Women of Impact!

The Women’s City Club established the Impact Award in 2018. It is a $500 cash award available to any junior at GRPS Union High School and to apply students must identify and honor a person who has impacted them. Any form of media may be used such as writing, photography, painting, poetry, drawing, a musical composition, or a song. The entry must be accompanied by a “creator’s statement.”

Many of the members of the Women’s City Club of Grand Rapids have been women of great influence in our city, state and nation, who modeled the best qualities under difficult circumstances.

Betty Ford, The First Lady of the United States was a member of the WCC who influenced the world with her candor and grace, as she openly discussed her journey with breast cancer and later, addiction to prescribed medications.

Helen Claytor, The first African American Woman elected to the National Presidency of the WYCA, was a WCC member who rose to the pinnacle of leadership, despite the prejudice and injustice she faced. Her accomplishments paved the way for other women of color.

Hazel Whitaker Vandenberg was a teacher, writer and Charter Member of the WCC. Her accounts of Washington D.C. during World War II provided a new depth of understanding about the political maneuvering and negotiations leading up to and during the conflict.

The award is funded by generous donations from the Women’s City Club members and the community.

“In keeping with the spirit of this education Impact Award, I would like to donate in honor of my fifth grade teacher, Mrs. Bennett. She was an inspirational and creative teacher. In fifth grade we read Julius Caesar and produced a play, which was featured in the Detroit newspaper. We also built a model of an invisible woman or man, learning all of the bones and organs in our body. In addition we created large murals depicting the story of our class books. Her theme approach to teaching left a lasting impression.” WCC Member

Past Winners:

2019 Ruby Fuentes (essay)

2020 (no award due to COVID)

2021 Suada Mohamed and Jessica Garcia-Lopez (2 awards) (essays)

2022 Doris Sanchez Pineiro (drawing), Azucena Velasquez (3D drawing), Ashley Garrido (essay)

2023 Tyrell Daniels (essay), Angela Perez-Velasquez (painting)

2024 Dilanny Perez (essay), Nebyat Gebrehiwot (painting)