Winners of Annual Beau Biden Memorial Scholarship Announced
Grant is pleased to announce the 2021 winners of the annual Beau Biden Memorial Scholarship.
The I Could Do Great Things Foundation, founded in 2009 by Stuart M. Grant and Suzanne B. Grant is pleased to announce the 2021 winners of the annual Beau Biden Memorial Scholarship. The 2021 Scholarship recipients are an impressive trio of Delaware high school seniors – Jahmere Hargraves of Wilmington, Madison Bauerle of Middletown, and Archmere Academy senior Margaret Atkins of Swarthmore.
The Foundation is awarding each recipient a Scholarship Award of $10,000. Mr. Hargraves, a graduate of Mount Pleasant High School will be attending Howard University; Ms. Bauerle will graduate from Appoquinimink High School and continue on to the University of Pennsylvania to study biophysics, and Ms. Atkins, an Archmere Academy senior, will be heading to Dartmouth.
Named in honor of former Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden, who passed away in 2015 at age 46, the scholarship was established by the I Could Do Great Things Foundation, an independent Delaware-based philanthropy. The scholarship honors college-bound high school seniors from Delaware “who embody the virtues of Beau Biden, who exhibit qualities of leadership, community, civility, respect, and a strong moral compass.”
The Scholarship selection team reviewed applications from over 100 high school seniors before naming this year’s winners. The selection committee commented that, “Jahmere, Madison, and Margaret embody the highest standard of leadership, goodwill, community service, and compassion in their school and lives. Each recipient epitomizes Beau’s legacy of service and accomplishment and we expect that each of them will go on to do great things.”
A remarkable trait that all of the Scholarship recipients possess is their devotion to their respective communities in spite of the COVID-19 outbreak that greatly affected their senior year of high school. Both Ms. Bauerle and Ms. Atkins volunteered their time to help their communities and neighbors affected by the pandemic, from assembling care packages for COVID-19 financially impacted families, to creating a network of 3D printer volunteers to distribute much needed PPE to hospitals and healthcare facilities. Mr. Hargraves is one of the teenage organizers who helped to establish The Warehouse, a Wilmington-based Teen Center designed to provide resources and support for vulnerable and underserved teenagers. When the COVID-19 outbreak forced The Warehouse to reassess how to provide support and services remotely, Mr. Hargraves and The Warehouse team established virtual programs so their network of support services could be accessed from the safety of individuals’ homes. In the true spirit of Beau, all of the Scholarship recipients chose to think of others in this uncertain time, innovating ways to make a true difference in the lives of their communities.
More on the 2021 Beau Biden Memorial Scholarship recipients:
Jahmere Hargraves – Mt. Pleasant High School
Jahmere Hargraves, Wilmington, is a 2021 graduate of Mount Pleasant High School. Despite personal adversities, Jahmere has excelled in academics, maintaining his 4.22 cumulative GPA, with one teacher remarking that “life has not always been easy, and there are many times [Jahmere] could have become another statistic in our community where too many black young men are involved in violence. But through his strength of character, ethics, and integrity, Jahmere has charted a different course for his life.” Jahmere’s myriad of community service and advocacy for underserved youth in his community is testament to his mission of “[becoming] a better version of the people around me . . . to break stereotypical and economic barriers so I am the blueprint for the next generations.” Through The Warehouse—the Wilmington-based Teen Center, which Jahmere helped to found, he hopes to “provide our city's youth with the tools and opportunities they need to become confident and contributing young adults, who will make a positive change in the world.”
Madison Bauerle – Appoquinimink High School
Madison Bauerle, Middletown, is a 2021 graduate of Appoquinimink High School. Madison, an accomplished athlete and scholar has consistently demonstrated outstanding leadership and civility from her esteemed selection to represent female athletes from the Appoquinimink school district to the mentorship of young girls in softball. A champion for inclusivity in sports and academics, Madison identifies her most “rewarding athletic experience” to be the opportunity to participate as a partner in the Special Olympics Unified Sports to promote social inclusion in sports. As an Engineering Ambassador, Madison advocated for the importance of female participation in the fields of STEM. Madison’s teacher thoughtfully identified her as “one of the most passionate leaders for change in our high school community” and the I Could Do Great Things Foundation is elated to be a part of her ascension to further greatness.
Margaret Atkins – Archmere Academy
Margaret Atkins, Swarthmore, is a 2021 graduate of Archmere Academy. Margaret’s innate ingenuity, compassion, and leadership fueled her desire to help those impacted by the COVID-19 outbreak through skills she obtained in her Digital Design class at Archmere. Margaret’s efforts led to the founding of a network of local 3D printers to provide over 600 PPEs to health care facilities in New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Florida, at a time when there was an extreme shortage of protective equipment. As a National Honor Society Officer, representative at the National Student Council Leadership Conference, and TEAMS Engineering Club member, Margaret has always been dedicated to academic success. One of her teachers remembers Margaret as a “high achiever” who applied her “logical and analytical approach” to all challenges, a method that undoubtedly will lead Margaret to more great things in her future at Dartmouth.
More details about the Beau Biden Memorial Scholarship are available on the Foundation’s site at https://icoulddogreatthings.org.
About I Could Do Great Things Foundation
Founded in 2009 by Stuart Grant and Suzanne Grant, The I Could Do Great Things Foundation is a nonprofit organization that provides funding for projects that can improve the life of one individual, one community or the entire world. The Foundation was created with the belief that there are lots of people who could do Great Things if only they had the financial wherewithal to fund those ideas, and the Foundation offers project grants, scholarships and internships to applicants to help them meet their goals. For more information, please visit: https://icoulddogreatthings.org/
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