$2500 Kathy Crosson and Lynn Bailets
$2500 Anonymous
2024 Deering High School
“I need to be part of the solution and not the problem.”
It took Hawa five countries to make it to Maine: she and her family began in South Sudan, lived in Sierra Leone, then in Birmingham, England, and arrived in Portland 2017 – she was 10 years old.
At 14, Hawa got her first job and quickly began to realize how much she was taking on for the rest of her high school years. Committed to helping her family, she currently works at a small African grocery store. A talented baker, she sells her products at a local outdoor market and takes individual orders.
Active in 4-H throughout her years at Deering High School, she participated in internships and worked with local youth. Hawa’s internship was an educational program for 10–13-year-olds about food systems, hydroponic farming, and sustaining a green footprint. This program touched on a personal passion for culinary arts.
Hawa is also passionate about restorative justice. At Seeds of Peace Camp, which empowers young leaders from conflict regions to be effective peacebuilders in their own communities, she learned facilitation skills to lead groups in discussion of complex emotional issues. Looking for additional opportunities, she attended Youth-LED Justice training, a restorative justice program that works with young people who are in trouble with the law, school, or their community.
As a senior, Hawa used her facilitation skills in her Senior Capstone Project to set up Black Youth Affinity Circles as a safe space to support black youth. She was able to create a safe space for 25 black students to discuss crucial issues in their community.
Hawa has committed to the University of Southern Maine.