Congratulations to the Young Alumni Changemaker Award Honorees

Jordan McCornock, Class of 2020
Urban High School

Through a class at Urban High School, senior Jordan McCornock had the opportunity to visit California Medical Facility, a medium-security prison in Vacaville, California. She spent two full days facilitating conversations with inmates. Through the connections she made, she was able to write to the parole board on behalf of an inmate who was later released in June 2023. Embracing the power of writing to affect change, Jordan went on to volunteer with The Beat Within, a publication written by incarcerated youth.  Jordan is currently the Editor in Chief, Creative of the Urban High School newspaper and is a part of the Program Innovation Committee pioneering a new course on digital citizenship. In college, she hopes to further study government and law. 

As the co-founder of the program DiveIn, Stuart Hall High School senior Sebastian Horton-Vega gives swim lessons to kids at Rosa Parks Elementary School. Their mission is to provide kids from low income families the opportunity to learn water safety for free. After becoming a nationally certified lifeguard, Sebastian recruited members of the Stuart Hall swim team as well as other passionate swimmers to join DiveIn, increasing the program’s capacity to give equitable access to life-saving skills. As an athlete and an advocate, Sebastian went on to organize a Spikeball tournament to fundraise for Maui as they recuperate after the wildfires. 

Leader of the Book Society at Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory, senior Liv Kirkeby, leveraged her role to get her community excited about reading. She coordinated fundraisers for the World Literacy Foundation and collaborated with another school club, Advocacy in Action, to organize a book drive to supply books for another high school’s library that was in need of more resources. Liv was able to incentivize involvement in these fundraisers by turning them into fun club activities. Her role as the Book Society president included coordinating with Sacred Heart’s English department to establish and promote a summer reading project. Moving forward, Liv would like to research how to assist communities most affected by climate change. Her goal is to help the environment by finding more lifestyle changes that are affordable and accessible to all regardless of income, location, or background.