Three members of the Quality of Life Team at Mount Saint Mary Academy in Watchung, including Mairead Higgins, a senior from Berkeley Heights, Gianna Distefano, a senior from Rahway, and Fiona Hadley, a sophomore from Florham Park, were recognized for their proposal regarding the vagaries in reporting requirements for sexual assaults on college campuses, according to Ms. Kathleen Brennan, MSMA Department of Mathematics Chair.
“This is the first year that we have participated in this competition and I’m so proud of their accomplishment,” said Ms. Brennan.
Mairead said, “The Quality of Life Innovative or QLI is a scholarship competition that myself, Gianna and Fiona have had the privilege of participating in for the last eight months. The program, conducted by W!SE Financial Literacy, sets teens on a mission to research a social issue impacting a group’s quality of life, develop a proposal of their findings, and produce a final recommendation for how the problem should be addressed.”
“The issue we researched in our proposal was how sexual assault was handled on college campuses in New Jersey and the varying levels of accessibility of sexual assault resources there are to victims on university’s webpages,” she added. “This program was an incredibly interesting opportunity to let young women research and work towards resolutions to social issues that they care about. And while this has been the first year the Academy has participated in the program, I truly believe that with the knowledge and experience of this past year, next year’s team will produce an amazing proposal.”
The team members received the Creative Ideas Award during the w!se (Working in Support of Education) 22nd Annual Awards Ceremony held on May 31st in New York City.
(above) Gianna Distefano, Fiona Hadley, and Mairead Higgins.19
