High School Students Selected to Travel to India as "Compassion Scholars"

Oct 29

Written By Washington State Leadership Board

Compassion 2020 is a statewide program that will send a delegation from Washington state to India to meet with the Dalai Lama to discuss the topic of promoting compassionate leadership in Washington state.

The delegation, chaired by Lt. Governor Cyrus Habib and comprised of educational, scientific, and civic leaders from Washington, includes six high school students selected as “Compassion Scholars.” These students, chosen from among over 160 applicants through a competitive application process, will participate in the in-person dialogue with the Dalai Lama. Following the trip, the Compassion Scholars will continue to work with the Association of Washington Generals to implement service-oriented “compassion projects” in their local communities.

Compassion Scholars

Sontri Jorkhung

SHOREWOOD HIGH SCHOOL — SHORELINE

Sontri says that the significance of compassionate leadership was instilled in him from a young age through the Dalai Lama’s teachings as part of his Tibetan culture. His compassion project focuses on the importance of breaking down and understanding stereotypes, especially starting with young students in schools, in order to replace “implicit bias with implicit compassion.”

Kaylee Meyers

EDMONDS WOODWAY HIGH SCHOOL — EDMONDS

Kaylee describers herself as a passionate student who has already put her desire to increase compassion towards work that has won her a literary gem award in the YES! Magazine national essay contest. Her compassion project focuses on increasing communication among schools in order to foster collaborative projects where teachers and students give talks about their insights and perspectives on compassion.

Natalie Gomez

WHITE RIVER HIGH SCHOOL — BUCKLEY

Natalie is an outgoing student inspired to work on promoting compassion because of what she sees as the growing tension between groups of people in her small town. One way she has been working to do this is by writing articles for her local paper that discuss controversial issues in her town. Her compassion project focuses on the issue of homelessness by organizing a series of networking events that not only help people experiencing homelessness receive job training and other rehabilitative resources, but also aims to expand the perspectives of people who have a negative or apathetic view of those who are homeless.

Kaya Rose Sol

OMAK HIGH SCHOOL — OMAK

As the oldest of 6 children, all adopted from unhealthy situations, Kaya is already striving to be a leader in setting a good example for her younger siblings of how to be a more compassionate person. Her compassion project focuses on foster care and aims to create an organization that would create bags and pillow cases for foster kids to take with them when moving from one home to another -- instead of the garbage bags children typically have to use. She aims to not only help give foster kids a more welcoming and dignified experience, but also to raise awareness and give volunteers the opportunity to show compassion.

Henry Ho

GARFIELD HIGH SCHOOL — SEATTLE

Henry is a thoughtful student who grew up in a housing project located in Seattle and says he is determined to use the perspective he’s gained from his life circumstances to give back and help increase compassion in his community. His compassion project will focus on helping with the homelessness crisis and would focus on combatting the apathy and lack of compassion with which many people look on homeless people.

Ruby Joyce

VASHON HIGH SCHOOL — VASHON

Ruby is a motivated student from Vashon High School who will be taking part in the delegation as a representative of the Brighton Jones Compassion Summit. She is especially passionate about spreading compassion through the lens of environmental justice and women’s rights. For her compassion project, Ruby wants to use her role as a Youth Ambassador for the Brighton Jones Conference to help spread the knowledge she gains from her time in India and work on encouraging the tenets of compassionate teaching through her connection with other Youth Ambassadors.

Washington State Leadership Board

The Washington State Leadership Board, a trustee agency of Washington State, specializes in delivering equity-focused leadership programs for the State of Washington. It is best known for bestowing official honors on behalf of the state, such as the Washingtonian of the Year, as well as the following free youth leadership programs. These include:

Washington World Fellows, a study abroad + college prep program for high school students

Boundless Washington, an outdoor leadership program for young people with disabilities

Compassion Scholars, an experiential travel program aimed at promoting compassionate leadership

The Washington State Leadership board was originally founded in 1971 by then-Lt. Governor John Cherberg as the “Association of Washington Generals” with the goal of recognizing service. Today, the Leadership Board continues its long legacy of recognizing service while also working to cultivate leadership among Washingtonians through its annual awards events and its statewide leadership programs.

In 2005, the State Legislature codified the organization in state law, charging it with a number of important roles: the members of the Leadership Board act as “official ambassadors of trade, tourism, and goodwill for the state”, and must work to “expand educational, sports, and employment opportunities for youth, veterans, and people with disabilities.” The Legislature also linked the Leadership Board with the Office of the Lt. Governor, creating a close partnership between the organization and state government. Later, the State Legislature established several programs the Washington State Leadership Board administers into state law, including the Washington World Fellows and Boundless Washington programs as well as the Compassion Scholars.

https://www.washingtonleaders.org