Kishwaukee College has named Hadley Booker as the winner of the 2021 Gandhi/King Peace Scholarship. Booker was selected after submitting an essay where contestants were asked to outline a plan for a nonviolent response to the problems of hate and discrimination and draw upon the lives and writings of Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Booker, of Waterman, received a $500 Kish scholarship along with a certificate of achievement. She was recognized at the April Board of Trustees meeting. Her entry was forwarded to the Illinois Community College Trustees Association (ICCTA) for consideration in the statewide competition.
Kishwaukee College worked to develop its Equity Plan and expand resources such as Kody’s Cupboard Food Pantry, the Champions Fund and TRIO Upward Bound to help eliminate any barriers or completion gaps for students.
In her essay, Booker advocated for better communication to help overcome the issues outlined in the prompt.
“We must be willing to listen to one another, regardless of whether or not we agree. If we truly want to free the world of hate, then we must understand why the hate is present, otherwise it will linger like a foul odor unshakeable from our backs. ‘We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.’ These are the words that were spoken by Martin Luther King Jr. on March 22nd, 1964, four years before he would be assassinated. His words should weigh heavy in our minds, for the very hate he fought to overcome is what killed him in the end, and is still present today. In his honor, we must not let it continue,” Booker wrote.
Following Kish, Booker plans to attend Utah Valley University starting in the summer semester. She is currently living in Utah and plans on majoring in Secondary English Education with the goal of being an English teacher.
“The scholarship helped me in several ways: I'm now confident enough to apply for further essay scholarships, and the funds I've received from it are going to further help me pay for my education here in Utah. I'm living on my own now and completely self-sufficient, so anything helps,” Booker said.
To read Booker’s essay in its entirety, please visit www.kish.edu/iccta.