LAURA
HINKSON NAMED 2008 LAURA
HINKSON NAMED 2008
RUBIN SCHOLAR
At the Awards Assembly on June 11, 2008, the Plainview-Old Bethpage Congress of Teachers awarded its two thousand dollar ($2000) Paul Rubin Memorial Scholarship to Kennedy High School student Laura Hinkson.
Unlike more conventional scholarships, the PCT Paul Rubin Scholarship is not awarded solely on the basis of academic accomplishments. Paul Rubin was President of the PCT and an activist who lent his enormous energies in the ongoing struggle to improve the lives of ordinary people. He believed that the greatest pleasures in life come from helping others help themselves, and that it is only by engaging others in the common good that we live authentically. The scholarship that bears his name is intended to reward young people who share this vision - to inspire youth to live lives of social conscience and to encourage them to see one's fate as inextricably tied to the others in one's society.
Beyond question, Laura has already demonstrated that she shares this vision of what life should be about. Throughout her high school years, she has devoted many hours to those whose rights are often challenged because they differ from most. Working with the STRIDES Gay-Straight Alliance, Laura has passionately sought to counter the intolerance that so often hampers gay people from the achievement of their full human and civil rights. Her work with physically and mentally disable children at the Horseability Camp is another place where Laura has chosen to try to make a difference. She may even have found her life's work through this voluntary work. Laura will begin her studies to become a special education teacher in the fall.