it. Concerned that a lack of information on this critical issue would leave incoming students vulnerable, she rallied hundreds of fellow students to write letters and speak in classrooms to raise awareness about sexual assault as a problem that must be dealt with proactively. Though Mallorie's petition--signed by over 900 students, faculty, and staff--didn't reinstate the 40-minute program, it did prompt a compromise: Mallorie worked with the administration to develop an on-line video module which gives incoming students access both to information about the risks of sexual assault and to critical resources.

Desiree Martin

Class of 2008
Human Development and Family Studies,
Penn State Fayette, the Eberly Campus
Nominated by Gina Jones

Most people think of Penn State students as 19- or 20-year-olds--not as mothers of college-aged students, like Desiree Martin. As a non-traditional student at Penn State Fayette, Desiree knows what it's like to not fit the "traditional" mold, and this perspective, as well as her life experiences, drive her passion to help others to rethink "diversity" and our ethical responsibilities toward one another.

Emily Helms

Class of 2009
International Politics
Schreyer Honors Scholar
Nominated by Gretchen Casper

Watch or listen to the news on any given day, and the onslaught of tragedy and injustice occurring around the world is often enough to overwhelm any one of us. With so much injustice, there's a real temptation to sit back and let others take care of it. Emily Helms is not someone who sits back. Emily speaks out in a voice that community leaders, legislators, and her peers can hear--and she inspires others to join her.