Teresa Gervais

2016 Erskine Academy
$1000  Mainely Character Scholarship

Outgoing, positive and curious, Teresa  described herself as very shy in middle school.   After struggling with anxiety during her freshman year, she decided to make more friends through involvement in school activities. With the encouragement of her mother, she joined the Drama Club. Since then, she has directed several plays, joined clubs, painted murals, worked, and accumulated hundreds of volunteer hours while maintaining a 4.0 average.   She said, “I allowed myself to believe I could change.” Her experience has made her more aware of other students who may feel socially isolated; she reaches to involve them.

Teresa’s concern for others extends far beyond her own community.  In middle school, a desire to help people living in poverty inspired her to travel to Oaxaca, Mexico, with her mother. They visited an orphanage where children were sleeping 3 and 4 to a mattress and was moved by their need for basic supplies of all kinds.  When she returned home, she began selling her own artwork to raise money for the orphanage. She raised over $1000 and returned to teach, feed, and play with the children. She learned that “concern for others is its own reward.”

Teresa enrolled in  Holy Cross College in Worcester, MA  planning to become more well-rounded  as a student by taking more science and math classes  She chose to read a book on neuroscience to better understand the human mind. Teresa described herself as an  eager learner who had “so much room for improvement’.

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