This year produced another batch of awe-inspiring
applications for the LeaderShape Palmer Award. Please help us congratulate our
2013 recipients, Meghan Grodon, Meghan Higgins, and Atul Menon!
Meghan Gordon
Session: National Session: LeaderShape Tahoe 2012
About the Vision:
“…a theatre for social change organization that serves
artistic, educational, and philanthropic interests.”
About the Work:
Meghan and the “Parity Players” created a production that
advocated for marriage equality and had the opportunity to perform it six times
for over 200 audience members. They partnered with organizations such as GLAD,
PLFAGG, Human Rights Campaign, and more, through which the players were able to
gain a deeper understanding of the cause they were working to support. The cast
and crew also participated in over 800 hours of community service hours! Meghan
has filed for 501-c status so that the organization can become a nonprofit,
allowing the “Parity Players” reach to go beyond Rollins College and the Winter
Park, FL community.
About the Institute:
“The beauty of the LeaderShape program is that no on is
going to ever tell you “no”, and when you realize that strangers you may never
see again will not you “no”, you’re less inclined to preemptively tell yourself
your limitations. The entire production was an exercise in me running towards
fear, and embracing the idea that I may fail – and very publicly”
Meghan Higgins
Session: Temple University 2012
About the Vision:
“…a world where those who are disabled can comfortably live
in an environment where they are respected as individuals and treated as
equals.”
About the Work:
As a way to connect her passion for architecture and her
drive for equality, Meghan is driven to build spaces that will provide access
to those who are denied it. She joined Freedom by Design, an organization at
Temple that uses the design and construction talents of students to impact the
lives of people in the Philadelphia area. Through her involvement and
leadership within this organization, Meghan initiated a project to provide a wheel
chair ramp and deck for a single mother. With the installation of this ramp,
the woman will no longer need to carry her twelve-year-old daughter in and out
of their house every day. She has hopes of someday creating playgrounds that
are adapted for everyone to enjoy.
About the Institute:
“All the exercises and days of self-reflection at LeaderShape
opened my mind to the limitless possibilities I could achieve by doing
something I am passionate about. It was here that I recognized architecture,
nonprofit organizations, and equality are all important to me.”
“To me though, there is something that has been more
rewarding than passing each benchmark with satisfaction – it has been our
ability to learn and grow with one another as a compatible team of individuals
who have a similar drive.”
Atul Menon
Session: Qatar LeaderShape 2012
About the Vision:
“…a Qatar where all employers paid their workers on time,
gave them decent accommodations, provided them with valid IDs and let them
rightly keep their passports. In other words, my vision was to see that the
labor laws were enforced and strictly followed to ensure no worker’s rights
were compromised.”
About the Work:
Atul spent time learning more about the lives of migrant
workers and working to create change by visiting labor camps, speaking with
workers, and volunteering. Through Atul’s academic pursuits, he helped to
secure a research grant for a project he is working on now to create a
financial curriculum that will educate migrant workers about saving-investment
opportunities in Qatar and in their home countries.
About the Institute:
“The week-long LeaderShape experience was the first time I
was required to think through and write what I wanted to do with my life. I was
asked for the first time, “What do you care about?” Did I care about anything?
I realized I did.”
The Palmer Award began as an endowment gift donated to the
Alpha Tau Omega Foundation by Dr. Edmund T. Palmer, Junior. Together the Foundation
and LeaderShape provided three monetary awards to Meghan, Meghan, and Atul in
recognition of the steps they have taken toward implementing their vision.
David and a group of 12 like-minded people from across Ontario have come together to create the organization You Inspire Youth. The team works to inspire young people around the world through "capturing people's stories through cinematic interviews." 
