Distinguished Alumnae Awards 2008

Life Achievement

Bonnie Scott Jelinek ’63

At Emma Willard, Bonnie Scott Jelinek learned that “I could do anything I wanted to do professionally, as a woman, in spite of overwhelming odds.” She has lived out that lesson in the years since graduation, graduating from Lake Forest College and Yale Divinity School, pursuing a career in Christian ministry at a time when the field was just opening up to women. Bonnie was one of the first women to be ordained into a Protestant denomination in the state of Connecticut in 1977. A group of women held picket signs around the church, saying: “put back on your apron” but she persevered with a belief in her calling and a deep desire to make a difference in her world, both as a minister and later as a therapist.
Her ability to touch lives is an example of the power of one individual to make a difference; Bonnie possesses an exuberance that infects everyone with whom she interacts. One of her congregants described Bonnie as spinning “a web of love and support for everyone you come in contact with on a personal, professional, and community level.”

Accomplished Alumna

Vanessa George ’83

Vanessa George possesses a limitless view of the future coupled with a deep sense of compassion that inspires all who know her. As she put it, she has spent the last several years following her “dream of helping to improve the lives of women.” Toward this end, she helped build the Women of Color Action Network (WCAN) and joined the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) Center for Gender Equity, where she expanded programs focused on women of color and launched professional development and networking programs for women in the community. She now serves as Director of Development for the UCSF Medical Center. “Kayla A. George Dare to Dream Fund for Girls” at Emma Willard after being featured in Money Magazine. This fund will help African-American girls benefit from an Emma Willard education.

Outstanding Young Alumna

Deborah Frease Geraghty ’88

Described by friends and colleagues as upbeat, compassionate, curious, enthusiastic, perseverant, driven, thoughtful, and, oh yes, energetic, Deborah Frease Geraghty is a young leader in science and business. Following college, Deb earned a PhD in Cell and Molecular Biology and an MBA, both with honors. She worked two years in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry before becoming a director of the biotech consulting firm where she now serves as Vice President, managing a majority of the company’s consulting projects.

In addition, Deb enthusiastically serves Emma Willard as national co-chair of the Annual Fund, board member, and reunion gift chair. Despite all this responsibility, she maintains the qualities captured in her Emma Willard college recommendation: “hard-working, yet full of fun, a twin, but an individual, a scholar, and a committed school citizen.”

Humanitarian Award

Barbara Nabrit-Stephens ’682

Barbara Nabrit-Stephens’ college recommendation from Emma Willard stated that she had “both the drive and the capability to make a place in the world, and to achieve much for both the world and herself.”

In the years since, she has achieved much for the poor and those without access to medical care, directly as a pediatrician and professor of medicine, and while serving as an advocate for improved healthcare policy for those who rarely have a voice in the process. Barbara chaired of the Pediatric Section of the National Medical Association, guiding the development of the strategic plan, which focuses on health disparities in minority children and families. She continues to advocate on behalf of children by serving on the National Children’s Study Advisory Board, the National Medical Association, and as a Fellow of the Academy of Pediatrics. Equally important, she has lived a personal life of civic engagement as a role model and community leader.

Service to Emma Willard

Ellen Braestrup Strickler ’53

Classmates, a former board chair, a former campaign chair, and a former head of school all wrote to support Ellen Braestrup Strickler’s nomination, illustrating the depth of her contribution to Emma Willard. She has been a board member, committee chair, fundraiser, leader, and event host manifold times since her graduation. Ellen brought a deep understanding of the independent school world to the board of trustees. In ten years as a trustee she vigorously advocated endowment growth, urging the board to consider a broader range of investments to create an optimal asset allocation model. She chaired the investment committee masterfully, deftly balancing the risks and rewards in the near term with a vigilant eye to the long term and formalizing the investment advisory structure to expand the range of the school’s money managers. To this day, Ellen’s investment philosophy echoes in the minds of board members when they discuss prudent use of the endowment. Her keen mind for complex fiscal and investment issues has helped ensure that Emma Willard continues to be financially secure now and into the future.

 

Read the citations of the 2007 Distinguished Alumnae Award recipients.

Read the citations of the 2006 Distinguished Alumnae Award recipients.

Read the citations of the 2005 Distinguished Alumnae Award recipients.

A symbol of wisdom, owls have welcomed generations of Emma Willard students to Slocum Hall.