Jacquelin Masei, an actress and founder and artistic director of The Playback Workshop Theatre, uses the performing arts and psychodrama for social change. Her extensive community service includes working with incarcerated youth; helping bereaved mothers through BJC Hospice and mentoring a young woman through creating a play about the violence that touches lives of young black women. She is pursuing a degree in psychology and plans to use her degree to create programs that combine psychology, storytelling and drama to teach tolerance and feminism to work with marginalized groups of women and teenagers.

Kizuwanda “Keisha” Brewer is a divorced mom of four. She currently supports her family of five on $14k and is on government assistance. She will shortly be moving to the Atlanta area to attend the Chattahoochee Tech culinary arts and food science program. An untrained culinary artist, Keisha owned a restaurant years ago. When her husband became abusive, she knew that she needed to relocate for the safety of her children. Shortly thereafter her 1-year old daughter was diagnosed with a cancerous tumor on her kidney. Keisha became a student of the healing power of food, completely altering her daughter’s and her family’s diets to focus on health and the latest information on using food to assist with cancer recovery. She now feeds families of cancer patients at the local hospital, teaching healthy eating habits to help them with their children’s recoveries. Her long-term goal is to have a healthy restaurant and to start a nonprofit organization for kids and families battling cancer to teach the healing power of nutritious food.

Yolanda Schmidt became a single parent to her 16-month-old daughter after the death of her husband 18 years ago. Her participation in a bereavement support group has lead to her interest in the field of Thantology (the description or study of the phenomena of death and of psychological mechanisms for coping with them) and bereavement counseling. She wants this to be her life’s work, to help others as she and her daughter were helped in learning how to cope with the pain and loss of a husband and father. Yolanda wants to set an example for her daughter by rising above her own grief to help others. She volunteered as a bereavement facilitator for the Archdiocese of NY and Newark where she organized and lead a very successful grief counseling program for 6 years. Yolanda is now a part time student majoring in Psychology. She recently graduated with her Associates degree. While she had the drive and the motivation to return to school, she had to work full time to take care of herself and her daughter and could only afford to take one class at night each semester. It took her 9 yrs to get her AA degree once again setting an example of what can be accomplished through perseverance. But Yolanda says that no matter how long it takes she is determined to earn a Bachelor’s degree and then a Masters degree in Counseling to realize her dream of becoming a certified bereavement counselor. She currently volun­teers at Hearts & Crafts Counseling Center in Ramsey, NH, a center for children to cope with loss through the use of art therapy.

Jinaa Lane is the single parent of a 5 year old daughter and she is desperately trying to become self sufficient and financially stable. She wants to work towards a career specializing in women’s health. She has received her Associates degree and is seeking a bachelors degree in Dietetics/Pre-Medicine focused on preventative medicine as it relates to women’s health. She believes a college degree is key to unlocking career opportunities and closing the door on a world of poverty, despair and hopelessness. She grew up in a very abusive household where her father murdered her mother in front of her when she was 4 years old. She was then adopted into a family where her adoptive mother was also abused. Unfortunately, when Jinaa got older and became a mother she once again found herself in an abusive relationship. Finally, determined to break the cycle, she left her boyfriend and she and her daughter moved into the Jeremiah House to rebuild her life. Despite the obstacles she has faced (including a later retina detach­ment caused by diabetes that has left her visually impaired) she wants to continue to change her life by getting an education and to help other victims of domestic violence. She volunteers extensively with the Jeremiah program. She now serves as the liaison who organizes volunteer opportunities for the program participants.

Jennifer Canale started college over 14 years ago, but quit to get married and work full time. Her marriage ended after discovering her husband’s hidden addiction problems which depleted all of her savings. Determined to move forward, she returned to school and has maintained a near-perfect grade point average, in honors level courses and serves as treasurer for the college’s honor society while working for a non-profit organization committed to science education and environmental conservation. She currently serves as a peer mentor at a community college, helping students not only learn about science but to also balance the pressures associated with busy school and work schedules, family obligations, and sometimes learning disabilities. She also volunteers at a rape crisis center where she helps to organize a yearly fundraiser and knitting hats for chemotherapy patients. She co-founded and serves as scholarship chair for a college organization dedicated to the support of at-risk, homeless, and foster care/emancipated youth seeking to obtain education and job skills. Through her internship last summer in Hawaii, Jennifer has found her true path in life: to become a science teacher and researcher in Hawaii, educating both children and adults at the community college level and giving them a chance to reach their educational goals. She has been accepted to Hawaii Pacific University and plans to major in Oceanography and International Studies and then continue with her master’s degree in education.

Tamuna Charbadze Ms. Tamuna, from the Republic of Georgia, is the recipient of the International Connection Scholarship and is receiving a $2,000 scholarship from the Possible Woman Foundation. She is a fifth (final)-year student in Kutaisi State University Law Department. She is also a recipient of the First-Place Award for Georgian Constitutional Court-sponsored Olympiad on Constitutional Law for three consecutive years (2000,2001, and 2002). Ms. Tamuna has many student activities, mostly serving different officer positions with the Georgian Young Lawyers Association. She is currently employed as Assistant Regional Coordinator of the Georgia Fair Elections Foundation. Tamuna is bright, personable, a leader, articulate), and energetic."