Lake, sixth from right, with students and trinity faculty at Trinfo.Cafe

HOPE Worldwide Essay Winner

Pauline Lake ’13, whose passion for volunteerism had its roots in a food pantry when she was in the 7th grade, has won a scholarship in an essay competition sponsored by HOPE Worldwide, a charitable organization that delivers sustainable, community-based services to the needy, and the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families (DCF) in partnership with the Boston Church of Christ.

Lake, a Posse Scholar who is co-majoring in computer science and educational studies, finished second in the competition that focused on Martin Luther King, Jr., and his commitment to helping and serving others. For her effort, she won a $1,000 scholarship to be used to defray the cost of fees and books.

In September 2010, Lake and Nina Limardo, who has since graduated, were feted in Washington, D.C., after taking first place in a competition designed to promote nutritious food choices and physical activity for children as part of First Lady Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move!” initiative. The project, which involved development of a smartphone app, grew out of Trinity’s Humanitarian Free and Open Software (HFOSS) program.

Orphaned at the age of 12, Lake has long been a client of the foster care program run by the Massachusetts DCF. She is a Posse Scholar from Chicago, where she graduated from high school. Since 1989, the Posse Foundation has identified, recruited, and trained 4,223 public high school students with extraordinary academic and leadership potential.” Posse Scholars, many of whom might have been overlooked during traditional college selection processes, receive four-year, full-tuition leadership scholarships from Posse’s partner institutions of higher education, including Trinity. Posse Scholars graduate at a 90 percent rate.

In her essay, Lake discussed her stint as a volunteer at the food pantry and her creation of the smart phone app, and she wrote about her work at Trinfo.Café, Trinity’s neighborhood technology center. Although Lake first worked there as a volunteer, she was hired in the summer of 2011 to help manage the facility, which was created to help close the digital divide in Hartford. This winter, Lake taught a six-week class at Trinfo.Café focusing on basic computer science applications for high school students at the Learning Corridor.

Lake concluded her essay by saying: “I wish to take the skills I have learned from Trinfo.Café and apply them to my future career as a teacher. I have not decided where I would like to live after college, but I know that no matter where I end up, I can always give back to the community by sharing my knowledge and skills with others who are less fortunate than me.”