Local Pleasanton resident and Amador Valley High School student Claire Williams, 17, was chosen from more than
35,000 nominees nationwide for the Kohl’s Department Stores’ Kohl’s Cares Scholarship Program.
Claire was recognized for making a positive impact in her community for creating the Read To A Teen program where young kids can work on their reading skills by spending half an hour reading a story of their choice to a teen every Sunday at the local library. The teen volunteers help students practice reading while encouraging and building the young readers’ comprehension skills. The program has been very successful and many librarians throughout the state of California have expressed an interest in adopting it in their own libraries. Claire aspires to one day be an English teacher.
Claire was one of more than 200 regional-level winners awarded $1,000 scholarship toward her post-secondary education.
Winners are chosen based on initiative, creativity, leadership and generosity. Each regional-level winner qualifies for one of Kohl’s 10 national scholarships, which will be announced at the end of July. National winners will each receive a total of $10,000 in scholarships and Kohl’s will donate $1,000 to a nonprofit organization on each national winner’s behalf. In total, Kohl’s will recognize nearly 2,200 awardees with nearly $420,000 in scholarships and prizes.
Since the program began in 2001, Kohl’s has recognized more than 17,000 youth volunteers with more than $3.5 million in scholarships and prizes. The Kohl’s Cares Scholarship Program is part of Kohl’s Cares, Kohl’s philanthropic program focused on improving the lives of children. For more information, visit www.kohlskids.com.
