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The Carrie and Fred Polak SARA MAZES, a resident of Staten Island NY, is a senior at Staten Island Technical High School. She is an anti-bias peer facilitator who works to address and overcome issues of bias and discrimination. After 9/11, Ms. Mazes was motivated to lead informal discussions on hate crimes among her peers. She is founder and president of her school’s Wellness Club and has been an Anti-Defamation League trainer for three years. In 2004, Ms. Mazes was 1 of 15 students selected from a pool of citywide student applicants to participate in the ADL's World of Difference summer program. As an intern, she learned to develop and lead presentations on prejudice for peer groups. Through this program she worked at the U.N. headquarters in NYC, and traveled to Washington D.C. as a member of the ADL National Youth Holocaust Mission to participate in a Holocaust symposium. In 2004, Ms. Mazes was one of a select few chosen nationwide to represent her school and country as an exchange student in Russia and Italy. She sings, acts, and plays both saxophone and clarinet in school productions and is a member of the National Honor Society. In addition, this honoree has a noteworthy service record in her community, including fundraising for local soup kitchens, battered women, and tsunami relief. She plans to begin undergraduate studies this year at Muhlenberg College, in Allentown, PA. Ms. Mazes has an inborn talent for eliciting qualities in others to promote peace and understanding over ignorance and prejudice. |
