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