For Immediate Release
Luminari Contact: Beth Dolinar
bdolinar@luminari.org
PITTSBURGH, PA, February 21, 2017–Luminari, a Pittsburgh-based, nonprofit organization, is pleased to announce the two winners of its sixth annual Luminari Award. The competition for this prestigious award was open to all schools in the Pittsburgh region.
Each student winner will receive a merit-based scholarship for an all-expense-paid admission to Luminari’s I Want to be an Ambassador! camp. The scholarship has a value of over $1,200.
The 2016 Luminari Award Scholars are Jesus Chacin and Kailee Monaghan.
Mr. Chacin, 16, is the winner of the Luminari/ESL Award, and a student at Avonworth High School. Chacin was chosen by his English as a Second Language teachers, based on his commitment to learning. In his winning essay, Mr. Chacin said he hoped to attend the Ambassador camp because he believes diplomacy “is one of the most important skills to have” when learning to interact with others.
Miss Monaghan, 14, is a student at Canon-McMillan High School. She looks forward to Ambassador camp as an experience that will help her to develop skills needed “when working with other people and other cultures.”
Both students were nominated by their schools for having demonstrated motivation, open-mindedness, and the willingness to learn.
The Luminari Award encourages educators to be directly involved in introducing the competition to all students in grades 7 through 11 and to oversee the successful completion of the student applications. This process ultimately leads to the selection of the Luminari Award Scholars.
“It is important, perhaps now more than ever, that our young people learn the skills of everyday diplomacy,” said Hilda Pang Fu, President and Founder of Luminari. “With this camp, we hope to bring positive change through the ‘ripple effect’ of mutual respect and kindness.”
Luminari is a Pittsburgh-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in 2009 by a loyal Pittsburgher to foster activities that broaden minds, inspire innovations and promote community engagement.
