Jesse Lee ASP is excited to announce that the winner of the 2025 John Ward “Love in Action” Scholarship Award is Natalia Feliciano.
Natalia is a recent graduate of Ridgefield High School and a 3-year participant of Appalachia Service Project.
At RHS Natalia was involved in sports, playing lacrosse and swimming. She also founded the school’s first Latino affinity group, leading bi-weekly meetings and planning cultural events. She established a connection between Jericho partnership (Christian nonprofit in Danbury) and Ridgefield High School, starting an initiative for students at RHS to tutor middle schoolers at Jericho biweekly. She was an Ambassador/Panelist for No Place for Hate and was elected to speak on identity and inclusion in school-wide panels sharing experiences to address bias and increase cultural awareness. She was also a member of National Honor Society.
In the community Natalia was secretary for the Youth Against Cancer Society and a founder of the Weekender Bags Program at Jericho supporting food insecure students. She also was a swim coach at Lakeside Field Club.
This fall Natalia will be attending Boston University (Kilachand Honors College) where she plans to major in International Business and minor in Spanish. We are very pleased to present her with this award.
The John Ward Love in Action Award was established by Jesse Lee ASP in 2017 to honor John Ward’s 30th Appalachia Service Project Trip. It is a $1000 grant given each year to a high school senior who has participated in ASP and dedicated themself to other forms of community service.
Winners of the John Ward Award have been:
- 2025 – Natalia Feliciano
- 2024 – Abby Seal
- 2023 – Henry Idone
- 2022 – Parker Etzbach
- 2021 – Kate Fleming
- 2020 – Matt Carpenter
- 2019 – Miles Tullo
- 2018 – Gillian Retter
- 2017 – Petros Papadopolous
In accordance with the Safe Sanctuary Policy of the Jesse Lee Memorial UMC, all adult and young adult volunteers (anybody out of high school) need to submit to a background check once every three years. The background check form and a copy of our policy and procedure can be downloaded here.
All volunteers will need to complete the ASP Volunteer Agreement form. If you have not done so, please download the form below, sign it and bring it to one of the orientations or form drop off meetings listed on the events page.
You will need to turn in your Jesse Lee ASP Release and Liability Waiver form prior to participating in Basic Skills or Ramp Building. If you have not done so, please download the form below, sign it and bring it to one of the orientations or form drop off meetings listed on the events page.