Emily Meyer, a young student leader from Babylon, NY, recently won the Your Personal Purpose Scholarship, awarded by National Society of High School Scholars (NSHSS) Foundation and funded by Abercrombie & Fitch Co. This scholarship recognizes students for their personal purpose statements on the positive impact they make on their communities and in the lives of others. Emily was one of 10 students who were selected to each be awarded a $2,500 scholarship, which is renewable for four years, totaling $10,000.
Emily’s nonprofit journey began at four years old, when she was rushed to the hospital on Christmas, and she received a bag of toys from the Child Life department. Thirteen years later, she still remembers the toys and the feeling behind that kind gesture. As a result, she formed The Emily Meyer Foundation in 2010, a nonprofit that has donated 20,000+ toys to NYC and Long Island children that are ill, have special needs, or are dealing with emergencies such as loss of income, homelessness, or displacement.
During COVID, she volunteered at local food pantries and recognized how much help her community needed, so she started collecting gently used books and donated them to her school district’s food pantry as an extra little something for the kids to enjoy. She also provides gifts for young adults in residential housing programs twice a year. Emily hopes to bring the Emily Meyer Foundation onto her college campus.
For some background on the organization that awarded Emily the scholarship, NSHSS Foundation fosters the growth of graduates enrolled in the STEM, business, economics, public policy, and environmental science and sustainability fields. For more information, visit https://nshssfoundation.org.
