2023 Women's Empowerment Scholarship Recipients

 Ana Isabel is from Ecuador, where she began her legal studies, graduating summa cum laude and earning the best final exam score in her law school class. She holds the distinction of first female editor-in-chief of her school’s law review, andhas received awards for best speaker and best plaintiff at arbitration competitions. After earning her JD, she worked in the male-dominated arbitration law space before moving on to become a clerk at the Ecuadorian Constitutional Court.  Ana Isabel is now the fourth Ecuadorian woman to ever attend Harvard Law School’s LLM Program. She is ultimately working toward positioning herself as her country’s first female arbitrator. 

 Kaylee Smith is building a career in the extraordinarily male-dominated field of aviation. She took her first flight lesson in high school, while balancing a 4.0 GPA with two varsity sports. She is now an aspiring commercial pilot pursuing a B.S. in Aviation Science and minor in Management at Bridgewater State - one of the top 50 flight schools in the US.  Kaylee is a Certified Flight Instructor, and holds a private pilot’s license, instrument rating, commercial certificate and CMF certificate. Kaylee empowers other women in the field as the president of the BSU Women in Aviation chapter, and by serving as a mission pilot for New Hampshire Wing Civil Air Service, where she inspires cadets to explore flying. In the future, she hopes to serve her country as an Air National Guard pilot.
 

  Umaojo Esther Ojogbane is dedicated to becoming a professor of microbial ecology, food microbiology, microbial genetics and related courses in an effort toaddress global population increase and resource scarcity needs. She has demonstrated personal empowerment through the completion of numerous courses, internships, research, and practical work that allowed her to earn advanced degrees in microbiology/applied microbiology.  Umaojo is working towards earning a PhD at Tufts University, andhopes to one day be running her own research lab & independently securing research grant funding, while working her way towards a full professorship. Through her work, she aspires to combat hunger in Nigeria. 

 Emma Abramson is working hard to make a name for herself as a woman in the male-dominated world of sports media. Emma graduated first in her high school class with a 4.6 GPA. She is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Harvard Book Award.  She was elected Class President four times, was chosen as a superintendent council member, and served as executive producer of her school's TV show. Emma was chosen as one of 10 students nationally to be named a Sports Illustrated Kids reporter, allowing her to interview pro female golfers.  She is a nationally ranked junior golfer, and was the only female to play on her high school boys golf team, becoming the first ever female captain. She qualified for the Massachusetts Women's Amateur in 2022. 

  Sereen Yusuf plans to draw on her life experiences as a Pakistani-American woman to empower others globally through international conflict resolution. Sereen graduated from high school with a 4.1 GPA and ranked second in her class. She has received numerous academic achievement awards, including the United States Education Foundation High Achiever Award & the Bronze Duke of Edinburgh Award.  She was selected as the only high school intern at the Pakistan Federal Ministry of Law and Justice, where she conducted gender protection research and assisted sexual violence victims at protection centers. Sereen also interned with The Daily Times, publishing numerous articles on sexual harassment cases and water scarcity research. She has volunteered with a national NGO aimed at empowering rural woman, and with the Beti Welfare Foundation, and United Nations Girl Up. 

  Yvette is pursuing her academic and athletic careers at Harvard. A standout volleyball player who helped lead Westwood to its first Tri Valley League title since 1986, Yvette signed a letter-of-intent to play collegiately at Harvard and recently finished her first season on the Crimson’s volleyball team.  Yvette wants to earn a PhD in International Relations and Middle East Studies at Harvard and someday serve as the first Arab-American U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. She is the daughter of a Syrian immigrant, who is with us tonight, and is near-fluent in Arabic.