The first annual ACLU College Scholarship for Youth Activism Award was created to recognize the efforts of graduating seniors who have demonstrated a strong commitment to civil liberties and civil rights through some form of student activism. This scholarship gives the ACLU an opportunity to recognize the bravery of these students and the inspiration they provide. Some students established civil liberties clubs at their high schools, while others participated in ACLU lawsuits, or fought discrimination and censorship.
Bigotry is still very much alive, but through education, everyone has the power to fight it.
As a sophomore, Finchem drafted letters to school administrators and superintendents repudiating the repression suffered by students and teachers alike in a school district that pits safety against individuality and curiosity. I had to express what I felt, though the consequences seemed disheartening. I thought my play should be staged and consider the censorship a form of discrimination. Shirley Lin is a student from Claremont California. Because she is an immigrant from China, she was forced out of her public school at the end of her freshman year as a result of the unfair and discriminatory 1996 Immigration Reform laws passed by Congress.