See the Blog. See Past Winners. Skip to Content Skip to Navigation. Share on Facebook. Share on Twitter. President Obama challenged us all to help win the future by out-educating, out-innovating, and out-building our competitors in the 21st century.
Over the course of his presidency he encouraged citizens to nominate people doing extraordinary things to make a difference in their communities to become Champions of Change.
Learn more about these individuals who are helping shape the future for all of us below. As a trained Results Based Facilitator, Shari has worked with staff, students, and parents across the county to engage in conversations about race and equity. Shari has has served on the Board of Directors for the Dream Project for the past four years, whose mission is to empower students whose immigration status creates barriers to education by working with them to access and succeed in college through scholarships, mentoring, family engagement, and advocacy.
Annie Delgado Annie Delgado, M. She also recognized the importance of reaching out to students before they enter high school so she developed the Empowerment Project to target previously marginalized middle school girls. Participants receive ongoing support from Annie and other mentors over the course of five years to improve academics, attendance, and discipline while engaging in at least one extracurricular activity each year and completing hours of community service during their high school years.
Through collaboration with stakeholders at the Merced City School District, UC Merced, and the Educational Employees Credit Union, the program has proven successful for the inaugural group of young women who saw a significant rise in grade point averages, improvement in attendance, a remarkable decline in discipline related issues, and an immeasurable boost in self-esteem.
