|
Hoover USA finalists want to serve needy, disabled
by Gregory R. Norfleet · News · November 13, 2024
Her parents struggled with drugs and alcohol to the point that they neglected their children’s needs, so much so that Journee Petersen could not get basic hygiene products.
Now a senior at Calamus-Wheatland High School, she wants to address the needs of other children facing similar circumstances.
Speaking Saturday as one of the finalists in the 27th Annual Herbert Hoover Uncommon Student Award’s Stanley & Helen Howe Presentation Day, Journee said she learned a lot from that experience.
“Instead of buying us children the food that we needed and the products that we needed in daily life, like toothpaste and toothbrushes, shampoo and conditioner, etc., they decided it was a better idea to get the things that they ‘saw’ they needed,” Journee said of her biological parents.
At 11 years old, she was taken from her parents in the North Scott school district and moved in with her second cousins’ family in Calamus; they adopted her in 2019.
Starting in sixth grade, Journee attended Calamus-Wheatland schools and saw other children from low-income families facing the same needs.
“The struggles in life have shown that I’m not the only one in need, and not everyone is going to speak up. I’m here to help them use their voices,” she said.
When she reached high school, she started a non-profit group named after the school mascot, the Warrior Wellness Corner, to meet those needs.
In addition to the items listed above, the Corner provides things like toilet paper, dish soap, laundry soap, tampons, deodorant, lotions, and more. However, she soon realized that students who needed these items were too ashamed to pick them up along a busy hallway, so The Corner moved to a little-used area of the basement.
Journee worked with her school principal, the FFA, Family Career and Community Leaders of America, and Family and Consumer Sciences groups to organize, collect donations, and purchase supplies. Tampons and deodorant are the top needs at her school.
Standing in front of a panel of seven judges, Journee called the questions “fun.”
“I actually liked them. I didn’t think they were too hard. I knew what I was talking about, which I should have since it was my project,” she said.
The Cal-Wheat senior said one woman who approached her on Saturday said West Branch schools would also benefit from a similar program.
Fifteen seniors from Iowa high schools presented their ideas to better their schools, serve their communities, or uplift other students. Projects ranged from educational programs covering food allergies to teaching the deaf and disabled to swim to mentoring girls interested in agriculture careers.
Each finalist received $1,500 for making it that far, and on Saturday the judges selected four others for $10,000 prizes:
• Katlin Truelsen of Central Dewitt High Schools with her “Ladies Livestock Mentor” Program. That program pairs high school girls with professional women in the livestock industry.
• Cory Carter of Davenport West High School with his “Iowa Kid, Iowa Dirt, Iowa PRODUCE...IOWA Students” program. Cory transformed his backyard into a vegetable garden and now teaches others to do the same.
• Lauren Schroeder of Calamus-Wheatland High School with her “Garden Donations For Non-Profits” program. She grows more than 35 varieties of produce, and then donates it to non-profits to help families in need. She has donated more than $24,000 so far.
• Gabrielle Biedermann of Linn-Mar High School with “The Reaction Project. Putting the Action Into Reactions By Spreading Awareness Of Food Allergies and Related Mental Health.” Gabrielle suffers from food allergies and her program raises awareness of the physical and mental health risks.
Hoover USA also presented the Mariah Becker Volunteer Leadership Award, which comes with a $500 scholarship, to Raygan Meehan of Hempstead High School for her “Lunch Tray 5K” project. The race raises money to help pay off negative school lunch balances in the Dubuque Community School District.
Organized by the Herbert Hoover Presidential Foundation, the event also drew Hoover’s great-granddaughter, Leslie Hoover-Lauble, husband Todd, and son Steve. Leslie presented the awards and Todd served as timekeeper.
This year’s qualifying students came from around the state, from places as far West Des Moines, Dubuque, Knoxville, Union, Waukee, and Urbandale.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
