$5000 Bristol Seafoods / Jocelyn and Peter Handy
2023 Yarmouth High School
“I’ve learned to be a beacon for those around me.”
Molly has a passion for activism and a safe community. She has lobbied for bills addressing police brutality, supported mental health awareness by hanging Yellow Tulip Project posters in the gender-neutral bathrooms at her school, and formed a student-driven movement to end the silence around mental health needs. At school, she hung signs on the exterior of the campus welcoming New Mainers in their native languages. Touring the local homeless shelter to learn more about the lives of homeless women spurred her to raise donations to educate the community on the issues facing homeless women in Portland.
Molly challenges herself to step outside of her comfort zone. After a medical incident in her family, she realized that the worst part of fear was anticipation, not the event itself. Because she was afraid of water, she forced herself to go boating with her lobsterman brother. Now she can sail by herself. She’s afraid of the dark but makes a point to be outside at night. Wrestling with her fears has taught her to stay grounded and face them head-on.
Molly will attend Colby College in the fall.