The Peace Education Center of Greater Lansing announced the recipients of the Tom Schneider Peacemaker Award, given annually to graduating mid-Michigan high school seniors who act to promote peace and justice and who seek to further those values in the world. Awards will be presented in the students’ high school awards ceremonies along with a monetary grant that recipients can use in the way they see fit to further their peace and justice work. The following four graduating seniors have been chosen as recipients of this year’s award:
- Caitlyn Theis of St. Johns High School has been a volunteer for ten years and now head senior counselor for the “Children for Humane Animal Treatment” at the Capital Area Humane Society. She is pictured below, bottom right.
- Ian Pearsall of East Lansing High School has been a very active leader with the Amnesty International and an organizer of many benefits to help those plagued by war and hunger. He is pictured below, bottom left.
- Kyrsten Lamb of Potterville High School is a peer counselor with Peer Assistance Leadership Service (PALS), and has been an active leader with the Youth Advisory Council and Jobs for America’s Graduates. She is pictured below, top right.
- Max Doyle of Okemos High School has been active on many fronts including president of the Gay Straight Alliance and leader of Students United in Social Progress Initiative, as well as Social Action Coordinator at his church. He is pictured below, top left.
The award is in memory of Tom Schneider, a local activist and Bath Township Supervisor, who touched many lives in the community and around the world. Tom was a model of how we might build a more peaceful community with his hands-on participation in numerous organizations working for the betterment of our civilization. He excelled at “networking” before that term was ever coined, simply by being fully present to others, wherever he went across the globe. Tom actively listened and engaged others to join him in the quest to create a better planet. He died in the prime of his life on December 8, 2011. The Tom Schneider Peacemaker Award recognizes local young people who strive to carry on Tom’s peacemaking legacy.
2014 Tom Schneider Peacemaker Awardees
