Girls for the Globe Made Possible by The Emily Pomeranz ’85 Prize for Public Service
T
he 2020-2021 Emily Pomeranz Prize was awarded to Sidney Rucker ’22 for her project Girls for the Globe. Following are Sidney’s remarks from the Upper School’s celebration of her achievements:
Emily Pomeranz ‘85
From an early age, Emily Pomeranz ‘85 was an avid follower of politics. She read the Cleveland newspapers regularly and was well-informed about the news and current events. After graduating from Kenyon College and Cleveland State University’s Marshall College of Law, Emily moved to Washington, D.C., where she devoted her career to public service. She spent almost 20 years working as an attorney for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs in the Board of Veterans Appeals. Emily used her free time to work on political campaigns, tutor students in need and engage in other community activities. When she could no longer work, she continued to volunteer on issues such as immigrants’ rights and for organizations that provided mediation services. Established in 2017 by her brother William Pomeranz, Ph.D., the deputy director of the Kennan Institute at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C., and by other family and friends, The Emily Pomeranz Prize for Public Service is awarded annually to support a Junior who has proposed a public service project for her spring or summer break.
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“From the moment I was accepted into the Civic Engagement cohort of the Capstone program my freshman year, I knew that I wanted my project to be big. Though I don’t think that, at the time, I fully understood what that meant for my stress levels. Regardless, I think I would make my freshman self proud, because my project is definitely more than I could have imagined as a fourteen year old, with profound thanks to the Emily Pomeranz grant, my family, and administrative support. “So, where did I start? I knew going into the Capstone program that I wanted my research focus to be on both civic engagement and STEM, and that I wanted to do something that would have a direct and lasting impact on the community. During the summer before my sophomore year I began to generate a few ideas. I remembered a few of the signature programming experiences I’d had from the previous school year, such as hearing from a chef who assisted people who lived in food deserts to access fresh produce, and visiting the Boys and Girls Club during immersion week at the end of that school year for Capstone. I didn’t know it at the time, but these experiences had a significant impact on the development of my project. “The fall of my Sophomore year, I finally figured out that I wanted my research focus to be on the environment and food waste. The climate crisis is the most intersectional issue of our generation and is
