Eileen Kraus Scholarship Awardee 2023
ISabel Mendes
2023 Eileen Kraus Scholarship Awardee
We are pleased to announce this year’s Eileen Kraus Scholarship Awardee, Isabel Mendes. Isabel’s winning essay highlighted Dr. Joyce Yerwood, the first female African American physician in Fairfield County who devoted her 50-year career to providing quality medical care for low-income women, children, and families. Dr. Yerwood was a tireless advocate for social justice and equality who impacted thousands of lives over her lifetime of civic engagement including founding the Yerwood Center, the first community center for African Americans in Stamford.
Isabel is a 17-year-old 12-grade High Honors student at Miss Porter's School. She’s a digital and physical artist focusing mainly on Black and Latinx-inspired digital art under the Instagram handle @IzzyMendyes_Art. Isabel aspires to be a physician, aiming to make a difference in the health outcomes of disenfranchised populations, and is attending Boston University Kilachand Honors College as a Presidential Scholar in the Human Physiology Program at the College of Health & Rehabilitation Services at Sargent College. She has participated in Sisters in STEM at UConn School of Engineering and The Perry Initiative Outreach Program at Yale School of Medicine. She’s a devoted and passionate mathematician, engaging in college-level mathematics courses purely for knowledge.
Isabel is the Teen Protocol Chair for the Eastern Region of Jack and Jill of America, Inc. and designed the 2022 and 2023 Eastern Region Teen Conference Art Apparel for the Greater Hartford Chapter of Jack and Jill of America, Inc., and the chapter won the 2nd Place Award for the banner design in 2022. She also won the 2023 Visual Art Award at the Eastern Region Teen Conference. She co-directed and stage-managed her school's production of the play The Wolves and has experience in various community theater productions. Isabel is passionate about social justice and has participated in oratorical and spoken word competitions with Jack and Jill of America, Inc. and the CT Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. She’s been an apprentice with Neighborhood Studios at Theater Works and Real Art Ways. Isabel is tri-head of Sister-2-Sister, an affinity group for Black girls at Miss Porter’s School. She actively participates in Global Seminar Series through the Porter’s Center for Global Leadership, focusing on democracy, social media, political polarization, and climate change.
Isabel participated in a Global Student Summit on Black Lives Matter – A Call to Action and the National Coalition of Girls Schools’ Winter Series: Justice, Equity, and Belonging. At the height of the pandemic, Isabel and her family made cloth face masks, included personalized notes of encouragement, and distributed them to community first responders. Isabel has been a part of the Greater Hartford Chapter of Jack and Jill for 12 years, being recognized nationally for community service and receiving the National Youth Volunteer Service Award and U.S. Presidential Gold Volunteer Service Award. Her role models include her parents, who inspire greatness, passion, and commitment to family and community. Her maternal grandparents, who immigrated from the Dominican Republic and raised their children to be community and professional leaders, inspired her to be great. Her family and friends would describe her as a silent leader whose confidence, maturity, creativity, determination, and work ethic make her an asset to any group. Isabel holds herself and others to high standards and inspires those around her with her authenticity, drive, and eagerness to learn and grow.
For more information about Eileen Kraus, visit her Inductee page here.