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published on 09/17/2007
Caroline Mescon Receives Templeton Scholarship Award
By Contributed Article
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| Caroline Mescon and Linda Hooper |
Baylor School senior Caroline Mescon has been named this year’s recipient of the Harvey and Jewel Templeton Noble Purpose Scholarship. Representing her family foundation, Lauren Templeton, a member of Baylor's graduating class of 1994, made the presentation at a recent school assembly.
The Templeton Noble Purpose Scholarship, which includes $5,000 toward tuition at Baylor, is designed to help students recognize and learn from those in the community who have devoted their lives to something worth doing. This summer, students in grades 9 -12 were challenged to write about a member of the community who demonstrates noble purpose, carried out in an honorable manner and guided by a strong moral sense.
Caroline was selected based on her essay featuring Linda Hooper, a life-long educator and principal of Whitwell Middle School. Mrs. Hooper and the students and faculty of Whitwell have earned worldwide attention for the “Paper Clip Project,” which grew out of an after-school program about the Holocaust. Trying to grasp the magnitude of the genocide that took place during WWII, the Whitwell students decided to collect six million paper clips to represent the estimated six million Jews killed by Nazis between 1939 and 1945. At last count, more than 30 million paper clips have been sent to the school. In addition, the project has received more than 30,000 letters, documents, and artifacts which are on display at the school’s new Children's Holocaust Memorial. An award-winning documentary film about the project was released in 2004 by Miramax Films.
In her essay Caroline states that Mrs. Hooper defines noble purpose as the desire to love and protect everything: “Never be afraid. Learn from bad experiences with hope. Life is about choices and anyone can choose to live a life that has purpose and meaning,” said Mrs. Hooper. “And always remember that you can make a difference.”
Caroline is the daughter of Jed and Phyllis of Signal Mountain. The scholarship program was established in honor of Harvey and Jewel Templeton, lifelong residents of Winchester, Tenn.
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